Assay of cisapride in pharmaceutical formulations by visible spectrophotometry

Three spectrophotometric methods (A-C) for the assay of cisapride (CPD) in pure and dosage forms are described. Method A is based on the oxidative coupling reaction of CPD with 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone hydrochloride (MBTH) in the presence of ferric chloride to form a coloured species (_max; 565 nm.) Method B is based on the oxidation of CPD with Fe (III) and subsequent chelation of Fe(II) to form a coloured complex with 1,10-phenanthroline (_max: 520 nm). Method C is based on the formation of a coloured charge-transfer complex between CPD and chloranilic acid (_max; 555 nm). Regression analysis of Beer-Lambert plots showed good correlation in the concentration ranges 2.0–32.0, 0.4–6.4 and 25.0–450.0 g/ml for methods A,B and C, respectively. The validity of the proposed methods was tested by analysing pharmaceutical dosage forms containing CPD and the relative standard deviations were within 1.0%     

WEB-spline based mesh-free finite element analysis for the approximation of the stationary Navier–Stokes problem

The objective in this paper is to discuss the existence and the uniqueness of a weighted extended B$B$-spline (WEB-spline) based discrete solution for the stationary incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. The WEB-spline discretization is newly developed methodology which satisfies the inf–sup condition or Ladyshenskaya–Babus?ka–Brezzi (LBB) condition. The main advantage of these new elements over standard finite elements is that they use regular grids instead of irregular partitions of the domain, thus eliminating the difficult and time-consuming pre-processing step. An error estimate for this WEB-spline based discrete solution is also obtained.     

Development and validation of a sensitive LC-MS/MS method with electrospray ionization using multiple ions for quantitation of torcetrapib in hamster and dog plasma

A highly sensitive and specific LC-MS/MS method has been developed and validated for the estimation of torcetrapib (TTB) with 100 microL hamster/dog plasma using DRL-16126 as an internal standard (IS). The API-4000 Q Trap LC-MS/MS was operated under multiple-reaction monitoring mode using the electrospray ionization technique. The assay procedure involved extraction of TTB and IS from plasma with acetonitrile, which yielded consistent recoveries of 65.73 and 94.01% for TTB and 79.68 and 90.70% for IS in hamster and dog plasma, respectively. The total chromatographic run time was 3.0 min and the elution of TTB and IS occurred at approximately 2.25 and 2.20 min, respectively. The resolution of peaks was achieved with 0.01 m ammonium acetate:acetonitrile (15:85, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.40 mL/min on an Inertsil ODS-3 column. The method was proved to be accurate and precise at linearity range of 1.00-200 ng/mL with a correlation coefficient (r) of > or = 0.993. The method was rugged with 1.00 ng/mL as the lower limit of quantitation. TTB was stable in the battery of stability studies. The application of the assay to preclinical pharmacokinetic studies confirmed the utility of the assay to derive hamster/dog pharmacokinetic parameters.     

Expeditious method for the synthesis of novel 2,3,5,6-tetrahydrobenzo[g][1,3,5]oxadiazocine-4-thiones linked with isoxazole

Synthesis of novel 3-ary1-5-(3,5-dimethylisoxazol-4-y1)-2,3,5,6-tetrahydrobenzo[g][1,3,5]oxadiazocine-4-thiones 5 has been accomplished from 3,5-dimethylisoxazol-4-amine I by condensation with salicylaldehydes, followed by reduction, treatment with aryl isothiocyanates and subsequent smooth ring closure via acetal formation in the presence of formaldehyde.     

Study of Forced Degradation Behaviour of Brinzolamide Using LC–ESI–Q-TOF and In Silico Toxicity Prediction

Brinzolamide (BZA) is a topical ophthalmic drug which is generally used to lower the intraocular pressure during glaucoma. It was subjected to forced degradation studies under hydrolytic (acidic, basic), oxidative, photolytic and thermal stress conditions; the drug degraded significantly in hydrolytic and oxidative conditions, leading to the formation of seven degradation products in total. It was stable on exposure to light and dry heat in the solid state. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) method was developed on a Waters CSH phenyl hexyl column (100 × 2.1 mm, 1.7 µm), using gradient elution of 0.1 % formic acid and methanol as mobile phase. The method was extended to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (Q-TOF–MS) for the structural characterisation. All degradation products were comprehensively characterised by UHPLC–ESI/MS/MS experiments. The most probable mechanisms for the formation of degradation products were also proposed. In silico toxicity of the drug and its degradation products was determined using TOPKAT toxicity prediction software.

     

Insecticidal activity of a novel fatty acid amide derivative from Streptomyces species against Helicoverpa armigera

Helicoverpa armigera, an important pest causes serious damage to grain legumes. The main objective of this study was to isolate and identify the metabolite against H. armigera from a previously characterised Streptomyces sp. CAI-155. The culture filtrate of CAI-155 was extracted using Diaion HP-20 and the active fractions were fractionated on Silica and C18 column chromatography. The C18 active fraction was further fractionated on Silica gel 60 F₂₅₄ thin layer chromatography (TLC). The most active fraction (Rf 0.64) purified from TLC led to the identification of a novel metabolite N-(1-(2,2-dimethyl-5-undecyl-1,3-dioxolan-4-yl)-2-hydroxyethyl)stearamide by spectral studies. The purified metabolite showed 70–78% mortality in 2nd instar H. armigera by diet impregnation assay, detached leaf assay and greenhouse assay. The LD₅₀ and LD₉₀ values of the purified metabolite were 627 and 2276 ppm, respectively. Hence, this novel metabolite can be exploited for pest management in future.     

Biaryl amino acid templates in place of D-Pro-L-Pro in cyclic beta-hairpin cationic antimicrobial peptidomimetics

The turn-forming D-Pro-L-Pro template has been frequently used to promote regular beta-hairpin conformations in cyclic protein epitope mimetics. Here the use of three isomeric biaryl templates has been studied as alternatives to D-Pro-L-Pro in the preparation of beta-hairpin peptidomimetics. The o,o'- o,m'- and m,m'-isomers of carboxymethyl- and aminomethyl-substituted biaryl templates have been incorporated into novel macrocyclic mimics of the naturally occurring cationic antimicrobial peptide protegrin I. The presence of the o-carboxymethyl-o'-aminomethyl-biaryl template within the macrocyclic peptide resulted in the appearance of slowly interconverting atropisomers. Although none of the resulting mimetics adopted stable beta-hairpin structures in aqueous solution, they all nevertheless retained a significant antimicrobial activity against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. These mimetics provide interesting starting points for an optimization program in the search for potent and novel antimicrobial compounds.