A novel LC-MS/MS method for simultaneous quantification of tenofovir and lamivudine in human plasma and its application to a pharmacokinetic study

A new, rapid, sensitive and specific LC‐MS/MS method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous quantification of tenofovir and lamivudine in human plasma using abacavir as an internal standard. An API‐4000 LC‐MS/MS with electrospray ionization was operated in multiple‐reaction monitoring mode for the analysis. The analytes were extracted from plasma by solid‐phase extraction technique using an Oasis HLB cartridge. The reconstituted samples were chromatographed on a Chromolith ROD speed C₁₈ column using a mixture of 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile (90:10 v/v) at a flow‐rate of 1 mL/min. The method was validated as per the FDA guidelines. The calibration curves were found to be linear in the range of 5–600 ng/mL for tenofovir and 25– 4000 ng/mL for lamivudine. The intra‐ and inter‐day precision and accuracy results were well within the acceptable limits. A run time of 2.8 min consumed for each sample made it possible to analyze more samples per day. The proposed assay method was found to be applicable to a pharmacokinetic study in human male volunteers. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Advances in Metal‐Free Heterocycle‐Based Columnar Liquid Crystals

Liquid crystals are ordered soft materials formed by self‐organized molecules and can potentially be used as new functional materials for electron‐, ion‐ or molecular‐transport; optical; and bio‐active materials. In particular, the columnar liquid crystals are promising candidates used in various optical and electronic devices. For this purpose, design and synthesis of unconventional materials are essential. In this review, we have summarized several approaches for the synthesis of columnar liquid crystals composed of various heterocyclic systems. We also outline their liquid crystalline and other relevant properties, and their suitability for applications in diverse fields.     

Synthesis of Sulfonated Cholesterol Derivatives—Electrical,Thermal, and Optical Properties

Poly(cholesterylacrylatesulfone) (PCHAS) and poly(cholesterylacrylatesulfone-co-1-hexene)s (PCHASHs) at different ratios are synthesized from the monomer cholesteryl acrylate. The liquid crystalline phases are observed under a hot stage fitted with a polarizing optical microscope. The polysulfone and copolysulfones are characterized by FT-IR, ¹H-NMR, DSC, and TGA techniques. From SEM (EDX) the qualitative amounts of elemental sulfur found in PCHAS and PCHASH11 are 2.90 weights (%) and 4.39 weights (%), respectively. The GPC data using THF as the solvent shows that the number average molecular weight of the PCHAS is 5268 g/mol and the molecular weights of the PCHASHs are higher than the PCHAS.     

Fluorescent and Chromogenic Receptor Bearing Amine and Hydroxyl Functionality for Iron (III) Detection in Aqueous Solution

The noncyclic 2,2′-[ethane-1,2-diylbis (iminomethanediyl)]diphenol (4) fluorescent receptor bearing two amine and hydroxyl groups have been designed and investigated for their binding properties towards various cations. The fluorescent spectral measurements revealed that receptor 4 is a selective fluorescent sensor for Fe³⁺ ions but not for metal ions such as Cr³⁺, Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, Hg²⁺, Pb²⁺ and Bi³⁺. The binding ability was confirmed with spectroscopic methods and density functional theory calculation (DFT). This straightforward and cost effective receptor provides rapid detection of Fe³⁺ ions at concentrations as low as 2.5 μM and expected to be useful to design efficient chemically and biological sensor.     

Sesquilinear quantum stochastic analysis in Banach space

A theory of quantum stochastic processes in Banach space is initiated. The processes considered here consist of Banach space valued sesquilinear maps. We establish an existence and uniqueness theorem for quantum stochastic differential equations in Banach modules, show that solutions in unital Banach algebras yield stochastic cocycles, give sufficient conditions for a stochastic cocycle to satisfy such an equation, and prove a stochastic Lie–Trotter product formula. The theory is used to extend, unify and refine standard quantum stochastic analysis through different choices of Banach space, of which there are three paradigm classes: spaces of bounded Hilbert space operators, operator mapping spaces and duals of operator space coalgebras. Our results provide the basis for a general theory of quantum stochastic processes in operator spaces, of which Lévy processes on compact quantum groups is a special case.     

Separation of natural product using columns packed with Fused‐Core particles

Three HPLC columns packed with 3 μm, sub‐2 μm, and 2.7 μm Fused‐Core (superficially porous) particles were compared in separation performance using two natural product mixtures containing 15 structurally related components. The Ascentis Express^TM C18 column packed with Fused‐Core particles showed an 18% increase in column efficiency (theoretical plates), a 76% increase in plate number per meter, a 65% enhancement in separation speed and a 19% increase in back pressure compared to the Atlantis T3^TM C18 column packed with 3 μm particles. Column lot‐to‐lot variability for critical pairs in the natural product mixture was observed with both columns, with the Atlantis T3 column exhibiting a higher degree of variability. The Ascentis Express column was also compared with the Acquity^TM BEH column packed with sub‐2 μm particles. Although the peak efficiencies obtained by the Ascentis Express column were only about 74% of those obtained by the Acquity BEH column, the 50% lower back pressure and comparable separation speed allowed high‐efficiency and high‐speed separation to be performed using conventional HPLC instrumentation.     

Linear versus bent bonding in metal-phosphinidene complexes: Theoretical studies of the electrophilic phosphinidene complexes [(Cp)(CO)2MPMe)], [(Cp)(CO)3MPMe)] (M = Cr, Mo, W)

Density functional theory calculations have been performed for the title phosphinidene complexes using the exchange correlation functionals BP86 and B3LYP. The optimized bond lengths and angles of the model compounds are in excellent agreement with experiment. The M-P bond lengths in linear phosphinidene complexes correspond to a Pauling bond order of ∼ 3. The bent geometries at phosphorus in the bent metal phosphinidene complexes are consistent with the presence of a trivalent phosphorus(III) center which is singly bonded to carbon and doubly bonded to transition metal. The analysis of the delocalized Kohn-Sham orbitals shows the polarization of the M-P σ bonding orbitals towards the phosphorus atom in the MPMe bonds, while in the MPMe bond, the contributions of metal and phosphorus are almost the same. In the linear phosphinidene complexes the contributions of the covalent bonding ΔE_orb are more than the electrostatic interaction ΔE_elstat. The bent phosphinidene complexes have a lower degree of covalent bonding than the linear phosphinidene complexes. The major differences between the linear and bent phosphinidene complexes are found in the degree of π-bonding. The MPMe bonds show a true M-P π bond and a deviated π bond due to slight bent M-P-C bond angles. The MPMe bonds show a true M-P π bond and a lone-pair on phosphorus.     

Study of half-sandwich platinum group metal complexes bearing dpt-NH2 ligand

A quite general approach for the preparation of η⁵-and η⁶-cyclichydrocarbon platinum group metal complexes is reported. The dinuclear arene ruthenium complexes [(η⁶-arene)Ru(μ-Cl)Cl]₂ (arene = C₆H₆, C₁₀H₁₄ and C₆Me₆) and η⁵-pentamethylcyclopentadienyl rhodium and iridium complexes [(η⁶-C₅Me₅)M(μ-Cl)Cl]₂ (M = Rh, Ir) react with 2 equiv. of 4-amino-3,5-di-pyridyltriazole (dpt-NH₂) in presence of NH₄PF₆ to afford the corresponding mononuclear complexes of the type [(η⁶-arene)Ru(dpt-NH₂)Cl]PF₆ {arene = C₁₀H₁₄ (1), C₆H₆ (2) and C₆Me₆ (3)} and [(η⁶-C₅Me₅)M(dpt-NH₂)Cl]PF₆ {M = Rh (4), Ir (5)}. However, the mononuclear η⁵-cyclopentadienyl analogues such as [(η⁵-C₅H₅)Ru(PPh₃)₂Cl], [(η⁵-C₅H₅)Os(PPh₃)₂Br], [(η⁵-C₅Me₅)Ru(PPh₃)₂Cl] and [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru(PPh₃)₂Cl] complexes react in presence of 1 equiv. of dpt-NH₂ and 1 equiv. of NH₄PF₆ in methanol yielded mononuclear complexes [(η⁵-C₅H₅)Ru(PPh₃)(dpt-NH₂)]PF₆ (6), [(η⁵-C₅H₅)Os(PPh₃)(dpt-NH₂)]PF₆ (7), [(η⁵-C₅Me₅)Ru(PPh₃)(dpt-NH₂)]PF₆ (8) and [(η⁵-C₉H₇)Ru(PPh₃)(dpt-NH₂)]PF₆ (9), respectively. These compounds have been totally characterized by IR, NMR and mass spectrometry. The molecular structures of 4 and 6 have been established by single crystal X-ray diffraction and some of the representative complexes have also been studied by UV–Vis spectroscopy.     

Where on Earth has our water come from?

The presence of water in the Earth has long been an enigma. However, computer modelling techniques have shown that the adsorption of water onto the fractal surfaces of interplanetary dust particles, which are present in the planetary accretion disk, is sufficiently strong to provide a viable origin of terrestrial water.     

Manipulating double-decker molecules at the liquid-solid interface

We have used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to manipulate heteroleptic phthalocyaninato, naphthalocyaninato, and porphyrinato double-decker (DD) molecules at the liquid-solid interface between 1-phenyloctane solvent and graphite. We employed nanografting of phthalocyanines with eight octyl chains to place these molecules into a matrix of heteroleptic DD molecules; the overlayer structure is epitaxial on graphite. We have also used nanografting to place DD molecules in matrices of single-layer phthalocyanines with octyl chains. Rectangular scans with a STM at low bias voltage resulted in the removal of the adsorbed DD molecular layer and substituted the DD molecules with bilayer-stacked phthalocyanines from phenyloctane solution. Single heteroleptic DD molecules with lutetium sandwiched between naphthalocyanine and octaethylporphyrin were decomposed with voltage pulses from the probe tip; the top octaethylporphyrin ligand was removed, and the bottom naphthalocyanine ligand remained on the surface. A domain of decomposed molecules was formed within the DD molecular domain, and the boundary of the decomposed molecular domain self-cured to become rectangular. We demonstrated a molecular "sliding block puzzle" with cascades of DD molecules on the graphite surface.