Highly sensitive and rapid determination of tacrolimus in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

After solid organ transplantation, tacrolimus is given to prevent rejection. Therapeutic drug monitoring is used to reach target concentrations of tacrolimus in whole blood. Because the site of action of tacrolimus is the lymphocyte, and tacrolimus binds ~80% to erythrocytes, the intracellular tacrolimus concentration in lymphocytes is possibly more relevant. For this purpose, we aimed to develop, improve and validate a UPLC–MS/MS method to measure tacrolimus concentrations in isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). PBMCs were isolated using a Ficoll separation technique, followed by a washing step using red blood cell lysis. A cell suspension of 50 μL containing 1 million PBMCs was used in combination with MagSiMUS‐TDM^PREP. To each sample we added 30 μL lysis buffer, 20 μL reconstitution buffer containing ¹³C²H₄‐tacrolimus as internal standard, 40 μL MagSiMUS‐TDM^PREP Type I Particle Mix and 175 μL Organic Precipitation Reagent VI for methanol‐based protein precipitation. A 10 μL aliquot of the supernatant was injected into the UPLC–MS/MS system. The method was validated, resulting in high sensitivity and specificity. The method was linear (r² = 0.997) over the range 5.0–1250 pg/1 × 10⁶ PBMCs. The inaccuracy was <5% and the imprecision was <15%. The washing steps following Ficoll isolation could be performed at either room temperature or on ice, with no effect of the temperature on the results. A method for the analysis of tacrolimus concentrations in PBMCs was developed and successfully validated. Further research will be performed to investigate the correlation between concentrations in PBMCs and clinical outcome.     

A Titanium(IV)‐Based Metal–Organic Framework Featuring Defect‐Rich Ti‐O Sheets as an Oxidative Desulfurization Catalyst

While titanium‐based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely studied for their (photo)catalytic potential, only a few Ti^IV MOFs have been reported owing to the high reactivity of the employed titanium precursors. The synthesis of COK‐47 is now presented, the first Ti carboxylate MOF based on sheets of Ti^IVO₆ octahedra, which can be synthesized with a range of different linkers. COK‐47 can be synthesized as an inherently defective nanoparticulate material, rendering it a highly efficient catalyst for the oxidation of thiophenes. Its structure was determined by continuous rotation electron diffraction and studied in depth by X‐ray total scattering, EXAFS, and solid‐state NMR. Furthermore, its photoactivity was investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance and demonstrated by catalytic photodegradation of rhodamine 6G.     

Entangled Porphyrins in Cyclodextrin Vesicles

The entanglement process between porphyrins and some amphiphiliccyclodextrins and the occurrence of different species have been proved by the combination of UV-Visabsorption, fluorescence anisotropy, resonance light scattering and ¹H NMR spectroscopy.     

Large‐scale extrusion processing and characterization of hybrid nylon‐6/SiO2 nanocomposites

Solution impregnations, pulltrusion and film stacking are widely used methods to prepare thermoplastic composite materials. Extruders are used to melt the polymer and to incorporate fibers into the polymer in order to modify physical properties. In this article, the compounding of colloidal silica nanoparticles filled polyamide‐6 (PA‐6) is achieved using a twin‐screw extruder, which has a significant market share due to its low cost and easy maintenance. The experiments were performed at 250 rpm and the bulk throughput was 6 kg h^?1 with a pump pressure of 30 bars. The composites were characterized with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), wide angle X‐ray diffraction (WAXD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). As determined by WAXD, the PA‐6 showed higher amounts of γ‐phase when compared to other synthesis methods such as in situ polymerization. TEM pictures showed that the silica particles aggregated nevertheless, upon addition of 14% (w/w) silica the E‐modulus increased from 2.7 to 3.9 GPa indicating that an effective mechanical coupling with the polymer was achieved. The behavior, illustrated with dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) curves, indicated that in general when a filled system is compared to unfilled material, the values of the moduli (E′ and E″) increased and tan δ decreased. Determination of molecular mass distribution of the samples by means of size exclusion chromatography (SEC) coupled to a refractive index (RI), viscosity (DV) and light scattering (LS) detector revealed that the addition of silica did not decrease the average molecular weight of the polymer matrix, which is of importance for composite applications. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pincer-porphyrin hybrids

[reaction: see text] Starting from tetrakis(3,5-bis(bromomethyl)phenyl)porphyrin, pincer-porphyrin hybrid molecules (tetrakis(ECE-pincer)porphyrin; E = N, P, S) based on a tetraphenylporphyrin skeleton have been prepared in high yields. These multi-ligand site compounds could be selectively metalated at their peripheries, which was shown by X-ray crystallography.     

Possible role of relativistic effects in the plasticity of the coordination geometry of cadmium(II). A voltammetric study of the stability of the complexes of cadmium(II) with 12-crown-4,15-crown-5 and 18-crown-6 in aqueous solution and the structures of [Cd(benzo-18-crown-6)(NCS)(2)] and [K(18-crown-6)][Cd(SCN)(3)

A differential pulse voltammetric study of complexes of Cd(II) and Pb(II) with crown ethers is reported. Measured log K(1) values for Cd(II) with 18-crown-6 (1,4,7,10,13,16-hexaoxacyclooctadecane), 15-crown-5 (1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxacyclopentadecane), and 12-crown-4 (1,4,7,10-tetraoxacyclododecane) are respectively 2.53 (+/-0.06), 1.97 (+/-0.07), and 1.72 (+/-0.08) and for Pb(II) with 18-crown-6 is 4.17 (+/-0.03), all at 25 degrees C in 0.1 M LiNO(3). Cd(II) is smaller than is usually associated with strong bonding with crown ethers. The high log K(1) values for Cd(2+) with crown ethers found here are discussed in terms of distortion of Cd(II) by relativistic effects. The resulting plasticity of the coordination geometry of the Cd(II) ion allows it to meet the metal ion size requirements of all the crown ethers, allowing high log K(1) values to occur. Crystal structures for [Cd(bz-18-crown-6)(SCN)(2)] (1) (bz-18-crown-6 = benzo-1,4,7,10,13,16-hexaoxacyclooctadecane) and [K(18-crown-6)][Cd(SCN)(3)] (2) are reported. 1 was triclinic, space group P1, a = 8.5413(2), b = 10.0389(2), and c = 13.4644(2) A, alpha = 94.424(1), beta = 102.286(1), and gamma = 93.236(1) degrees, Z = 2, and final R = 0.023. 2 was orthorhombic, space group Cmc2(1), a = 14.7309(3), b = 15.1647(3), and c = 10.6154(2) A, Z = 4, and final R = 0.020. In 1, the Cd occupies the cavity of the bz-18-crown-6 with long average Cd-O bond lengths of 2.65 A and is N-bonded to the thiocyanates with short average Cd-N bonds of 2.12 A. In [Cd(bz-18-crown-6)(SCN)(2)], the linear coordination involving the Cd and the two N-bonded thiocyanate groups in 1 is discussed in terms of the role of relativistic effects in the tendency to linear coordination geometry in group 12 metal ions. In 2 Cd forms a polymeric structure involving thiocyanate bridges between Cd atoms and K(+) occupies the cavity of the crown ether. 2 highlights the fact that cadmium is almost never S-bonded to thiocyanate except in bridging thiocyanates.     

Investigation of chiral reactions: the structural detection of new hydrogenated isocinchona alkaloids from mixtures without isolation using electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

The reaction mixture for the hydrogenation of ethyl pyruvate on Pt-alumina catalyst modified with isocinchona alkaloids (alpha-ICN (I) and beta-ICN (II)) was studied by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS). It was established that part of the chiral modifiers themselves are converted into ions of m/z 299, 305 and 309 in the course of chiral hydrogenation. The experimental data allowed the determination of the probable structure of the ions mentioned. According to ESI-MS/MS spectra the structure of the new cinchona alkaloids was assumed: tetrahydro-isocinchonines (III-VI), decahydro-isocinchonines (VII, VIII) and hydrogenated compounds of VII and VIII by scission of their C--N and C--O bonds (IX/1, IX/2, X). Fragmentation pathways are proposed for these new compounds.     

Monte Carlo simulation of the chain length distribution in pulsed-laser polymerization experiments in microemulsion

The Monte Carlo method has been used for numerically simulating pulsed-laser polymerization (PLP) in microemulsion, in order to establish if a shift from inflection point to peak maximum as the best measure of the propagation rate constant, k_p, will occur theoretically. Termination is assumed to be instantaneous in the simulations as droplet sizes can be very small in microemulsions. From the results of the simulations it is found that instantaneous termination indeed causes the peak maximum to become the best measure of k_p. From these results it can be deduced that in bulk it is not simply the Poisson-broadening that causes the peak maximum to yield an overestimation of k_p. This overestimation is rather caused by the fact that the termination rate is finite leading to an asymmetrical peak in the molecular weight distribution. In combination with broadening this yields the inflection point to be the best measure of k_p in the bulk.