Highly sensitive LC-MS/MS-ESI method for simultaneous quantitation of albendazole and ricobendazole in rat plasma and its application to a rat pharmacokinetic study

A highly sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS-ESI method was developed for simultaneous quantification of albenadazole (ABZ) and ricobendazole (RBZ) in rat plasma (50 μL) using phenacetin as an internal standard (IS). Simple protein precipitation was used to extract ABZ and RBZ from rat plasma. The chromatographic resolution of ABZ, RBZ and IS was achieved with a mobile phase consisting of 5 m m ammonium acetate (pH 6) and acetonitrile (20:80, v/v) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min on a Chromolith RP-18e column. The total chromatographic run time was 3.5 min and the elution of ABZ, RBZ and IS occurred at 1.66, 1.50 and 1.59 min, respectively. A linear response function was established for the ranges of concentrations 2.01-2007 and 6.02-6020 ng/mL for ABZ and RBZ, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precision values for ABZ and RBZ met the acceptance as per FDA guidelines. ABZ and RBZ were stable in battery of stability studies, viz. bench-top, auto-sampler and freeze-thaw cycles. The developed assay was applied to a pharmacokinetic study in rats.     

Dielectric relaxation in a new double perovskite oxide Ho2MgZrO6

A new double perovskite oxide holmium magnesium zirconate Ho₂MgZrO₆ (HMZ) was prepared by solid state reaction technique. The crystal structure has been determined by powder X-ray diffraction which shows monoclinic phase at room temperature with cell parameters a = 9.3028 ± 0.0030 Å, b = 5.2293 ± 0.0008 Å, c = 4.4009 ± 0.0009 Å, β = 103.3746 ± 0.0166°. An analysis of complex permittivity with frequency was carried out assuming a distribution of relaxation times. The frequency dependent electrical data are analyzed in the framework of conductivity and electric modulus formalisms. At the high temperature range, conductivity data satisfy the variable range hopping (VRH) model. In this regime, the conductivity of sample obeys Mott’s T^1/4 law, characteristic of VRH. High temperature data indicates the formation of thermally activated small polarons. The scaling behaviour of imaginary part of electric modulus suggests that the relaxation describes the same mechanism at various temperatures.     

Short peptide-based cross-β amyloids exploit dual residues for phosphoesterase like activity

Herein, we report that short peptides are capable of exploiting their anti-parallel registry to access cross-β stacks to expose more than one catalytic residue, exhibiting the traits of advanced binding pockets of enzymes. Binding pockets decorated with more than one catalytic residue facilitate substrate binding and process kinetically unfavourable chemical transformations. The solvent-exposed guanidinium and imidazole moieties on the cross-β microphases synergistically bind to polarise and hydrolyse diverse kinetically stable model substrates of nucleases and phosphatase. Mutation of either histidine or arginine results in a drastic decline in the rate of hydrolysis. These results not only support the argument of short amyloid peptides as the earliest protein folds but also suggest their interactions with nucleic acid congeners, foreshadowing the mutualistic biopolymer relationships that fueled the chemical emergence of life.

Amyloid based short peptide assemblies use antiparallel registry to expose multiple catalytic residues to bind and cleave kinetically stable phosphoester bonds of nucleic acid congeners, foreshadowing interactions of protein folds with nucleic acids.     

New analytical solutions for modified polarization saturation models in piezoelectric materials

Meccanica - In this paper, we present new analytical solutions for modified polarization saturation (PS) models for arbitrary polarized and semipermeable 2-D piezoelectric media. The PS model is...     

Fluorescence Blinking Beyond Nanoconfinement: Spatially Synchronous Intermittency of Entire Perovskite Microcrystals

Abrupt fluorescence intermittency or blinking is long recognized to be characteristic of single nano‐emitters. Extended quantum‐confined nanostructures also undergo spatially heterogeneous blinking; however, there is no such precedent in dimensionally unconfined (bulk) materials. Herein, we report multi‐level blinking of entire individual organo–lead bromide perovskite microcrystals (volume=0.1–3 μm³) under ambient conditions. Extremely high spatiotemporal correlation (>0.9) in intracrystal emission intensity fluctuations signifies effective communication amongst photogenerated carriers at distal locations (up to ca. 4 μm) within each crystal. Fused polycrystalline grains also exhibit this intriguing phenomenon, which is rationalized by correlated and efficient migration of carriers to a few transient nonradiative traps, the nature and population of which determine blinking propensity. Observation of spatiotemporally correlated emission intermittency in bulk semiconductor crystals opens the possibility of designing novel devices involving long‐range (mesoscopic) electronic communication.     

Ion transport studies in nanocomposite polymer electrolyte membrane of PVA–[C<Subscript>4</Subscript>C<Subscript>1</Subscript>Im][HSO<Subscript>4</Subscript>]–SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>

The paper reports the effect of SiO₂ nano-filler on structural, thermal, and ion transport properties of polymer electrolyte system comprising polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate [C₄C₁Im][HSO₄] ionic liquid. The addition of SiO₂ nano-filler results into enhancement in amorphicity and thermal stability and lowering of glass transition temperature of the membranes. A detailed investigation of possible interactions among the constituents PVA, [C₄C₁Im][HSO₄] and SiO₂, and cation–anion and anion–anion pairs of [C₄C₁Im][HSO₄] in the polymer electrolyte and their dissociation due to SiO₂ filler has been carried out in the membranes using Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy. The membranes show maximum room temperature ionic conductivity as 9.9?×?10^?3 S cm^?1 for 6 wt.% of the nano-filler which is about four times higher than the membrane without nano-filler and an order higher than pure [C₄C₁Im][HSO₄]. With temperature, the ionic conductivity shows VTF behavior in the temperature range 40–120 °C. On the basis of FTIR and ion transport results, a model for ion transport in the membranes is proposed.

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Graphical abstract Schematic model of ion transport in nanocomposite polymer electrolyte membrane of PVA-[C₄C₁Im][HSO₄]-SiO₂

     

New block copolymers V. Synthesis,characterization and morphological studies of poly(pentamethylene terephthalate)-b-(acrylonitrile butadiene rubber)

A block copolymer was prepared by low temperature polycondensation between (acid chloride)-terminated poly(pentamethylene terephthalate) as the hard block, and amine-terminated acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber, as the soft block. The polymer was characterized by nitrogen analysis, IR and NMR spectroscopy. The polymer showed two glass transition temperatures (T _g ) and exhibited two-phase morphology.     

Fabrication of polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan oligosaccharide hydrogel: physicochemical characterizations and in vitro drug release study

Abstract

Hydrogel composites from polyvinyl alcohol and chitosan have been developed by various researchers as a function of their composition for various medical applications. Although, the solubility of chitosan in acidic solvents may limit its wide bioengineering applications. In this article, we demonstrate that polyvinyl alcohol-chitosan oligosaccharide (water soluble) to develop cross-linked hydrogel network using chemical cross linker. X ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and wettability study of these hydrogels were also performed. Lomefloxacin drug was loaded into the hydrogels and its release profile was studied.     

On the convolution of Mittag–Leffler distributions and its applications to fractional point processes

We obtain the distribution of the sum of independent Mittag–Leffler (ML) random variables which are not necessarily identically distributed. Firstly we discuss the corresponding known result for independent and identically distributed ML random variables which follows as a special case of our result. Some applications of the obtained result to fractional point processes are also discussed.     

Structure of marsileagenin a; A new hexahydroxy triterpene from marsilea minuta linn

The crude saponin obtainable from Marsilea minuta Linn on acid hydrolysis yielded a mixture of sapogenols. The major sapogenol named Marsileagenin A was found to be a hexahydroxy triterpene of oleanene series. From a study of various spectrometric data together with chemical reactions the structure of this sapogenol has been assigned as olean-12-ene-2α, 3β, 16β, 21β, 22α, 28-hexol (1a).