Highly sensitive simultaneous quantification of indoxyl sulfate and 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoic acid in human plasma using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry

Indoxyl sulfate and 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoic acid are uremic toxins that accumulate in renal failure and have been reported to decrease the activities of the drug-metabolizing enzyme cytochrome P450 3A and the drug transporter organic anion transporting polypeptides 1B, respectively. In this study, we established and validated an assay for simultaneous quantification of indoxyl sulfate and 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoic acid in human plasma. The samples were pretreated by solid-phase extraction, and measured by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. The validation results for this assay were within the acceptable limits recommended by the US Food and Drug Administration, with a lower limit of quantitation of 0.05 μg/mL for both indoxyl sulfate and 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoic acid. Recovery rates of indoxyl sulfate and 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoic acid corrected by internal standard were 100.7–101.9 and 100.2–101.3%, respectively. Matrix effects of indoxyl sulfate and 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoic acid corrected by internal standard were 101.1–105.5 and 97.0–103.8%, respectively. The validated assay was used to analyze indoxyl sulfate and 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoic acid concentrations in the plasma samples of healthy volunteers and patients with chronic kidney disease. All the measured plasma indoxyl sulfate and 3-carboxy-4-methyl-5-propyl-2-furanpropanoic acid concentrations were within the calibration ranges. This novel method may contribute to predicting the activities of drug-metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters in individual patients.     

Converting an Esterase into an Epoxide Hydrolase

Entering the fold : A common structural motif in hydrolytic enzymes is the α,β‐hydrolase fold. The interconversion of one enzyme into another by introduction of mechanistically important residues is not enough; only substitution of a loop allows epoxide hydrolase activity in the esterase scaffold to be formed (see picture; structure comparison of epoxide hydrolases (green) with the esterase (orange)). The result is an enantioselective chimeric enzyme.

     

Preparation and evaluation of a chiral stationary phase covalently bound with a chiral pseudo-18-crown-6 ether having a phenolic hydroxy group for enantiomer separation of amino compounds

In order to develop a chiral stationary phase (CSP), which has even higher separation ability than the corresponding commercially available crown ether based CSP (OA-8000 having a pseudo-18-crown-6 ether with an OMe group as a selector), chemically bonded type CSP having a phenolic OH group on a crown ring was developed. Normal mobile phases with or without acid additive can be used with this OH type CSP in contrast to the conventional OMe type CSP which has a neutral chiral selector. Enantiomers of 25 out of 27 amino compounds, including 20 amino acids, 5 amino alcohols, and 2 lipophilic amines, were efficiently separated on a column with this CSP. Nine amino compounds out of 27 were separated with better separation factors than the corresponding OMe type CSP. It is noteworthy that the chromatography on this CSP exhibited excellent enantiomer-separations for amines and amino alcohols when triethyl amine was used as an additive in the mobile phase. Comparison of enantiomer separation ability on this OH type of CSP and on the OMe type of CSP and correlation between the enantioselectivity in chiral chromatography and that of the corresponding model compounds in solution imply that the chiral separation arose from chiral recognition in host guest interactions.     

A dual transformation between SO(n + 1) and SO(n, 1) and its geometric applications

There is a dual transformation between SO(n + 1)?{(00-component) = 0} and SO(n, 1). This transformation makes clear the relations how orthogonal axes look like in two spaces, Euclidean space and Minkowski space.     

Cleavage and some modifications of the 7-amide group of the cephamycins

The cleavage and some modifications of the 7-amide group of cephamycins are described. Cephamycin derivatives 16b, c which were synthesized from the naturally occurring cephamycin C (16a) were converted to the corresponding oxamic acid derivatives 17a, e respectively by the reaction with oxalyl chloride and successive treatment with water. The reaction of the oxamic acid 17a with diphenylcarbodiimide gave 7-aminocephamycinoic acid (7-ACMA) benzhydryl ester (21a) which was further converted to cefoxitin (21c). These compounds 17a, b, c, d, e, f thus obtained from cephamycin C appear to be favorable intermediates for the syntheses of cephamycin analogues such as cefmetazole (28c).     

Photosensitized NADH formation system with multilayer TiO2 film

A TiO(2)/polymer film on a quartz plate fabricated by a layer-by-layer method was employed for NADH production from NAD(+) with lipoamide dehydrogenase and methyl viologen in Tris-HCl buffer on irradiation with UV light, and the ultra thin film prevented from enzyme deactivating effectively.     

Radical cation and dication of fluorene fully annelated with bicyclo[2.2.2]octene units: importance of the quinoidal resonance structure in the cationic fluorene

Fluorene 1 fully annelated with bicyclo[2.2.2]octene units was newly synthesized and oxidized to stable cationic species. The structure of radical cation salt 1(.+)SbCl(6)(-) was determined by X-ray crystallography, while the first fluorene dication 1(2+) was characterized by (1)H and (13)C NMR at -80 degrees C. Combined with the results of theoretical calculations, an important contribution of a quinoidal structure to the resonance hybrid was demonstrated in both 1(.+) and 1(2+). [structure: see text]     

Charge carrier transport properties in polymer liquid crystals containing oxadiazole and amine moieties in the same side chain

Steady-state and transient photocurrent measurements were carried out to study the charge carrier transport properties of polymer liquid crystal (LC) containing oxadiazole (OXD) and amine moieties in the same side chain. The steady-state photocurrent measurement with asymmetric electrodes of ITO and Al and a short penetration depth of the illumination light indicated that both electrons and holes can be transported in this film. The transient hole photocurrent observed by time-of-flight (TOF) experiments was dispersive at room temperature. The hole drift mobility significantly depended on temperature and electric field and was determined to be 6.1 x 10(-8) cm2/Vs at a field of 9.1 x 10(5) V/cm. According to the disorder formalism, the Gaussian width of the density of states was determined to be 170 meV for holes. Despite the indication of possible electron transport in this film, we could not determine the electron mobility by TOF experiments due to strong dispersive photocurrent. We discuss the present charge transport properties of the film in relation to a large dipole attributed to an electrical push-pull structure of p-dimethylaminophenyl-substitited OXD moiety in polymer LC and its electroluminescent properties.     

Design and development of second-generation titanium oxide photocatalyst materials operating under visible light irradiation by applying advanced ion-engineering techniques

Advanced ion-beam techniques such as metal ion-implantation, ionized cluster beam (ICB) deposition and RF-magnetron sputtering (RF-MS) deposition were found to enable the development of unique titanium oxide photocatalyst materials which are able to absorb and work not only under UV but also visible or solar light irradiation. Thus prepared visible light-responsive TiO₂ act as efficient photocatalysts for the NO decomposition reaction into N₂ and O₂ as well as the H₂ and O₂ evolution reaction from water.