Synthesis and crystal structure of Na1-xGe3+z: a novel zeolite-like framework phase in the Na-Ge system

A novel crystalline binary phase is reported in the Na-Ge system, with an entirely new, zeolite-like crystal structure solved and refined by the combination of synchrotron X-ray and neutron powder diffraction techniques.     

Microanalysis of the antiretroviral nevirapine in human hair from HIV-infected patients by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Sufficient drug exposure is crucial for maintaining durable responses to HIV treatments. However, monitoring drug exposure using single blood samples only provides short-term information and is highly subject to intra-individual pharmacokinetic variation. Drugs can accumulate in hair over a long period of time, so hair drug levels can provide drug exposure information over prolonged periods. We now report on a specific, sensitive, and reproducible liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for measuring nevirapine (NVP), a widely used antiretroviral drug, levels in human hair using even a single short strand of hair. Hair samples are cut into small segments, and the drug is extracted in methanol/trifluoroacetic acid (v/v, 9:1) shaken at 37 °C in a water bath overnight, followed by liquid–liquid extraction under alkaline conditions. The extracted samples are then separated on a BDS-C₁₈ column with a mobile phase composed of 50% acetonitrile containing 0.15% acetic acid and 4 mM ammonium acetate with an isocratic elution for a total run time of 3 min and detected by triple quadrupole electrospray multiple reaction mode at precursor/product ion at 267.0 > 225.9 m/z. Deuterated nevirapine-d5 was used as an internal standard. This method was validated from 0.25 to 100 ng/mg using 2 mg hair samples. The accuracies for spiked NVP hair control samples were 98–106% with coefficients of variation (CV) less than 10%. The CV for incurred hair control samples was less than 7%. The extraction efficiency for incurred control hair samples was estimated at more than 95% by repeated extractions. This method has been successfully applied to analyze more than 1,000 hair samples from participants in a large ongoing cohort study of HIV-infected participants. We also showed that NVP in human hair can easily be detected in a single short strand of hair. This method will allow us to identify drug non-adherence using even a single strand of hair.     

Hecke operators on Drinfeld cusp forms

In this paper, we study the Drinfeld cusp forms for Γ₁(T) and Γ(T) using Teitelbaum's interpretation as harmonic cocycles. We obtain explicit eigenvalues of Hecke operators associated to degree one prime ideals acting on the cusp forms for Γ₁(T) of small weights and conclude that these Hecke operators are simultaneously diagonalizable. We also show that the Hecke operators are not diagonalizable in general for Γ₁(T) of large weights, and not for Γ(T) even of small weights. The Hecke eigenvalues on cusp forms for Γ(T) with small weights are determined and the eigenspaces characterized.     

Time-dependent CO2 sorption hysteresis in a one-dimensional microporous octahedral molecular sieve

The development of sorbents for next-generation CO(2) mitigation technologies will require better understanding of CO(2)/sorbent interactions. Among the sorbents under consideration are shape-selective microporous molecular sieves with hierarchical pore morphologies of reduced dimensionality. We have characterized the non-equilibrium CO(2) sorption of OMS-2, a well-known one-dimensional microporous octahedral molecular sieve with manganese oxide framework. Remarkably, we find that the degree of CO(2) sorption hysteresis increases when the gas/sorbent system is allowed to equilibrate for longer times at each pressure step. Density functional theory calculations indicate a "gate-keeping" role of the cation in the tunnel, only allowing CO(2) molecules to enter fully into the tunnel via a highly unstable transient state when CO(2) loadings exceed 0.75 mmol/g. The energy barrier associated with the gate-keeping effect suggests an adsorption mechanism in which kinetic trapping of CO(2) is responsible for the observed hysteretic behavior.     

Production and collision-induced dissociation of gas-phase, water- and alcohol-coordinated uranyl complexes containing halide or perchlorate anions

Electrospray ionization was used to generate mono-positive gas-phase complexes of the general formula [UO2A(S)n]+ where A = OH, Cl, Br, I or ClO4, S = H2O, CH3OH or CH3CH2OH, and n = 1-3. The multiple-stage dissociation pathways of the complexes were then studied using ion-trap mass spectrometry. For H2O-coordinated cations, the dissociation reactions observed included the elimination of H2O ligands and the loss of HA (where A = Cl, Br or I). Only for the Br and ClO4 versions did collision-induced dissociation (CID) of the hydrated species generate the bare, uranyl-anion complexes. CID of the chloride and iodide versions led instead to the production of uranyl hydroxide and hydrated UO2+. Replacement of H2O ligands by alcohol increased the tendency to eliminate HA, consistent with the higher intrinsic acidity of the alcohols compared to water and potentially stronger UO2-O interactions within the alkoxide complexes compared to the hydroxide version.     

Novel 99mTc labeled σ receptor ligand as a potential tumor imaging agent

A novel 99mTc labeled complex, [N-[2-((2-oxo-2-(4-(3-phenylpropyl)piperazin-1-yl)ethyl) (2-mercaptoethyl)amino)acetyl]-2-aminoethanethiolato]Technetium(V) oxide (PPPE-MAMA′-99mTcO) ([99mTc]-2) has been designed and prepared based on the integrated approach. The corresponding rhenium complex (PPPE-MAMA′-ReO)(Re-2) has been prepared and characterized. In vitro competition binding assays show moderate affinity of Re-2 towards σ1 and σ2 receptors with Ki values of 8.67 ± 0.07 and 5.71 ± 1.88 μmol, respectively. Planar images obtained at 0.5 h, 4 h, 20 h after I.v. Injection indicate the accumulation of [99mTc]-2 in MCF-7 human breast tumor bearing mice at 20 h. Furthermore, the accumulation of [99mTc]-2 has been inhibited at 20 h after co-injection of [99mTc]-2 plus haloperidol (1 mg/kg). Biodistribution studies of [99mTc]-2 display an in vivo tumor uptake of 0.14% ± 0.01% ID/g at 24 h post I.v. Injection with a tumor/muscle ratio of 6.02 ± 0.87. The above results suggest that [99mTc]-2, derived from a previously published lead compound, retains certain tumor uptake and affinity for σ receptors. [99mTc]-2 may be used as a basis for further structural modifications to develop tumor imaging agents with high affinity for σ receptors.     

Collision-induced dissociation tandem mass spectrometry of desferrioxamine siderophore complexes from electrospray ionization of UO2(2+), Fe3+ and Ca2+ solutions

Desferrioxamine (DEF) is a trihydroxamate siderophore typical of those produced by bacteria and fungi for the purpose of scavenging Fe(3+) from environments where the element is in short supply. Since this class of molecules has excellent chelating properties, reaction with metal contaminants such as actinide species can also occur. The complexes that are formed can be mobile in the environment. Because the natural environment is extremely diverse, strategies are needed for the identification of metal complexes in aqueous matrices having a high degree of chemical heterogeneity, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) has been highly effective for the characterization of siderophore-metal complexes. In this study, ESI-MS of solutions containing DEF and either UO(2)(2+), Fe(3+) or Ca(2+) resulted in generation of abundant singly charged ions corresponding to [UO(2)(DEF - H)](+), [Fe(DEF - 2H)](+) and [Ca(DEF - H)](+). In addition, less abundant doubly charged ions were produced. Mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (MS/MS) studies of collision-induced dissociation (CID) reactions of protonated DEF and metal-DEF complexes were contrasted and rationalized in terms of ligand structure. In all cases, the most abundant fragmentation reactions involved cleavage of the hydroxamate moieties, consistent with the idea that they are most actively involved with metal complexation. Singly charged complexes tended to be dominated by cleavage of a single hydroxamate, while competitive fragmentation between two hydroxamate moieties increased when the doubly charged complexes were considered. Rupture of amide bonds was also observed, but these were in general less significant than the hydroxamate fragmentations. Several lower abundance fragmentations were unique to the metal examined: abundant loss of H(2)O occurred only for the singly charged UO(2)(2+) complex. Further, NH(3) was eliminated only from the singly charged Fe(3+) complex; this and fragmentation of C-C and C-N bonds derived from neither the hydroxamate nor the amide groups suggested that Fe(3+) insertion reactions were competing with ligand complexation. In no experiments were coordinating solvent molecules observed, attached either to the intact complexes or to the fragment ions, which indicated that both intact DEF and its fragments were occupying all of the coordination sites around the metal centers. This conclusion was based on previous experiments that showed that undercoordinated UO(2)(2+) and Fe(3+) readily added H(2)O and methanol in the ESI quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer that was used in this study.