Amorphous carbon nitride as an alternative electrode material in electroanalysis: Simultaneous determination of dopamine and ascorbic acid

Boron-doped diamond (BDD) films are excellent electrode materials, whose electrochemical activity for some analytes can be tuned by controlling their surface termination, most commonly either to predominantly hydrogen or oxygen. This tuning can be accomplished by e.g. suitable cathodic or anodic electrochemical pretreatments. Recently, it has been shown that amorphous carbon nitride (a-CN_x) films may present electrochemical characteristics similar to those of BDD, including the influence of surface termination on their electrochemical activity toward some analytes. In this work, we report for the first time a complete electroanalytical method using an a-CN_x electrode. Thus, an a-CN_x film deposited on a stainless steel foil by DC magnetron sputtering is proposed as an alternative electrode for the simultaneous determination of dopamine (DA) and ascorbic acid (AA) in synthetic biological samples by square-wave voltammetry. The obtained results are compared with those attained using a BDD electrode. For both electrodes, a same anodic pretreatment in 0.1 mol L⁻¹ KOH was necessary to attain an adequate and equivalent separation of the DA and AA oxidation potential peaks of about 330 mV. The detection limits obtained for the simultaneous determination of these analytes using the a-CN_x electrode were 0.0656 μmol L⁻¹ for DA and 1.05 μmol L⁻¹ for AA, whereas with the BDD electrode these values were 0.283 μmol L⁻¹ and 0.968 μmol L⁻¹, respectively. Furthermore, the results obtained in the analysis of the analytes in synthetic biological samples were satisfactory, attesting the potential application of the a-CN_x electrode in electroanalysis.     

Influence of response factors on determining equilibrium association constants of non-covalent complexes by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

A method for determining the equilibrium association constant of a complexation reaction A + B left harpoon over right harpoon AB by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry is described. The method consists in measuring the relative intensities of the peaks corresponding to A and to AB in equimolar A-B solutions at different concentrations C(0). The results are fitted by a non-linear least-squares procedure, with the two variable parameters being the equilibrium association constant K(a) and a factor R, defined by I(AB)/I(A) = R x [AB]/[A]. The factor R is the ratio between the response factors of AB and A, and corrects for the relative electrospray responses of the complex and the free substrate A, mass discrimination of instrumental origin and/or moderate in-source dissociation. The method is illustrated with the following two systems: complexes between a double-stranded 12-base pair oligonucleotide and minor groove binders, and cyclodextrin complexes with alpha,omega-dicarboxylic acids. For the oligonucleotide complexes, it is found that the response of the complex is not dramatically different to the response of the free oligonucleotide duplex, as the double helix conformation is disturbed by the drug only to a minor extent. In the case of cyclodextrin complexes, these complexes were found to have a much higher response than free cyclodextrin. This may be due to the fact that cyclodextrin is neutral in solution, whereas the complex is charged, but it can also stem from the fact that a significant proportion of the complex is in a non-inclusion geometry. The present method requires the exact determination of the concentrations of the reactants and is applicable to 1 : 1 complexes.     

A rare earth-DOTA-binding antibody: probe properties and binding affinity across the lanthanide series

An antibody that binds rare earth complexes selectively could be used as a docking station for a set of probe molecules, of particular interest for medical imaging and therapy. The rare earths are rich in probe properties, such as the paramagnetism of Gd, the luminescence of Tb and Eu, and the nuclear properties of Lu and Y. We find that antibody 2D12.5, initially developed to bind analogues of Y-DOTA (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N',N' ',N' '-tetraacetic acid) for radiotherapy, binds not only Y-DOTA analogues but also analogous DOTA complexes of all of the lanthanides. Surprisingly, chelates of some metals such as Gd3+ bind more tightly than the original Y3+ complex. When the shape of the complex is perturbed by either increasing or decreasing the radius of the lanthanide ion, the thermodynamic stability of the protein-ligand complex changes in a regular fashion. The behavior of DeltaDeltaG as a function of ionic radius fits a parabola, as might be expected for a system that behaves in a thermodynamically elastic way. The broad specificity and high affinity of this antibody for all rare earth-DOTA complexes make it particularly interesting for applications that take advantage of the unique characteristics of lanthanides. For example, UV excitation of the Tb-DOTA-2D12.5 complex leads to energy transfer from aromatic side chains of the antibody to bound Tb-DOTA, enhancing green terbium luminescence >104 relative to unbound Tb-DOTA.     

Performance of an ultra-low elution-volume 96-well plate: drug discovery and development applications

Recently, sample preparation has been considered to be the major cause of bottlenecks during high-throughput analysis. With the assistance of robotic liquid handlers and the 96-well plate format, more samples can be prepared for subsequent liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) analysis. Protein precipitation is still widely used despite potential loss of sensitivity or variable results due to ion suppression. The use of solid-phase extraction (SPE) clearly gives superior results but may not be as cost effective as protein precipitation due to the labor and material costs associated with the process. Here, a novel 96-well SPE plate is described that was designed to minimize the elution volume required for quantitative elution of analytes. The plate is packed with 2 mg of a high-capacity SPE sorbent that allows loading of up to 750 microL of plasma, while the novel design permits elution with as little as 25 microL. Therefore, the plate offers up to a 15-fold increase in sample concentration. The evaporation and reconstitution step that is typically required in SPE is avoided due to the concentrating ability of the plate. Examples of applications in drug discovery/development are shown and results are compared to protein precipitation. Excellent sensitivity and linearity are demonstrated.     

Diastereoselective preparation of 2,4,6-trisubstituted-2'-cyanopiperidines: application to the construction of the carbon framework of perhydrohistrionicotoxin

The anodic cyanation of methanolic solutions of the 2-alkyl-N-phenylpiperidines 6b-d was performed in a flow cell equipped with a graphite felt anode. The reaction led to the formation of the 2-cyano-6-alkyl-N-phenylpiperidines 2b-d and proceeded with a high degree of regioselectivity. The 1H NMR spectra of the aminonitriles 2b-d showed an epimeric mixture at C-6. The major isomer has a trans configuration in which the cyano group is axial and the alkyl substituent is equatorial. Conversely, electrochemical oxidation of the 4-methyl-6-pentyl-N-phenylpiperidine 6e afforded the trisubstituted aminonitrile 2e as a single diastereomer (> 98% de). The 4-cyanobutyl side chain was incorporated in a two-step procedure to yield dinitrile 4e. This latter compound was directly converted into spiropiperidine 5e by using the Thorpe-Ziegler annulation procedure. The overall sequence (4 steps, 43%) allows the construction of the basic carbon framework of perhydrohistrionicotoxin.     

A new paclitaxel prodrug for use in ADEPT strategy

A new paclitaxel prodrug intended for use in Antibody-Directed Prodrug Therapy (ADEPT) or Prodrug Monotherapy (PMT) has been prepared. This prodrug was originally designed to be activated into the drug by human beta-glucuronidase. In order to enhance the liberation rate of paclitaxel, an elongated spacer system including a nitro-aromatic derivative and a N,N'-methylethylenediamine was incorporated between the sugar moiety and the drug. Indeed, this new prodrug proved to be activated significantly faster than a former paclitaxel prodrug containing a conventional spacer.     

Borane-catalyzed hydroboration of substituted alkenes by lithium borohydride or sodium borohydride

In the presence of a catalytic amount of BH₃·Me₂S, TiCl₄ or Me₃SiCl, LiBH₄ or NaBH₄ are capable of hydroborating alkenes by following the unusual order of decreasing reactivity: tetramethylethylene > 1-methylcyclohexene > cyclohexene; the key step of the catalytic cycle is the exchange reaction between LiBH₄ and the mono- or dialkylboranes resulting from hydroboration of the more substituted alkenes with BH₃.     

The silicon effect on the regioselectivity of the Tsuji-Trost reaction. Experimental and theoretical approaches

Regioselectivity of the Tsuji-Trost reaction on allyl acetates and carbonates substituted with silyl groups at the olefinic moiety has been analyzed. Silicon atom in the central carbon atom increases the stability of the intermediate π-allylpalladium cation with respect to the isomeric π-allylpalladium cation featuring the silicon in a terminal carbon atom.     

Alkyl- and aryl-substituted corroles. 4. Solvent effects on the electrochemical and spectral properties of cobalt corroles

Solvent effects on the electrochemistry and spectroscopic properties of alkyl- and aryl-substituted corroles in nonaqueous media are reported. The oxidation and reduction of six compounds containing zero to seven phenyl or substituted phenyl groups on the macrocycle were studied in four different nonaqueous solvents (CH(2)Cl(2), PhCN, THF, and pyridine) containing 0.1 M tetra-n-butylammonium perchlorate. Dimers were formed upon oxidation of all corroles in CH(2)Cl(2), but this was not the case in the other three solvents, where either monomers or dimers were formed upon oxidation depending upon the solvent Gutmann donor number and the number or location of aryl substituents on the macrocycle. The half-wave potentials were analyzed as a function of the number of aryl substituents on the macrocycle as well as the concentration of added pyridine to PhCN solutions of the compound, and these data were combined with data from the spectroelectrochemistry experiments to determine the stoichiometry of the species actually in solution after the first oxidation or first reduction of each compound. The results of these experiments indicate that reduction of the bispyridine adduct (Cor)Co(III)(py)(2) proceeds via the monopyridine complex (Cor)Co(III)(py) to give in each case the unligated cobalt(II) corrole [(Cor)Co(II)](-). In contrast, pyridine remains coordinated after electrooxidation, and the final product was characterized as [(Cor)Co(III)(py)(2)](+).