Sensitive Voltammetric Determination of Captopril Using a Carbon Paste Electrode Modified with Nano-TiO2/Ferrocene Carboxylic Acid

A carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified with ferrocene carboxylic acid (FcCA) and TiO2 nanoparticles was constructed by incorporating TiO2 nanoparticles and ferrocene carboxylic acid into the carbon paste matrix.The electrochemical behavior of captopril (CAP) at the surface of the modified electrode was investigated using electroanalytical methods.The modified electrode showed excellent electrocatalytic activity for the oxidation of CAP in aqueous solutions at physiological pH values.Cyclic voltammetric curves showed that the oxidation of CAP at the surface of the modified electrode reduced its overpotential by more than 290 mV.The modified electrode was used for detecting captopril using cyclic voltammetry and square wave voltammetry techniques.A calibration curve in the range of 0.03 to 2400μmol/L was obtained that had a detection limit of 0.0096 μmol/L (3σ) under the optimized conditions.The modified electrode was successfully used for the determination of captopril in pharmaceutical and biological samples.     

Indigo Carmine as New Label in PNA Biosensor for Detection of Short Sequence of p53 Tumor Suppressor Gene

A new electrochemical PNA hybridization biosensor for detection of a 15‐mer sequence unique to p53 using indigo carmine (IC) as an electrochemical detector is described in this work. This genosensor is based on the hybridization of target oligonucleotide with its complementary probe immobilized on the gold electrode by self‐assembled monolayer formation. Because this label is electroactive in acidic medium, the interaction between IC and short sequence of p53 is studied by differential pulse voltammety (DPV) in 0.1 M H₂SO₄. The results of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry in the solution of [Fe(CN)₆]^3?/4? shows no breakage in PNA‐DNA duplex. A decrease in the voltammetric peak currents of IC is observed upon hybridization of the probe with the target DNA. The influence of probe concentration on effective discrimination against non‐complementary oligonucleotides is investigated and a concentration of 10^?7 M is selected. The diagnostic performance of the PNA sensor is described and the detection limit is found to be 4.31×10^?12 M.     

A combined structure-based pharmacophore modeling and 3D-QSAR study on a series of N-heterocyclic scaffolds to screen novel antagonists as human DHFR inhibitors

Structural Chemistry - Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) is an essential enzyme that participates in folate metabolism and purine and thymidylate synthesis in cell proliferation. It converts...     

Structure–Activity Relationships of the Antimalarial Agent Artemisinin 10. Synthesis and Antimalarial Activity of Enantiomers of rac-5β-Hydroxy-d-Secoartemisinin and Analogs: Implications Regarding the Mechanism of Action

An efficient synthesis of rac-6-desmethyl-5β–hydroxy-d-secoartemisinin 2, a tricyclic analog of R-(+)-artemisinin 1, was accomplished and the racemate was resolved into the (+)-2b and (−)-2a enantiomers via their Mosher Ester diastereomers. Antimalarial activity resided with only the artemisinin-like enantiomer R-(−)-2a. Several new compounds 9–16, 19a, 19b, 22 and 29 were synthesized from rac-2 but the C-5 secondary hydroxyl group was surprisingly unreactive. For example, the formation of carbamates and Mitsunobu reactions were unsuccessful. In order to assess the unusual reactivity of 2, a single crystal X-ray crystallographic analysis revealed a close intramolecular hydrogen bond from the C-5 alcohol to the oxepane ether oxygen (O-11). All products were tested in vitro against the W-2 and D-6 strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Several of the analogs had moderate activity in comparison to the natural product 1. Iron (II) bromide-promoted rearrangement of 2 gave, in 50% yield, the ring-contracted tetrahydrofuran 22, while the 5-ketone 15 provided a monocyclic methyl ketone 29 (50%). Neither 22 nor 29 possessed in vitro antimalarial activity. These results have implications in regard to the antimalarial mechanism of action of artemisinin.     

Open charm mesons and charmonia in magnetized strange hadronic matter

We investigate the in-medium masses of open charm mesons (D(\begin{document}$ D^0 $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ D^+ $\end{document}), \begin{document}$ \bar{D} $\end{document}(\begin{document}$ \bar{D^0} $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ D^- $\end{document}), \begin{document}$ D_s $\end{document}(\begin{document}$ {D_{s}}^+ $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ {D_{s}}^- $\end{document})) and charmonium states (\begin{document}$ J/\psi $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ \psi(3686) $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ \psi(3770) $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ \chi_{c0} $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ \chi_{c2} $\end{document}) in strongly magnetized isospin asymmetric strange hadronic matter using a chiral effective model. In the presence of a magnetic field, the number and scalar densities of charged baryons have contributions from Landau energy levels. The mass modifications of open charm mesons result from their interactions with nucleons, hyperons, and the scalar fields (the non-strange field σ, strange field ζ, and isovector field δ) in the presence of a magnetic field. The mass modifications of the charmonium states result from the modification of gluon condensates in a medium simulated by the variation in the dilaton field (χ) in the chiral effective model. The effects of finite quark masses are also incorporated in the trace of the energy-momentum tensor in quantum chromodynamics to investigate the mass shifts of charmonium states. The in-medium masses of open charm mesons and charmonia are observed to decrease with an increase in baryon density. The charged \begin{document}$ D^+ $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ D^- $\end{document}, \begin{document}$ {D_{s}}^+ $\end{document}, and \begin{document}$ {D_{s}}^- $\end{document} mesons have additional positive mass shifts due to Landau quantization in the presence of a magnetic field. The effects of the strangeness fraction are observed to be more dominant for \begin{document}$ \bar{D} $\end{document} mesons compared with D mesons. The mass shifts of charmonia are observed to be larger in hyperonic media compared with nuclear media when the effect of the finite quark mass term is neglected. These medium mass modifications can have observable consequences on the production of the open charm mesons and charmonia in high-energy asymmetric heavy-ion collision experiments.     

Electrode-Potential-Driven Dissociation of N-Heterocycle/BF3 Adducts: A Possible Manifestation of the Electro-Inductive Effect

Recently, non-Faradaic effects were used to modify the electronic structure and reactivity of electrode-bound species. We hypothesize that these electrostatic perturbations could influence the chemical reactivity of electrolyte species near an electrode in the absence of Faradaic electron transfer. A prime example of non-Faradaic effects is acid-base dissociation near an interface. Here, we probed the near-electrode dissociation of N-heterocycle-BF₃ Lewis adducts upon electrode polarization, well outside of the redox potential window of the adducts. Using scanning electrochemical microscopy and confocal fluorescence spectroscopy, we detected a potential-dependent depletion of the adduct near the electrode. We propose an electro-inductive effect where a more positive potential leads to electron withdrawal on the N-heterocycle. This study takes a step forward in the use of electrostatics at electrochemical interfaces for field-driven electrocatalytic and electro-synthetic processes.     

Multivariate curve resolution alternating least squares in the quantitative determination of sulfur using overlapped S(Kα)–Mo(Lα) emission peaks by wavelength dispersive X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry

Spectral line overlap is a serious problem in quantitative X‐ray fluorescence analysis. In this study multivariate curve resolution alternating least squares (MCR‐ALS) approach was used to resolve the effect of overlapping S(K_α)–Mo(L_α) emission lines generated by standard‐less software of a wavelength dispersive X‐ray fluorescence spectrometer (WDXRF) for the quantitative monitoring of sulfur in mineral samples. Scan channel set contained Ge crystal, 550‐µm collimator, flow detector (Ar + CH₃) and rhodium (Rh) tube. The 18 calibration and 10 validation samples contain 0.00%–10.98% sulfate (SO₃) and 0.00%–92.40% MoO₃. The digitized spectral data were extracted in the range between 109° and 113.9° (2θ) at every 0.1 degree. Lack of fit percentage (LOF%) for experimental data and the variance explained at the optimum condition () were 2.32 and 99.94, respectively. The values of the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) for analyzing of sulfur were 0.23. MCR‐ALS was also compared with partial least squares (PLS) method for determination of sulfur in the presence of molybdenum. To evaluate the resolution and quantification performance of MCR‐ALS procedure, the method was used to determine sulfur in presence of molybdenum in two synthetic soil samples. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Determination of copper ion by square wave anodic stripping voltammetry at antimony trioxide-modified carbon nanotube paste electrode

In this work, an antimony trioxide-modified multi-walled carbon nanotube paste electrode (Sb₂O₃/CNTPE) was employed for determination of Cu²⁺ ions by using square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) in the presence of 8-hydroxy-7-iodo-5-quinoline sulfonic acid (HIQSA) as a chelating agent. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) methods were applied to estimate the morphology and properties of the modified electrode. Measurements related to SWASV were taken in 0.6 M HCl at ?1.0 V versus Ag|AgCl|KCl (3 M) for 90 s (deposition step). After equilibrium time of 15 s, an ASV appeared at 0.0 V versus Ag|AgCl|KCl (3 M) (stripping step). The sensor depicted a fairly linear response for Cu²⁺ in the concentration range of 2–100 ppb with appropriate detection limit about 0.39 ppb and limit of quantification about 1.3 ppb. The stability of the modified electrode during 7 weeks and its behavior in the presence of some metal ions was evaluated. The practical applicability of the Sb₂O₃/CNTPE was established on the voltammetric determination of Cu²⁺ in tap water as a sample.