三线性分解方法用于激发-发射矩阵荧光数据中一阶瑞利散射的扣除

由于荧光分析具有检测灵敏度高、数据容易获得等优点,近年来二阶张量校正方法与激发-发射矩阵荧光光谱技术的联用正受到人们越来越多的关注.但是,在三维荧光分析中,经常出现的一阶瑞利散射干扰往往容易导致建立的三线性模型存在较大的偏离,进而直接影响复杂体系中感兴趣组分的定性、定量分析.针对该问题,我们提出了一种基于对组分数不敏感的三线性分解算法扣除一阶瑞利散射干扰的新思路.该方法的特点是根据一阶瑞利散射分别在水平切片矩阵和侧面切片矩阵所处位置相同,沿I-模和J-模同时构建含一阶瑞利散射的三维数据阵,利用三线性分解算法对此各自建模,将一阶瑞利散射当作一个响应组分或因子拟合后从三维数据阵中扣除掉.通过对模拟和实际三维激发发射矩阵荧光光谱实验数据进行讨论,结果表明该方法能有效地扣除体系中的一阶瑞利散射干扰.改进后的方法不仅操作简单,而且不受组分数选取不当的困扰.另外,由于同时从两个方向进行一阶瑞利散射扣除,因此不会出现因边缘瑞利散射峰形不完整而扣除不完全的情况.该方法为三维荧光光谱的无损分析提供了新思路,为进一步进行三维荧光光谱的定量分析奠定了良好的基础.     

Influence of internal structure on kinetics of drug release from wax matrix tablets

To examine the influence of the internal structure of a wax matrix tablet on in vitro drug release, the release rates of several tablets consisting of various proportions of drug and wax were compared with the water penetration rates from the compressed and lateral surfaces of the tablets. The penetration rates from the lateral surface were found to be much faster than those from the compressed surface in all cases. A theoretical equation involving a two-dissolving-direction was derived on the basis of the boundary retreating concept. The retreating rate constants deduced from the dissolution results were well coincident with the values directly determined by the needle penetration method, suggesting good applicability of the proposed equation. The results suggest that the tortuosity of the water channels created in a tablet during dissolution is generally smaller in the horizontal direction than that in the vertical direction. This would be caused by the drug particles or granules being elongated in the horizontal direction by compression.     

Spectrophotometric methods for the determination of the antidepressant drug paroxetine hydrochloride in tablets

Simple, sensitive, and accurate visible spectrophotometric methods are described for the determination of paroxetine hydrochloride (PA) in tablets. Among them, the first 3 methods are based on the ion-pair complexes of PA formed with bromothymol blue (BTB), bromophenol blue (BPB), and bromocresol green (BCG) in aqueous acidic buffers. The complex species extracted into chloroform were quantitatively measured at 414 nm with BTB and BCG and at 412 nm with BPB. Beer's law was obeyed over the concentration ranges of 2-20, 2-16, and 2-16 microg/mL, respectively. The fourth method described is based on a coupling reaction between PA and 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzofurazon (NBD-Cl) in borate buffer, pH 8.5, in which a yellow reaction product that was measured at 478 nm was formed. The Beer's law range for this method was 2-10 microg/mL. The last method developed describes the interaction of PA base, as an n-electron donor, with 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ), as a pi-acceptor, in acetonitrile to give blue-colored TCNQ- radical anion with absorption maxima at 750 and 845 nm. Measured at 845 nm, the absorbance-concentration plot was rectilinear over the range of 1.5-15 microg/mL. The new methods developed were successfully applied to the determination of PA in tablets without any interference from common tablet excipients. The results of the methods were in good agreement with those obtained with an official liquid chromatographic method. This report describes first colorimetric methods for the determination of PA.     

Studying the release of hGH from gamma-irradiated PLGA microparticles using ATR-FTIR imaging

Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) imaging has been applied for the first time to monitor the redistribution and release of hGH from a range of PLGA/PLA microparticles during a set of dissolution experiments at 37 °C in D₂O. The effect of gamma-irradiation, a common sterilisation method, on hGH release kinetics from such systems has been demonstrated. Increasing the gamma dose was shown to have a profound influence on the nature of the release mechanism, with higher gamma doses leading to a dramatic increase in the initial burst release followed by a retardation in the sustained release and a lower total level of hGH release over the dissolution experiment. These changes were shown to be the result of a combination of factors; firstly, via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), gamma-irradiation was shown to strongly influence the morphology of the PLGA/PLA microparticles; reducing their overall porosity and reducing the available surface area, whilst forcing some of the entrapped hGH to the microparticle surface. Secondly, from FTIR measurements, gamma-irradiation was shown to increase the number of oxygenated components in the Poloxamer 407 excipient, by a process of chain scission, thereby increasing the strength of interaction between the microparticle and the entrapped hGH.     

Electronic excitation spectra from time-dependent density functional response theory using plane-wave methods

The time-dependent density functional response theory method for the computation of electronic excitation spectra has been implemented in a plane-wave basis set/pseudo-potential formalism. We compare our test results for N₂ and H₂CO to literature atomic basis set calculations and find good agreement. We also discuss some of the technical complications specific to the use of plane-wave basis sets. As an application, the thermally broadened photoabsorption spectrum of formamide at room temperature is computed by averaging over a number of vibrational configurations sampled from an ab initio molecular dynamics run and compared to experiment.     

HPLC method for the analysis of cyproterone acetate in tablets

A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method is described for the analysis of cyproterone acetate in tablets. This steroid is extracted and quantitated using a C18 column. This procedure is shown to be rapid, simple, and valid in terms of recovery, linearity, and precision. Application of this method to analyze dilute samples obtained from dissolution testing is demonstrated.     

Extraction of selenium species in pharmaceutical tablets using enzymatic and chemical methods

Microchimica Acta - This report describes the extraction of selenium species contained in pharmaceutical tablets using either enzymatic hydrolysis or sodium dodecyl sulphate extraction (SDS). The...     

Two simple and rapid spectrophotometric methods for the determination of a new antihypertensive drug olmesartan in tablets

Two simple, rapid and reproducible spectrophotometric methods have been described for the assay of olmesartan (OLM) in pharmaceutical formulation. The methods are based on the formation of ion associates in the reactions between the studied drug substance and ion-pair agents [bromocresol green (BCG) and bromophenol blue (BPB)]. By the extraction with dichloromethane and chloroform, yellow-colored ion associates were formed in acidic medium and absorbances were measured at 409 (BCG) and 412 nm (BPB). Optimizations of the reaction conditions were performed. Beer’s law was obeyed within the concentration range from 1–40 μg/mL and 10–120 μg/mL, respectively, for BCG and BPB. The molar absorptivity, detection and quantification limits were also determined. The developed methods were applied successfully to the determination of this drug in tablets.     

Predicting the phosphorylation sites using hidden Markov models and machine learning methods

Accurately predicting phosphorylation sites in proteins is an important issue in postgenomics, for which how to efficiently extract the most predictive features from amino acid sequences for modeling is still challenging. Although both the distributed encoding method and the bio-basis function method work well, they still have some limits in use. The distributed encoding method is unable to code the biological content in sequences efficiently, whereas the bio-basis function method is a nonparametric method, which is often computationally expensive. As hidden Markov models (HMMs) can be used to generate one model for one cluster of aligned protein sequences, the aim in this study is to use HMMs to extract features from amino acid sequences, where sequence clusters are determined using available biological knowledge. In this novel method, HMMs are first constructed using functional sequences only. Both functional and nonfunctional training sequences are then inputted into the trained HMMs to generate functional and nonfunctional feature vectors. From this, a machine learning algorithm is used to construct a classifier based on these feature vectors. It is found in this work that (1) this method provides much better prediction accuracy than the use of HMMs only for prediction, and (2) the support vector machines (SVMs) algorithm outperforms decision trees and neural network algorithms when they are constructed on the features extracted using the trained HMMs.     

PLS and first derivative of ratio spectra methods for determination of hydrochlorothiazide and propranolol hydrochloride in tablets

Two new analytical methods have been developed as convenient and useful alternatives for simultaneous determination of hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) and propranolol hydrochloride (PRO) in pharmaceutical formulations. The methods are based on the first derivative of ratio spectra (DRS) and on partial least squares (PLS) analysis of the ultraviolet absorption spectra of the samples in the 250–350-nm region. The methods were calibrated between 8.7 and 16.0 mg L⁻¹ for HCT and between 14.0 and 51.5 mg L⁻¹ for PRO. An asymmetric full-factorial design and wavelength selection (277–294 nm for HCT and 297–319 for PRO) were used for the PLS method and signal intensities at 276 and 322 nm were used in the DRS method for HCT and PRO, respectively. Performance characteristics of the analytical methods were evaluated by use of validation samples and both methods showed to be accurate and precise, furnishing near quantitative analyte recoveries (100.4 and 99.3% for HCT and PRO by use of PLS) and relative standard deviations below 2%. For PLS the lower limits of quantification were 0.37 and 0.66 mg L⁻¹ for HCT and PRO, respectively, whereas for DRS they were 1.15 and 3.05 mg L⁻¹ for HCT and PRO, respectively. The methods were used for quantification of HCT and PRO in synthetic mixtures and in two commercial tablet preparations containing different proportions of the analytes. The results of the drug content assay and the tablet dissolution test were in statistical agreement (p < 0.05) with those furnished by the official procedures of the USP 29. Preparation of dissolution profiles of the combined tablet formulations was also performed with the aid of the proposed methods. The methods are easy to apply, use relatively simple equipment, require minimum sample pre-treatment, enable high sample throughput, and generate less solvent waste than other procedures. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at and is accessible for authorized users.     

Characterization of factors affecting the release of low-solubility drug from prolonged release tablets

Diclofenac sodium (2-[(2,6-dichlorophenyl)amino]benzeneacetic acid monosodium salt) was investigated as a low-solubility drug and Naklofen^® retard prolonged release tablets, containing 100 mg of diclofenac sodium as a prolonged release lipophilic matrix system using factorial design approach. First, the solubility characteristics of diclofenac sodium in aqueous media with various ionic strengths, ionic compositions and pH in the range of 1-8 were determined. The obtained results showed that the solubility of diclofenac sodium depends mainly on pH of the aqueous medium and less on the composition and ionic strength of the medium. Next, the estimation of the effects of six different factors (type of the dissolution apparatus, rotation speeds of the stirring elements, pH, ionic strengths of dissolution medium, the applied salt, and the producer of the on-line connected dissolution apparatus and UV spectrophotometer) on the release of diclofenac sodium, using the two-level six-factorial design was investigated. It was found that rotation speeds of the stirring elements, pH, and ionic strengths of the dissolution medium have a significant impact on the drug release and should be further followed in future drug release analyses. The advantages of the factorial design approach are obvious in this work. It is a very economic way of obtaining the maximum amount of information in a short period of time, especially in the case of prolonged release formulations where each experiment requires at least 24 h.     

Improved spectra for MALDI MSI of peptides using ammonium phosphate monobasic in MALDI matrix

MALDI mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) enables analysis of peptides along with histology. However, there are several critical steps in MALDI MSI of peptides, 1 of which is spectral quality. Suppression of MALDI matrix clusters by the aid of ammonium salts in MALDI experiments is well known. It is asserted that addition of ammonium salts dissociates potential matrix adducts and thereafter decreases matrix cluster formation. Consequently, MALDI MS sensitivity and mass accuracy increase. Up to our knowledge, a limited number of MALDI MSI studies used ammonium salts as matrix additives to suppress matrix clusters and enhance peptide signals. In this work, we investigated the effect of ammonium phosphate monobasic (AmP) as alpha‐cyano‐4‐hydroxycinnamic acid (α‐CHCA) matrix additive in MALDI MSI of peptides. Prior to MALDI MSI, the effect of varying concentrations of AmP in α‐CHCA was assessed in bovine serum albumin tryptic digests and compared with the control (α‐CHCA without AmP). Based on our data, the addition of AmP as matrix additive decreased matrix cluster formation regardless of its concentration, and specifically, 8 mM AmP and 10 mM AmP increased bovine serum albumin peptide signal intensities. In MALDI MSI of peptides, both 8 and 10 mM AmP in α‐CHCA improved peptide signals especially in the mass range of m/z 2000 to 3000. In particular, 9 peptide signals were found to have differential intensities within the tissues deposited with AmP in α‐CHCA (AUC > 0.60). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first MALDI MSI of peptides work investigating different concentrations of AmP as α‐CHCA matrix additive to enhance peptide signals in formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded (FFPE) tissues. Further, AmP as part of α‐CHCA matrix could enhance protein identifications and support MALDI MSI‐based proteomic approaches.     

Overcoming matrix effects using the dilution approach in multiresidue methods for fruits and vegetables

During recent years matrix effects in liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) have quickly become a major concern in food analysis. The phenomenon of ion suppression can lead to errors in the quantification of the analytes of interest, as well as can affect detection capability, precision, and accuracy of the method. Sample dilution is an easy and effective method to reduce interfering compounds, and so, to diminish matrix effects. In this work, matrix effects of 53 pesticides in three different matrices (orange, tomato and leek) were evaluated. Several dilutions of the matrix were tested in order to study the evolution of signal suppression. Dilution of the extracts led to a reduction of the signal suppression in most of the cases. A dilution factor of 15 demonstrated to be enough to eliminate most of the matrix effects, opening the possibility to perform quantification with solvent based standards in the majority of the cases. In those cases where signal suppression could not be reduced, a possible solution would be to use stable isotope-labelled internal standards for quantification of the problematic pesticides.     

Application of eudragit RS to thermo-sensitive drug delivery systems. I. Thermo-sensitive drug release from acetaminophen matrix tablets consisting of eudragit RS/PEG 400 blend polymers

In order to develop the polymer materials having temperature-sensitive and high biological safety, Eudragit RS-PO and polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG 400) blend polymers (EPG) were prepared. The EPGs that have the glass transition temperature (Tg) at around the body temperature were prepared by the addition of 5--13% PEG 400 to Eudragit RS. As glassy polymers are not in thermodynamic equilibrium below their Tg, the effects of isothermal aging on the T(g)s of Eudragit RS and EPG containing 10% PEG 400 (10% EPG) were also studied at various aging temperatures. The Tg values of Eudragit RS increased with the aging time and after 30 d of aging, they apparently reached constant values which markedly differed depending on the aging temperatures. On the other hand, the Tg values of 10% EPG were almost independent of the aging temperature and reached around 33 degrees C at 30 d after aging. The ability as thermo-sensitive polymer of EPG was evaluated by the dissolution test of the acetaminophen (AAP) matrix tablets prepared with EPG. The AAP release rate from the EPG matrix tablets slightly changed below the Tg of tablets, and then, it markedly increased above the Tg. Considering high biological safety of Eudragit RS and PEG 400, EPG might be available to develop the novel thermo-sensitive drug delivery systems.     

Predicting water uptake in poly(perfluorosulfonic acids) using force field simulation methods

Free energy perturbation methods were applied to predict water contents in hydrated poly(perfluorosulfonic acids) (PPFSA). The simulations were based on the TEAM force field which was derived from quantum mechanical data calculated for small molecules using density functional theory (DFT) and thermodynamic data of molecular liquids and crystal. The equilibrium water contents in three PPFSA polymers (Nafion-117, Nafion-115 and Hyflon) were predicted by evaluating excess chemical potentials of water in hydrated polymers and in pure water. High level of precision measured by average uncertainty of ca. 0.1 kcal mol(-1), and accuracy in terms of deviation from experimental data by ca. 0.2 kcal mol(-1) were obtained in the predicted excess chemical potentials. The predicted amounts of water uptake agree well with experimental values. In addition, the equilibrium and dynamic properties of hydrated Nafion-117 were calculated and the results agree well with the existing experimental and computational data. The entropy and enthalpy contributions in the calculated excess chemical potentials are analyzed and the results are consistent with intuition. A linear correlation between the entropies and enthalpies is identified for the systems studied, which indicates that just increasing the interaction energies between water and host materials does not guarantee enhancement of the water uptake.     

Spectrophotometric methods for the determination of prazosin hydrochloride in tablets

Four simple and sensitive methods for the assay of prazosin hydrochloride (PRH) are developed. These methods are based on the formation of coloured species by treating it either with excess N-bromosuccinimide (NBS) and determining the unconsumed NBS with p-N-methyl aminophenol sulphate (metol)-sulphanilamide (SA) reagent (method A, lambda(max) 520 nm): with 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone hydrochloride (MBTH) in the presence of eerie ammonium sulphate (CAS) (method B, lambda(max) 620 nm) or with acidic dyes such as orange-II (O-II) (method C, lambda(max) 490 nm) and alizarin violet 3B (AV-3B) (method D, lambda(max) 570 nm) under the specified experimental conditions. Regression analysis of Beer's law plot showed good correlation in the concentration range of 1.0-10.0, 2.5-25.0, 1.0-17.5 and 2.5-30.0 mug ml for methods A, B, C and D respectively.     

Theoretical study on infrared vibrational spectra of boric-acid in gas-phase using density functional methods

Density functional theory (DFT) methods with various exchange-correlation functionals such as SVWN, BVWN, BVWN5, BLYP, B1LYP, B3LYP, B3PW91, and BH and H are employed in a theoretical study of molecular boric-acid in gas-phase. In the calculations, the split valence 6-311++G** and 6-31G* basis sets were used. The geometry, zero-point vibrational energies (ZPVEs), and harmonic infrared vibrational (IR) frequencies are predicted. The calculated C_3h-symmetry geometrical parameters are compared with Hartree–Fock (HF) calculation results and experimental data. IR frequencies predicted by the BLYP, B3LYP, and B3PW91 calculations are in good agreement with experimental data. The frequency calculations presented here also suggest that the C_3h-symmetrical structure corresponds to a minimum in the potential energy surface, but neither is D_3h- or C₃-symmetrical structure.     

Experimental infrared spectra of matrix isolated complexes of HCl with 4-substituted pyridines. Evaluation of anharmonicity and matrix effects using data from ab initio calculations

Infrared spectra have been measured for HCl complexes with 4-cyanopyridine, 4-chloropyridine, pyridine and 4-methylpyridine isolated in argon and nitrogen matrices at about 12 K. The experimental spectra are dramatically different from computed MP2/6-31+G(d,p) harmonic spectra, a consequence of the anharmonicity of the potential energy surface in the hydrogen-bonding region. Comparisons of computed and experimental data suggest that the experimental spectra correspond to complexes with HCl distances that are much longer than the computed equilibrium distances. These longer distances, R_cor(HCl), are related to the average HCl distance in the ground vibrational state of the proton-stretching mode. The value of R_cor(HCl) determines values of three effective anharmonic force constants for the HCl stretch, the NH stretch and the coupling between them for each complex. The simulated anharmonic spectra obtained when these anharmonic force constants are used in place of the corresponding harmonic constants show spectral patterns with respect to both frequencies and intensities that are very similar to those observed in the experimental spectra obtained in Ar and N₂ matrices. 1D anharmonic potential curves related to the experimental spectra are presented. They provide insight into anharmonicity of the hydrogen-bonded proton stretch for these systems, and into the sensitivity of the potential energy surface to the environment.