Thermal, spectroscopic, and dissolution studies of the simvastatin–acetylsalicylic acid mixtures

The objective of the present investigation was to study the effect of eutectic formation on in vitro dissolution of simvastatin (SIM) released from mixtures with acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) prepared by a grinding method. SIM–ASA mixtures were characterized by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), infrared spectroscopy (IR), X-ray powder diffractometry (XRPD), and in vitro dissolution tests. IR spectroscopy and XRPD studies indicated no interaction between SIM and ASA in the solid state. The DSC investigation has revealed that SIM and ASA form a simple eutectic system containing 66.6 % w/w of SIM at the eutectic point. In vitro dissolution studies of SIM and its mixtures with ASA were carried out. The eutectic mixture shows an appreciable increase in the dissolution rate in comparison with other ratios and SIM in 0.5 % w/v sodium lauryl sulfate. The dissolution enhancement of SIM was related to the effective wetting of the drug particles with a significantly reduced size released from eutectic composition. In conclusion, dissolution of SIM can be enhanced through eutectic formation with ASA by means of simple mechanical activation (a grinding method).     

Synthesis and structure determination of 2,3-diaryl-9,9-dioxo-1H-9-thia-1,4,4a,7,10-pentaazaphenanthrene-2-ols

3-Amino-1,1-dioxopyrido[4,3-e]-1,4,2-dithiazine has been synthesized and applied to the synthesis of 3-amino-2-(4-thioxo-1,4-dihydropyridin-3-ylsulfonyl)guanidine. The reaction of the aminoguanidine with the appropriate 1,2-diarylethane-1,2-diones afforded 2,3-diaryl-9,9-dioxo-1H-9-thia-1,4,4a,7,10-pentaazaphenanthrene-2-ol derivatives. The structure of these compounds, which represent a novel heterocyclic ring system, was confirmed on the basis of elemental analysis and spectroscopic data including COSY, NOESY, ROESY, HSQC, and HMBC.     

The temperature and concentration dependence of helical pitch in the mixtures of antiferroelectric compounds with the opposite helical twist sense

The temperature dependence of helical pitch for members of an homologous series of orthoconic antiferroelectric compounds (3FmHPhF) and their bicomponent mixtures (m = 3 and 5 as well as m = 3 and 7) has been measured by the method of selective light reflection. The compounds have the same chiral centre but they have different temperature dependence of the helical pitch as well as the helical twisting sense in SmC*_A phase: right for member m = 3, left for m = 7, and both right and left for m = 5. For this last homologue, the change of twisting sense is connected with the appearance of the unwound structure. Concentration dependence on helical pitch was investigated in the mixtures. It was demonstrated that it is possible to obtain mixtures with desirable high pitch and also with totally unwound structure.     

Major and Trace Elements in Spruce Needles from Urban Areas: Some Aspects of Analysis in Environmental Studies

Main and trace elements in samples of spruce needles from urban areas in Poland and Norway were analysed using the ICP-AES method. Concentrations of Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, P, Sr, Ti, V and Zn were measured in needles from conifer trees growing in different locations. Two different procedures of laboratory sample preparation were compared and discussed. Different washing procedures were examined and compared. For quality control of analytical measurements, Standard Reference Material BCR CRM 101 (spruce needles from Europe) was used. Synergistic and antagonistic relationships between elements in spruce needles were investigated. Applicability of spruce needles in biomonitoring of environmental metal pollution was discussed.     

In-house quality control material of nicarbazin and narasin in eggs: preparation and inter-laboratory evaluation

Coccidiostats are a group of pharmacologically active substances widely used in veterinary practice. Their residues are detected relatively often in poultry tissues and egg samples analyzed as part of official residue control programs in the European Union. Therefore, accuracy of quantitative results needs to be monitored through internal and external quality control studies. In addition, the use of materials containing incurred residues would be welcome to for ongoing monitoring of the method accuracy. Unfortunately, in the field of veterinary drug residues, certified reference materials are often unavailable. Therefore, in-house quality control material of incurred lyophilized eggs containing narasin and nicarbazin has been produced and characterized. The eggs originated from hens receiving feed with coccidiostat premix Maxiban were mixed to obtain presumed concentrations of residues and freeze-dried. Homogeneity of the material was verified by the duplicate analysis of ten random samples, and the results proved that the between samples variation was negligible in comparison with the method repeatability. No measurable loss of analytes was observed within 1 year; the slope of the regression line of the results of stability measurements was not significantly different from zero. The assigned values were expressed as medians of the results of inter-laboratory comparison performed in four different European laboratories; the uncertainty of the material was estimated, taken into consideration all above tests, resulting in (14.4 ± 2.53) µg/kg for nicarbazin and (7.91 ± 1.52) µg/kg for narasin.     

The mass spectrometric study on aminohydroxamic acids‐based metallacrowns

Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (MS) has been widely used to detect noncovalent interactions in supramolecular compounds, especially in biological systems. In our work, we present the application of the electrospray ionization MS technique to characterize the metallamacrocycles, known as metallacrowns. This project involves investigations of the aminohydroxamic acids structure and chirality influence on formation of ternary 12‐metallacrown‐4 complexes. For our experiments, we used a series of β‐aminohydroxamic acids and derivatives of histidinehydroxamic acid. A high stability of the studied supramolecular systems in the gas phase was confirmed by MS/MS experiments. We also proposed the fragmentation pathways for the studied compounds. Obtained results reveal that the ternary 12‐metallacrown‐4 formation process is not selective, and ligands of various structures and chiralities can be incorporated into these systems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles from Au + Au collisions at the maximum RHIC energy,square root[s(NN)] = 200 GeV

We present charged-particle multiplicities as a function of pseudorapidity and collision centrality for the 197Au+197Au reaction at square root[s(NN)] = 200 GeV. For the 5% most central events we obtain dN(ch)/deta/(eta = 0) = 625+/-55 and N(ch)/(-4.7< or =eta < or =4.7) = 4630 +/- 370, i.e., 14% and 21% increases, respectively, relative to square root[s(NN)] = 130 GeV collisions. Charged-particle production per pair of participant nucleons is found to increase from peripheral to central collisions around midrapidity. These results constrain current models of particle production at the highest RHIC energy.     

Scaling laws of complex band random matrices

We study a model of complex band random matrices capable of describing the transitions between three different ensembles of Hermitian matrices: Gaussian orthogonal, Gaussian unitary and Poissonian. Analyzing numerical data we observe new scaling relations based on the generalized localization length of eigenvectors. We show that during transitions between canonical ensembles of random matrices the changes of statistical properties of eigenvalues and eigenvectors are correlated.