Cooperativity in multiple unusual weak bonds

This review covers two aspects concerning cooperativity in multiple weak bonds: a summary of literature results and a theoretical study of a complete series of model complexes. All the 15 combination of five weak bonds were explored: hydrogen bonds, hydric bonds, dihydrogen bonds, halogen bonds and ion–π interactions. Since in several cases there were no examples reported, a systematic exploration has been carried out on simple models at the MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ level. The results thus obtained have been analyzed using the atoms in molecules methodology.     

Development and validation of a near infrared method for the analytical control of a pharmaceutical preparation in three steps of the manufacturing process

A near infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) procedure for the quantitative control analysis of the active compound (otilonium bromide) in a pharmaceutical preparation in three steps of the production process (blended product, cores and coated tablets) and a methodology for its validation are proposed. The analytical procedure is composed by two consecutive steps. First, the sample is identified by comparing its spectrum with a second derivative spectral library. If the sample is positively identified, the active compound is quantified by using a previously established partial least squares (PLS) calibration model. The procedure was validated by studying repeatability, intermediate precision, accuracy and linearity. To this end, an adaptation of ICH (International Conference on Harmonisation) validation methodology to an NIR multivariate calibration procedure is proposed. The relative standard error of prediction (RSEP) was < or = 1% and the suitability of the procedure for control analysis was confirmed by the results obtained analysing new production samples produced over a three-month period.     

Kinetic study of the thermal and thermo-oxidative degradations of polylactide-modified films for food packaging

In this study, the thermal degradations of some commercial polylactide (PLA) films, pure and subjected to various superficial treatments, were investigated in both inert (flowing nitrogen) and oxidative (static air) atmospheres. Degradations were carried out in a thermobalance, in the scanning mode, at various heating rates, and the obtained thermogravimetric curves were discussed and interpreted. Experiments, performed in the temperature range of 35–700 °C, showed similar behavior in both the atmospheres used. The initial decomposition temperature (T _i) and the apparent activation energy (E _a) of degradation of the differently treated PLA films were determined and compared with each other and with those of untreated PLA. The E _a of degradation was obtained by Kissinger’s method, and the values were found increased linearly as a function of crystallinity percentage (%c) as well as the T _i values. The glass transition temperature (T _g) was also determined by differential scanning calorimetry. All the investigated parameters showed dependence on different treatments made to the films. The results obtained for the degradations of PLA films were compared with each other, and a classification of thermal stability in the studied environments were made.     

Carbocyclic analogues of nucleosides from bis-(Hydroxymethyl)-cyclopentane: synthesis,antiviral and cytostatic activities of adenosine,inosine and uridine analogues

Six new carbocyclic nucleosides were prepared by constructing a purine base (in compounds 9-11) or pyrimidine base (in 6-8) on the amino groups of (+/-)-(1 beta,2 alpha,4 beta)-4-amino-1,2-cyclopentanedimethanol (4) and (+/-)-(1 beta,3 alpha,4 beta)-4-amino-1,3-cyclopentanedimethanol (5), and their activities against a variety of viruses and tumour cell lines were determined.     

A comparison of depletion versus equalization for reducing high-abundance proteins in human serum

In this work three methods to diminish the content of most highly abundant proteins in human serum have been studied and compared. Protein depletion with ACN or DTT and protein equalization with the ProteoMiner^? (PM) have been assessed by 1‐D gel electrophoresis and MS. After treatment 5, 18 and 9 major proteins within the 20 most abundant proteins in serum were identified for the ACN, DTT and PM methods, respectively. The ACN method was efficient for depleting high molecular weight proteins, over 75 KDa, resulting in 10±4% (n=3) of the total protein content remaining in the depleted serum. In addition, 75% of the proteins belonging to the group of the 20 most abundant proteins were not detected, making this depletion strategy a cheap alternative to expensive commercial tools regularly used for removing high abundance proteins from serum. The ACN extract was found rich in apolipoproteins. The dithithreitol method promotes the precipitation of proteins rich in disulfide bonds, mainly albumin, with 73±7% (n=3) of the total protein content remaining in the depleted serum, which was found rich in immunoglobulins. The PM method compresses the dynamic range of the serum proteins, rendering an extract containing 16±2% (n=3) of the total initial protein content. The extract was found to be rich in both apolipoproteins and immunoglobulins. As a general rule the DTT and PM methods provide a compression of the dynamic range of serum protein concentrations while the ACN method allows an effective depletion of the protein fraction above 72 KDa.     

NIR analysis of pharmaceutical samples without reference data: improving the calibration

Using an appropriate set of samples to construct the calibration set is crucial with a view to ensuring accurate multivariate calibration of NIR spectroscopic data. In this work, we developed and optimized a new methodology for incorporating physical variability in pharmaceutical production based on the NIR spectrum for the process. Such a spectrum contains the spectral changes caused by each treatment applied to the component mixture during the production process. The proposed methodology involves adding a set of process spectra (viz. difference spectra between those for production tablets and a laboratory mixture of identical nominal composition) to the set of laboratory samples, which span the wanted concentration range, in order to construct a calibration set incorporating all physical changes undergone by the samples in each step of the production process. The best calibration model among those tested was selected by establishing the influence of spectral pretreatments used to obtain the process spectrum and construct the calibration models, and also by determining the multiplying factor m to be applied to the process spectra in order to ensure incorporation of all variability sources into the calibration model. The specific samples to be included in the calibration set were selected by principal component analysis (PCA). To this end, the new methodology for constructing calibration sets for determining the Active Principle Ingredients (API) and excipients was applied to Irbesartan tablets and validated by application to the API and excipients of paracetamol tablets. The proposed methodology provides simple, robust calibration models for determining the different components of a pharmaceutical formulation.     

Structural and spectroscopic study of 5,7-dihydroxy-flavone and its complex with aluminum

The structure, stability and molar absorptivity of the complex formed between AlCl(3) and 5,7-dihydroxy-flavone in methanol were investigated using UV-Vis spectroscopy and the AM1 method. The molar ratio method and Job's method of continuous variation were applied to ascertain the stoichiometric composition of the complex in methanol at constant ionic strength. A 1:2 complex was indicated by both methods. The molar absorptivity and stability constant of the complex were determined using a simple and accurate procedure that requires solutions having the ligand and metal ion in the stoichiometric proportion. The high stability constant demonstrates that the complexation reaction is total. The structure of this complex, obtained by the quantum semi-empirical AM1 method, indicates that two classes of metal-ligand interactions are involved in the formation of the metal complex: (a) two simple covalent bonds between the aluminum atom and the oxygen atoms of o-hydroxyl groups of 5,7-dihydroxy-flavone; (b) two stronger Coulombic interactions between the aluminum atom and the carbonyl oxygen atoms of the ligand.     

Structural and Kinetic Aspects of Blood Plasma Protein Adsorption on the Surface of Hydrophobic Polymers

Abstract

Due to the wide use of polymers in medicine, researchers are required to solve a very important problem–to understand the interaction between materials of nonphysiological origin and the surrounding biological liquids, and tissues, particularly blood.