Oscillating Poiseuille flow in photo‐aligned liquid crystal cells

We present an experimental study of thin liquid crystal (LC) layers under the action of a harmonically varied pressure gradient. Optical measurements were performed to register the linear oscillations of a nematic director related to homeotropic and homeoplanar (hybrid) initial states. In the latter case one of the inner surfaces of the rectangular channels was treated by ultraviolet light to provide a relatively weak planar anchoring. The optical response of hybrid and homeotropic LC cells under an oscillating pressure gradient was investigated in relation to on the amplitude and frequency of the pressure gradient. A hydrodynamic model is developed taking into account the LC polar anchoring strength and the surface viscosity responsible for a fast LC surface dynamics. Our estimates show that the thickness of the boundary layer corresponding to the surface viscosity does not exceed 10^?6 m, and further experiments are needed with thinner LC cells and higher frequency oscillations to achieve a more precise value. An oscillating Poiseuille flow in the hybrid cell was found to be useful for characterizing elastic and viscous properties of a weakly anchoring LC surface layer in a fast surface dynamic process.     

Synthesis and Reactions of 2,3,4,6-Tetra-O-Acetyl-1-S-(N-Acylaminoacyl)-1-Thio-β-D-Glucopyranoses

Abstract

Fully acetylated 1-thio-β-D-glucopyranosyl esters of N-protected amino acids (4–13) were prepared in high yields by condensation of 2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-1-thio-β-D-glucopyranose (1) with a pentachlorophenyl esters of N-protected amino acids (2) in the presence of imidazole, or bN-protected amino acids (3) in the presence of DCC + imidazole. High tendency of the S-acyl aglycon group in 4–13 to undergo S → O and S → N migrations was demonstrated in reactions with several alcohols and amines.     

Validated Spectrofluorimetric Method for the Determination of Lamotrigine in Tablets and Human Plasma Through Derivatization with <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">o</Emphasis>-phthalaldehyde

A sensitive, simple and selective spectrofluorimetric method was developed for the determination of Lamotrigine (LMT) in pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluids. The method is based on reaction of LMT with o-phthalaldehyde in presence of 2-mercaptoethanol in borate buffer of pH 9.8 to yield a highly fluorescent derivative that is measured at 448 nm after excitation at 337 nm. The different experimental parameters affecting the development and stability of the reaction product were carefully studied and optimized. The fluorescence-concentration plot was rectilinear over the range of 0.1–1.0 μg ml⁻¹ with lower limit of detection (LOD) 0.02 μg ml⁻¹ and limit of quantification (LOQ) 0.06 μg ml⁻¹ respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the the analysis of commercial tablets. Statistical comparison of the results obtained by the proposed and reference method revealed no significant difference in the performance of the two methods regarding the accuracy and precision respectively. The proposed method was further extended to the in-vitro and in-vivo determination of the drug in spiked and real human plasma. The mean percentage recoveries in spiked and real human plasma (n = 3) were 95.78 ± 1.37 and 90.93 ± 2.34 respectively. Interference arising from co-administered drugs was also studied. A proposal for the reaction pathway with o-phthalaldehyde was postulated.     

Synthesis and crystal structure of Ln2MGe4O12, Ln=rare-earth element or Y; M=Ca, Mn, Zn

The crystal structure of the promising optical materials Ln₂M²⁺Ge₄O₁₂, where Ln=rare-earth element or Y; M=Ca, Mn, Zn and their solid solutions has been studied in detail. The tendency of rare-earth elements to occupy six- or eight-coordinated sites upon iso- and heterovalent substitution has been studied for the Y_2−xEr_xCaGe₄O₁₂ (x=0-2), Y_2−2xCe_xCa_1+xGe₄O₁₂ (x=0-1), Y₂Ca_1−xMn_xGe₄O₁₂ (x=0-1) and Y_2−xPr_xMnGe₄O₁₂ (x=0-0.5) solid solutions. A complex heterovalent state of Eu and Mn in Eu₂MnGe₄O₁₂ has been found.     

Chitosan nanoparticles: a promising system in novel drug delivery

The ability of nanoparticles to manipulate the molecules and their structures has revolutionized the conventional drug delivery system. The chitosan nanoparticles, because of their biodegradability, biocompatibility, better stability, low toxicity, simple and mild preparation methods, offer a valuable tool to novel drug delivery systems in the present scenario. Besides ionotropic gelation method, other methods such as microemulsion method, emulsification solvent diffusion method, polyelectrolyte complex method, emulsification cross-linking method, complex coacervation method and solvent evaporation method are also in use. The chitosan nanoparticles have also been reported to have key applications in parentral drug delivery, per-oral administration of drugs, in non-viral gene delivery, in vaccine delivery, in ocular drug delivery, in electrodeposition, in brain targeting drug delivery, in stability improvement, in mucosal drug delivery in controlled drug delivery of drugs, in tissue engineering and in the effective delivery of insulin. The present review describes origin and properties of chitosan and its nanoparticles along with the different methods of its preparation and the various areas of novel drug delivery where it has got its application.     

Surface-active properties of new cationic gemini surfactants with cyclic spacer

Three cationic gemini surface active compounds of the type (1r,4r)-1,4-dialkyl-1,4-dimethy-l-piperazine-1,4-diium bromide (Ia, Ib, and Ic), were synthesized. They were characterized using elemental analysis and ¹H-NMR spectra. Their surface-active properties were measured in aqueous solutions with different concentrations at different temperatures (25, 40, and 55°C). Various surface measurements of these gemini surfactants, (compared to the conventional one, 1-Dodecyl-1-methylpiperidinium bromide (a)) were estimated, specifically critical micelle concentration (CMC), effectiveness (π_CMC), efficiency (P_C20) as well as maximum surface excess (Γ_max) and minimum surface area (A_min). The measurements of the gemini compounds gave low CMC, high efficiency in reducing the surface tension, and intense adsorption at air/water interface. These surfactants have lower Krafft points and thus better solubility. Thermodynamic data, free energy, entropy, and enthalpy changes (ΔG°, ΔS°, and ΔH°) for micellization at the air/water interface and also for adsorption in the bulk of surface-active solutions were calculated.     

Binding Free Energy (BFE) Calculations and Quantitative Structure–Activity Relationship (QSAR) Analysis of Schistosoma mansoni Histone Deacetylase 8 (smHDAC8) Inhibitors

Histone-modifying proteins have been identified as promising targets to treat several diseases including cancer and parasitic ailments. In silico methods have been incorporated within a variety of drug discovery programs to facilitate the identification and development of novel lead compounds. In this study, we explore the binding modes of a series of benzhydroxamates derivatives developed as histone deacetylase inhibitors of Schistosoma mansoni histone deacetylase (smHDAC) using molecular docking and binding free energy (BFE) calculations. The developed docking protocol was able to correctly reproduce the experimentally established binding modes of resolved smHDAC8–inhibitor complexes. However, as has been reported in former studies, the obtained docking scores weakly correlate with the experimentally determined activity of the studied inhibitors. Thus, the obtained docking poses were refined and rescored using the Amber software. From the computed protein–inhibitor BFE, different quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) models could be developed and validated using several cross-validation techniques. Some of the generated QSAR models with good correlation could explain up to ~73% variance in activity within the studied training set molecules. The best performing models were subsequently tested on an external test set of newly designed and synthesized analogs. In vitro testing showed a good correlation between the predicted and experimentally observed IC₅₀ values. Thus, the generated models can be considered as interesting tools for the identification of novel smHDAC8 inhibitors.     

High-resolution mining of the SARS-CoV-2 main protease conformational space: supercomputer-driven unsupervised adaptive sampling

We provide an unsupervised adaptive sampling strategy capable of producing μs-timescale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of large biosystems using many-body polarizable force fields (PFFs). The global exploration problem is decomposed into a set of separate MD trajectories that can be restarted within a selective process to achieve sufficient phase-space sampling. Accurate statistical properties can be obtained through reweighting. Within this highly parallel setup, the Tinker-HP package can be powered by an arbitrary large number of GPUs on supercomputers, reducing exploration time from years to days. This approach is used to tackle the urgent modeling problem of the SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease (M^pro) producing more than 38 μs of all-atom simulations of its apo (ligand-free) dimer using the high-resolution AMOEBA PFF. The first 15.14 μs simulation (physiological pH) is compared to available non-PFF long-timescale simulation data. A detailed clustering analysis exhibits striking differences between FFs, with AMOEBA showing a richer conformational space. Focusing on key structural markers related to the oxyanion hole stability, we observe an asymmetry between protomers. One of them appears less structured resembling the experimentally inactive monomer for which a 6 μs simulation was performed as a basis for comparison. Results highlight the plasticity of the M^pro active site. The C-terminal end of its less structured protomer is shown to oscillate between several states, being able to interact with the other protomer, potentially modulating its activity. Active and distal site volumes are found to be larger in the most active protomer within our AMOEBA simulations compared to non-PFFs as additional cryptic pockets are uncovered. A second 17 μs AMOEBA simulation is performed with protonated His172 residues mimicking lower pH. Data show the protonation impact on the destructuring of the oxyanion loop. We finally analyze the solvation patterns around key histidine residues. The confined AMOEBA polarizable water molecules are able to explore a wide range of dipole moments, going beyond bulk values, leading to a water molecule count consistent with experimental data. Results suggest that the use of PFFs could be critical in drug discovery to accurately model the complexity of the molecular interactions structuring M^pro.

We provide an unsupervised adaptive sampling strategy capable of producing μs-timescale molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of large biosystems using many-body polarizable force fields (PFFs).