A kinetic, spectral and theoretical investigation on the role of oxygen in the radiolytic oxidation of a sorbityl cyclic acetal

The oxidation process of the cyclic acetal sorbitylfurfural (SF) has been thoroughly examined from the kinetic, spectroscopic and theoretical point of view. Oxidation has been initiated by the radiolitically produced OH radical in the presence of variable oxygen amounts. Two competing reaction pathways are evidenced which lead to quite different products, although they do not affect the acetal ring integrity. The peroxidation of the hydroxylated furanic ring (k ₄=(6.1±0.9)×10⁸ M⁻¹ s⁻¹) maintains the ring structurevia HO₂^• elimination (k ₆=(1.9±0.4)×10⁵ s⁻¹). Unlike that, the peroxidation of the pseudo-allylic radical (k ₅=(1.9±0.9)×10⁹ M⁻¹ s⁻¹), formedvia β-cleavage, fixes the destructured intermediate, leading to a tetroxide, which slowly decomposes through a Russell mechanism (k ₈=(2.3±0.6)×10² s⁻¹). It is confirmed that the steady state concentration of the tetroxide is very low, which suggests a molar absorption coefficient for it around 1.2×10⁴ M⁻¹ cm⁻¹ at 265 nm. The end products of the latter pathway have been characterized as carboxylic and butenald-sorbitol derivatives. The kinetic and spectral data of every step of the process have been fitted by the above outlined mechanism. The energetics of the mechanism has been detailed byab initio computations as well, carrying further substantiation to it. Semi-empirical calculations were also employed to describe the spectral properties of each intermediate.     

Synthesis and biochemical characterisation of fluorinated analogues of pepstatin A and grassystatin A

Pepstatin A and grassystatin A are natural, statine-containing peptides that act as inhibitors of aspartic protease enzymes. In this work, stereoselective fluorination is investigated as a strategy for enhancing the pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of these lead compounds. Fluorination is found to modestly affect the protease inhibitory potency, leading to the identification of two highly active new inhibitors of the cancer-associated protease, cathepsin D. However, no dramatic changes are observed in terms of target selectivity, lipophilicity, membrane permeability or metabolic stability.     

Urine stability and steroid profile: towards a screening index of urine sample degradation for anti-doping purpose

The presence of microorganisms in urine samples, under favourable conditions of storage and transportation, may alter the concentration of steroid hormones, thus altering the correct evaluation of the urinary steroid profile in doping control analysis. According to the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA technical document TD2004 EAAS), a testosterone deconjugation higher than 5% and the presence of 5α-androstane-3,17-dione and 5β-androstane-3,17-dione in the deconjugated fraction, are reliable indicators of urine degradation. The determination of these markers would require an additional quantitative analysis since the steroids screening analysis, in anti-doping laboratories, is performed in the total (free + conjugated) fraction. The aim of this work is therefore to establish reliable threshold values for some representative compounds (namely 5α-androstane-3,17-dione and 5β-androstane-3,17-dione) in the total fraction in order to predict directly at the screening stage the potential microbial degradation of the urine samples. Preliminary evidence on the most suitable degradation indexes has been obtained by measuring the urinary concentration of testosterone, epitestosterone, 5α-androstane-3,17-dione and 5β-androstane-3,17-dione by gas chromatography–mass spectrometric every day for 15 days in the deconjugated, glucuronide and total fraction of 10 pools of urines from 60 healthy subjects, stored under different pH and temperature conditions, and isolating the samples with one or more markers of degradation according to the WADA technical document TD2004EAAS. The threshold values for 5α-androstane-3,17-dione and 5β-androstane-3,17-dione were therefore obtained correlating the testosterone deconjugation rate with the urinary concentrations of 5α-androstane-3,17-dione and 5β-androstane-3,17-dione in the total fraction. The threshold values suggested as indexes of urine degradation in the total fraction were: 10 ng mL⁻¹ for 5α-androstane-3,17-dione and 20 ng mL⁻¹ for 5β-androstane-3,17-dione. The validity of this approach was confirmed by the analysis of routine samples for more than five months (i.e. on a total of more than 4000 urine samples): samples with a concentration of total 5α-androstane-3,17-dione and 5β-androstane-3,17-dione higher than the threshold values showed a percentage of free testosterone higher than 5 of its total amount; whereas free testosterone in a percentage higher than 5 of its total amount was not detected in urines with a concentration of total 5α-androstane-3,17-dione and 5β-androstane-3,17-dione lower than the threshold values.     

A Study on the Ballistic Performance of Composites

The mechanical behaviour and ballistic performance of carbon, glass (E and S type), aramid and polyethylene fabric reinforced composites with different epoxy resins were studied. The specimens – produced by hand lay-up method – were characterized by low velocity (Charpy and drop-weight tests) and high velocity (two different calibre ballistic) impact tests. The energy absorption capacity of the composites was found to be strongly affected by the material properties of the reinforcing fiber, by the type of fabric structure and by the elasticity of resin.     

Synthesis of some tolperisone metabolites in racemic and optically active form

1-(4′-Carboxyphenyl)-2-methyl-3-(piperidine-1-yl)-propan-1-one M3, erythro-1-(4′-carboxyphenyl)-2-methyl-3-(piperidine-1-yl)-propan-1-ol M4 and threo-1-(4′-carboxyphenyl)-2-methyl-3-(piperidine-1-yl)-propan-1-ol M5, metabolites of the muscle relaxant tolperisone were synthesized in racemic and optically active forms.     

Direct High‐Performance Liquid Chromatographic Enantioseparation of β‐Methyl‐Substituted Unusual Amino Acids on a Quinine‐Derived Chiral Anion‐Exchange Stationary Phase

A quinine‐derived chiral anion‐exchange stationary phase was used for the direct high‐performance liquid chromatographic separation of the enantiomers of the N‐protected unusual β‐substituted α‐amino acids, β‐methylphenylalanine, β‐methyltyrosine, β‐methyltryptophan, and β‐methyl‐1,2,3,4‐tetrahydroisoquinoline‐3‐carboxylic acid. The readily prepared 2,4‐dinitrophenyl and tert‐butyloxycarbonyl derivatives were well separated, and in most cases the separation of all four stereoisomers of these β‐methyl‐α‐amino acids could be obtained in one chromatographic run. The elution sequences of the enantiomers of the different derivatives were determined and revealed a dependence on the type of the N‐protecting group. In this context, the effects of different protecting groups (acetyl, tert‐butyloxycarbonyl, benzoyl, 3,5‐dinitrobenzoyl, benzyloxycarbonyl, 3,5‐dinitrobenzyloxycarbonyl, 2,4‐dinitrophenyl, and 9‐fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl) on the chromatographic behavior were investigated.     

Direct radioimmunoassay of testosterone in human saliva

A simple direct radioimmunoassay for testosterone in 400 μl of whole human saliva is reported. Neither extraction nor chromatography is needed. The direct assay involves a commercially available, highly selective antiserum raised against testosterone-19-(O-carboxymethyl)-ether-BSA, an iodinated tracer, a serum added to give parallel inhibition of analyte and tracer binding to serum proteins and a double antibody/polyethylene glycol separation technique. The lower limit of determination is about 3 pM salivary testosterone and the calibration curve covers the range of clinical interest both for males and females (0–868 pM). The assay is specific as judged from recovery and dilution tests, from the cross-reactivity of the antiserum used and from comparisons with an extraction procedure. Within-assay and between-assay relative standard deviations are 4.1, 1.9, 10.5% and 6.3, 2.8, 15.3% for saliva samples with testosterone concentrations of 310, 117 and 52.7 pM, respectively.     

On the application of the extended Fujita-Nishioka equation to polysubstituted systems. A kinetic study of the rearrangement of several poly-substituted Z-arylhydrazones of 3-benzoyl-5-phenyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole into 2-aryl-4-benzoylamino-5-phenyl-1,2,3-triazoles in dioxane/water

The rearrangement rates of several di-, tri-, tetra- or penta-substituted Z-arylhydrazones of 3-benzoyl-5-phenyl-1,2,4-oxadiazole (1a-18a) into the relevant 2-aryl-4-benzoylamino-5-phenyl-1,2,3-triazoles (1b-18b) have been determined in 1:1 (v:v) dioxane/water in a wide range of pS⁺ (3.80-12.50) at different temperatures. The kinetic data obtained have been correlated with those previously collected for the rearrangement of ortho-, meta- and para-substituted Z-arylhydrazones (19a-38a) by means of an extension of the linear free-energy relationship (LFER) proposed by Fujita and Nishioka, thus considering steric (E_s) and field (F_o) proximity effects in addition to the normal electronic effects (σ_o,m,p). Excellent correlation coefficients have been calculated (R≥0.999), with susceptibility constants (ρ, δ and f) close to those previously obtained for 19a-38a, when only excluding data for the 2,6-bis-ortho-substituted Z-arylhydrazones 11a and 16-18a, which show a reactivity much higher than foreseeable, evidencing the first case of ‘steric acceleration’ in mononuclear rearrangements of heterocycles. A rationale for such a behaviour is proposed.     

Toward milk speciation through the monitoring of casein proteotypic peptides

The possibility of detecting extraneous milk in singles species cheese‐milk has been explored. A mass spectrometry (MS)‐based procedure has been developed to detect 'signature peptides', corresponding to the predefined subset of 'proteotypic peptides', as matchless analytical surrogates of the parent caseins. Tryptic digests of skimmed milk samples from four species were analyzed by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐TOF) MS. Amongst the candidate signature peptides that are able to differentiate milks from the four species, the α_s1‐casein (CN) f8‐22 peptide was selected as a convenient marker for bovine, ovine and water buffalo milk while the f4‐22 peptide was selected as a marker for the two caprine α_s1‐CN A and B variants, which differ by a Pro¹⁶ (B)‐>Leu¹⁶ (A) substitution. MALDI analysis of the digest allowed the detection of α_s1‐CN f8‐22 and caprine α_s1‐CN f4‐22. The accurate evaluation of caprine milk in a quaternary mixture required the development of a liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization (LC/ESI)‐MS procedure. Five synthetic signature peptide analogues, which differed from their natural counterparts by a single amino acid substitution, were used as internal standards to quantify the α_s1‐CN, which was chosen as a reference milk protein, from the different species. The limits of detection were 0.5% (1% for caprine) for either the MALDI or the LC/ESI‐MS method. The isotopic‐label‐free quantification of isoform‐ or variant‐specific signature peptides has disclosed a convenient approach for targeting proteins in complex mixtures. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

High-performance liquid chromatographic enantioseparation of 2-aminomono- and dihydroxycyclopentanecarboxylic and 2-aminodihydroxycyclohexanecarboxylic acids on macrocyclic glycopeptide-based phases

The direct separation of the enantiomers of four 2-aminomono- or dihydroxycyclopentanecarboxylic acids and four 2-aminodihydroxycyclohexanecarboxylic acids was performed on chiral stationary phases containing macrocyclic glycopeptide antibiotics such as teicoplanin (Astec Chirobiotic T and T2), teicoplanin aglycone (Chirobiotic TAG) or ristocetin A (Chirobiotic R) as chiral selectors. The effects of the nature of organic modifiers, the pH, the mobile phase composition and the structures of the analytes on the separation were investigated. Chirobiotic TAG, and in some cases Chirobiotic T, proved to be the most useful of these columns. The elution sequence was determined in most cases.