Effect of polymer and ion concentration on mechanical and drug release behavior of gellan hydrogels using factorial design

Developing optimized hydrogel products requires an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms that drive hydrogel tunability. Here, we performed a full 4 × 4 factorial design study investigating the impact of gellan, a naturally derived polysaccharide (1%, 2%, 3%, or 4% w/v) and CaCl₂ concentration (1, 3, 7, or 10 mM) on the viscoelastic, swelling, and drug release behavior of gellan hydrogels containing a model drug, vancomycin. These concentrations were chosen to specifically provide insight into gellan hydrogel behavior for formulations utilizing polymer and salt concentrations expanding beyond those commonly reported by previous studies exploring gellan. With increasing gellan and CaCl₂ concentration, the hydrogel storage moduli (0.1–100 kPa) followed a power-law relationship and on average these hydrogels had higher liquid absorption capability and greater total drug release over 6 days. We suggest that the effects of gellan and CaCl₂ concentration and their interactions on hydrogel properties can be explained by various phenomena that lead to increased swelling and increased resistance to network expansion.     

N-donor stabilized complexes of nickel(II) diphenyldithiophosphates: single-crystal X-ray,HSA and computational analysis

Transition Metal Chemistry - Nickel(II) complexes with octahedral coordination stabilized by N-donor ligands corresponds to [{(ArO)2PS2}2Ni·L2] [Ar = 4-(C2H5)C6H4 (3), and...     

Design and Synthesis of High‐Affinity Dimeric Inhibitors Targeting the Interactions between Gephyrin and Inhibitory Neurotransmitter Receptors

Gephyrin is the central scaffolding protein for inhibitory neurotransmitter receptors in the brain. Here we describe the development of dimeric peptides that inhibit the interaction between gephyrin and these receptors, a process which is fundamental to numerous synaptic functions and diseases of the brain. We first identified receptor‐derived minimal gephyrin‐binding peptides that displayed exclusive binding towards native gephyrin from brain lysates. We then designed and synthesized a series of dimeric ligands, which led to a remarkable 1220‐fold enhancement of the gephyrin affinity (K_D=6.8 nM ). In X‐ray crystal structures we visualized the simultaneous dimer‐to‐dimer binding in atomic detail, revealing compound‐specific binding modes. Thus, we defined the molecular basis of the affinity‐enhancing effect of multivalent gephyrin inhibitors and provide conceptually novel compounds with therapeutic potential, which will allow further elucidation of the gephyrin–receptor interplay.     

Quantification of Puerarin in Pueraria tuberosa DC. by High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC -     

LC–MS–MS Method for Simultaneous Analysis of Abacavir and Lamivudine in Human Plasma, and Its Application to a Bioequivalence Study

A rapid and sensitive LC–MS–MS method has been developed and validated for simultaneous analysis of abacavir (ABA) and lamivudine (LAM) in human plasma. The analytes were extracted from human plasma by SPE. Nelfinavir (NEL) and emtricitabine (EMT) were used as the internal standards for ABA and LAM, respectively. An RP18 column enabled chromatographic separation of the analytes. The method involves simple isocratic chromatography and MS detection in positive-ionization mode. Validation of the method showed response was a linear function of concentration in the ranges 100.0–7000.0 ng mL^?1 for ABA and 80.0–5000.0 ng mL^?1 for LAM. At the LOQ levels, inter-run and intra-run precision were within 5.80 and 3.51%, respectively, for ABA and within 4.68 and 3.16%, respectively, for LAM. Overall recovery for ABA and LAM was 59.32 and 105.18%, respectively. Total elution time was 2 min only, which enabled quantification of more than 200 plasma samples per day. This validated method was used successfully for analysis of plasma samples from a bioequivalence study.     

Ideal rate of collision of cylinders in simple shear flow

The collision of particles influences the behavior of suspensions through the formation of aggregates for adhesive particles or through the contributions of solid-body contacts to the stress for nonadhesive particles. The simplest estimate of the collision rate, termed the ideal collision rate, is obtained when particles translate and rotate with the flow but have no hydrodynamic or colloidal interactions. Smoluchowski calculated the ideal collision frequency of spherical particles in 1917. So far, little work has been done to understand rate of collision for nonspherical particles. In this work, we calculate the ideal collision rate for cylindrical particles over a broad range of particle aspect ratios r defined as the ratio of length to diameter. Monte Carlo simulations are performed with initial relative positions and orientations that model the rate of approach of noninteracting particles following Jeffery orbits with several choices of the orbit distribution. The role of rotational motion of particles on collision frequency is elucidated by comparing the ideal collision rate calculations with similar calculations for nonrotating particles. It is shown that the ratio of the collision rate of cylinders to that of spheres that circumscribe the cylinders is proportional to 1/rr(e) for r ? 1 and r(e) for r ? 1. Here, r(e) is the effective aspect ratio defined as the aspect ratio of a spheroid having the same period of rotation as the cylinder. The effective aspect ratio of the cylindrical particles was determined using finite element calculations of the torque on nonrotating cylinders with their axes parallel to the velocity and velocity gradient directions. In addition to deriving the total collision rate, we categorize collisions as side-side, edge-side, and face-edge based on the initial point of contact. Most collisions are found to be side-edge for r ? 1 and face-edge for r ? 1, suggesting that nonlinear aggregates will develop if particles stick at the point of first contact.     

Curing and thermal behaviour of DGEBA using mixture of biuret and 4,4′-diaminodiphenylsulfone

Curing behaviour of DGEBA was investigated in the presence of varying molar ratio of biuret and 4,4′-diaminodiphenylsulfone (DDS) by means of Differential scanning calorimetery. The multiple heating rate method (5, 10, 15 and 20 °C min⁻¹) was used to study the curing behaviour of epoxy resins. The peak exotherm temperature was found to be dependent on the heating rates, structure of biuret as well as on the ratios of biuret:DDS used. Ozawa method was used for calculating the activation energy of curing reaction. The thermal stability of the isothermally cured resins was evaluated by recording the thermogravimetric traces in nitrogen atmosphere. All the samples were stable up to 330 °C.     

Propane σ‐Complexes on PdO(101): Spectroscopic Evidence of the Selective Coordination and Activation of Primary C?H Bonds

Achieving selective C H bond cleavage is critical for developing catalytic processes that transform small alkanes to value‐added products. The present study clarifies the molecular‐level origin for an exceptionally strong preference for propane to dissociate on the crystalline PdO(101) surface via primary C H bond cleavage. Using reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) and density functional theory (DFT) calculations, we show that adsorbed propane σ‐complexes preferentially adopt geometries on PdO(101) in which only primary C H bonds datively interact with the surface Pd atoms at low propane coverages and are thus activated under typical catalytic reaction conditions. We show that a propane molecule achieves maximum stability on PdO(101) by adopting a bidentate geometry in which a H Pd dative bond forms at each CH₃ group. These results demonstrate that structural registry between the molecule and surface can strongly influence the selectivity of a metal oxide surface in activating alkane C H bonds.