The Determination of Protonation Constants of Some Amino Acids and Their Esters by Potentiometry in Different Media

In this study, stoichiometric protonation constants of L-tyrosine, L-cysteine, L-tryptophane, L-lysine, and L-histidine, and their methyl and ethyl esters in water and ethanol–water mixtures of 30, 50, and 70% ethanol (v/v), were determined potentiometrically using a combined pH electrode system calibrated as the concentration of hydrogen ion. Titrations were performed at 25^∘C and the ionic strength of the medium was maintained at 0.10 mol⋅L⁻¹ using sodium chloride. Protonation constants were calculated by using the BEST computer program. The effect of solvent composition on the protonation constants is discussed. The log₁₀ K₂ values of esters generally decreased with increasing ethanol content. However, the log₁₀ K₁ values of the esters of L-tyrosine, L-cysteine, and L-tryptophane were found to increase with increasing ethanol content in contrast those of L-lysine and L-histidine esters.     

Analysis of Azithromycin in Human Plasma by LC–MS–MS

A simple sensitive and selective liquid chromatographic–tandem mass spectrometric method was developed and validated for the quantification of azithromycin in human plasma. Roxithromycin was used as the internal standard. The chromatographic separation was performed on a SunFire C18, 50 mm × 2.1, 3.5 μm column at 30 °C with mobile phase consisted of 1.54 g ammonium acetate, 250 mL water, 570 mL acetonitrile, 180 mL methanol and 0.6 mL glacial acetic acid. Flow rate was 0.2 mL min⁻¹. The work-up procedure involved a liquid–liquid extraction of the compounds. Mass spectrometric data were acquired in single ion monitoring. MRM mode of the ions 749.58 > 591.6 and 837.64 > 158.2 for azithromycin and roxithromycin, respectively. The method was validated in the concentration range of 2–1,000 ng mL⁻¹. Absolute recovery of azithromycin was 81.97%. Retention time for azithromycin was 0.9 and 1.1 min for roxithromycin. The run time was 2 min. This method was found suitable to analyse human plasma samples for application in pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, bioavailability/bioequivalance studies.

     

Metal-Containing Phthalocyanines Substituted with One Branched Bulky Moiety and Six Alkylthio Groups

Summary.  Unsymmetrically substituted metal-phthalocyanines composed of three hexylthio groups and one 1-chloro-3,4-dicyano-6-[2-(2-pyridylmethylamino)phenylthio]benzene moiety was prepared by cyclization of the reactants in the presence of the anhydrous metal salts Zn(CH₃COO)₂, NiCl₂, and CoCl₂. The new unsymmetric phthalocyanines are very soluble in common organic solvents. The compounds were characterised by their elemental analyses, IR, ¹H NMR, MS and UV/Vis spectra. Corresponding author. E-mail: bayir@itu.edu.tr Received November 27, 2002; accepted (revised) December 2, 2002 Published online May 2, 2003     

Synthesis of novel unsymmetrical phthalocyanines substituted with crown ether and nitro groups

This work reports on the synthesis of new unsymmetrically substituted phthalocyanines (M = Zn, Cu, Co, Ni) bearing three benzo-15-crown-5 units through oxy bridges and a nitro group. Phthalocyanines were prepared by a statistical condensation of 4-nitro phthalonitrile and 1-{[(benzo-15-crown-5)-4′-yl]oxy}phthalonitrile in the presence of anhydrous metal salts. All the target unsymmetrical phthalocyanines were separated by column chromatography and characterized elemental analyses, ¹H NMR, IR, mass and UV–Vis spectral data. Electrochemical behaviors of Cu (II) phthalocyanine by cyclic voltammetry and differential pulse voltammetry techniques gave two common phthalocyanine ring reductions and one ring oxidation processes. Peak-to-peak separation of the processes II and III (388 mV) and the measure of gap (1.672 V) between the HOMO and LUMO for the complex, fits a phthalocyanine with electrochemically inactive metal center.     

A comparison of electron ionization mass spectra obtained at 70 eV,low electron energies,and with cold EI and their NIST library identification probabilities

Electron ionization (EI) mass spectra of 46 compounds from several different compound classes were measured. Their molecular ion abundances were compared as obtained with 70‐eV EI, with low eV EI (such as 14 eV), and with EI mass spectra of vibrationally cold molecules in supersonic molecular beams (Cold EI). We further compared these mass spectra in their National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) library identification probabilities. We found that

1. Low eV EI is not a soft ionization method, and it has little or no influence on the molecular ion relative abundances for large molecules and those with weak or no molecular ions.
2. Low eV EI for compounds with abundant or dominant molecular ions in their 70 eV mass spectra results in the reduction of low mass fragment ions abundances thereby reducing their NIST library identification probabilities thus rarely justifies its use in real‐world applications.
3. Cold EI significantly enhances the relative abundance of the molecular ions particularly for large compounds; yet, it retains the low mass fragment ions; hence, Cold EI mass spectra can be effectively identified by the NIST library.
4. Different standard EI ion sources provide different 70 eV EI mass spectra. Among the Agilent technologies ion sources, the “Extractor” exhibits relatively abundant molecular ions compared with the “Inert” ion source, while the “High efficiency source” (HES) provides mass spectra with depleted molecular ions compared with the “Inert” ion source or NIST library mass spectra.

These conclusions are demonstrated and supported by experimental data in nine figures and two tables.     

Characteristics of microemulsion polymerized styrene with water-soluble versus oil-soluble initiators

The effect of oil-soluble versus water-soluble free-radical generators in the polymerization of styrene in oil-in-water (O/W) micromulsions were investigated by photon correlation spectroscopy. The microemulsions were formed by styrene, brine, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and pentanol. The polymerizations were carried out in two microemulsions that contained droplets differing by a factor of 2.4 in volume. Under the conditions of ? = 0.019 and NaCl/SDS > 2 the microemulsions were stable and the droplets were independent of one another. Both oil-soluble and water-soluble initiators produced polystyrene that contained fractions of two different sizes. In the case of the oil-soluble initiator the droplet size in the microemulsion seemed to be correlated to the size of the product whereas in the case of the water-soluble initiator, there seemed to be little relation.     

A Comment on Change of Nusselt Number Sign in a Channel Flow Filled by a Fluid-Saturated Porous Medium with Constant Heat Flux Boundary Conditions

The aim of this Letter is to show that, the Nusselt number sign might be changed without changing of heat transfer direction at the wall of channels, even for flows without viscous dissipation.