GC-MS Analysis of Methadone and EDDP in Addicted Patients under Methadone Substitution Treatment: Comparison of Urine and Plasma as Biological Samples

(1) Background: Methadone, along with buprenorphine, is the most commonly used drug for the treatment of opioid dependence. This study aimed to analyze methadone and its major metabolite, 2-ethylidene-1,5-dimethyl-3,3-diphenyl pyrrolidine (EDDP), in the urine and plasma of opiate addicts. The study group consisted of drug users voluntarily admitted to the detoxification center C.E.T.T.T. “St. Stelian” of Bucharest. Secondly, the study aimed to identify whether urine or plasma provides better results for the proposed method. (2) Methods: A GC-MS method, using an internal standard (diphenylamine) in the FULL-SCAN and SIM modes of operation and using the m/z = 72 ion for methadone and the m/z = 277 ion for EDDP, combined with a liquid–liquid extraction procedure was performed. (3) Results: The applied procedure allows the detection and quantification of methadone in both urine and plasma samples. EDDP was identified in patients with higher levels of methadone. Higher levels of methadone were detected in urine than in plasma samples. (4) Conclusions: This procedure can be used in clinical laboratories for the rapid determination of methadone levels in urine rather than in plasma. The procedure can be applied for the monitoring of methadone substitution treatment.     

Synthesis of new nucleoside analogues comprising a methylenecyclobutane unit

Synthesis of eight nucleoside analogues 3-10 with a methylene cyclobutane unit is described. Wittig or Peterson reactions with protected 2-hydroxycyclobutanones 12 and 13 gave E- and Z-derivatives, respectively. After functional modifications the heterocyclic moieties were introduced via a Mitsunobu reaction either on the lateral chain or on the cycle. When adenine was used in this reaction only the N-9 substitution products were obtained. Removal of the protecting groups provided the target products.     

Selecting topology and connectivity through metal-directed macrocyclization reactions: a square planar palladium [2]catenate and two noninterlocked isomers

We report the synthesis of a [2]catenate using a square planar palladium(II) template, together with two isomers of the interlocked structure: a single tetradentate macrocycle that adopts a "figure of eight" conformation to encapsulate the metal and a complex in which the two macrocycles of the catenane are not interlocked. The three isomers can each be selectively formed depending on how the building blocks are assembled and cyclized. Olefin metathesis of both building blocks while they are attached to the metal gives the single large macrocycle in 77% yield. Cyclizing the monodentate unit prior to attaching both ligands to the metal gives the [2]catenate in 78% yield. Preforming the tridentate macrocycle produces a complex in two atropisomeric forms-threaded and nonthreaded-in a 2:3 ratio, which do not interconvert in dichloromethane at room temperature over 7 days. RCM of the nonthreaded atropisomer affords the complex with two noninterlocked macrocyclic ligands; RCM of the threaded atropisomer generates the topologically isomeric [2]catenate. Heating the acyclic atropisomers in acetonitrile provides a mechanism for their interconversion via ligand exchange, allowing the threaded:nonthreaded ratio to be varied from 2:3 to 8:1. All three fully ring-closed complexes were characterized unambiguously by 1H NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. As far as we are aware, this is the first time such a set of three formal topological and constitutional isomers has been described.     

About q-approximations and q-hulls over a Noetherian ring,some refinements of the Auslander-Bridger theory

We revisit the notion of q-approximations for a module over a Noetherian ring, originally due to Auslander and Bridger without a name and rediscovered later by Evans and Griffith. We introduce a somewhat symmetric notion of q-hull and provide existence theorems for both q-approximations and q-hulls. The main feature here are existence theorems and characterizations of minimal such ones when the ring is local. The q-hulls being close to the morphism obtained by Auslander and Bridger in their “approximation theorem”, we also obtain for the latter a minimal statement in the case when the ring is local.     

Crystal structure of 6-nitrobenzo(a)pyrene

In 6-nitrobenzo(a)pyrene, an environmental pollutant, the nitro substituent lies at 69.5(1) to the mean plane of the aromatic moiety. The C–C bond distances range from 1.341(3) to 1.443(3) Å. The crystal is in the monoclinic space group, P2₁/c, with a = 8.3239(3) Å, b = 8.9530(3) Å, c = 18.0678(5) Å, = 99.264(2) and Z = 4. Molecules are assembled in sheets in the unit cell through stacking and alternating C–H O interactions.     

Synthetic applications of carbolithiation transformations

Carbolithiation reactions are exceptionally versatile transformations which have been utilised in a remarkably diverse and creative manner. In this review we outline the background and scope of these reactions and then focus on their use in organic synthesis with a particular emphasis on literature examples published since 2000.