Structural elucidation of gemifloxacin mesylate degradation product

Gemifloxacin mesylate (GFM), chemically (R,S)‐7‐[(4Z)‐3‐(aminomethyl)‐4‐(methoxyimino)‐1‐pyrrolidinyl]‐1‐cyclopropyl‐6‐fluoro‐1,4‐dihydro‐4‐oxo‐1,8‐naphthyridine‐3‐carboxylic acid methanesulfonate, is a synthetic broad‐spectrum antibacterial agent. Although many papers have been published in the literature describing the stability of fluorquinolones, little is known about the degradation products of GFM. Forced degradation studies of GFM were performed using radiation (UV‐A), acid (1 mol L^?1 HCl) and alkaline conditions (0.2 mol L^?1 NaOH). The main degradation product, formed under alkaline conditions, was isolated using semi‐preparative LC and structurally elucidated by nuclear magnetic resonance (proton – ¹H; carbon – ¹³C; correlate spectroscopy – COSY; heteronuclear single quantum coherence – HSQC; heteronuclear multiple‐bond correlation – HMBC; spectroscopy – infrared, atomic emission and mass spectrometry techniques). The degradation product isolated was characterized as sodium 7‐amino‐1‐pyrrolidinyl‐1‐cyclopropyl‐6‐fluoro‐1,4‐dihydro‐4‐oxo‐1,8‐naphthyridine‐3‐carboxylate, which was formed by loss of the 3‐(aminomethyl)‐4‐(methoxyimino)‐1‐pyrrolidinyl ring and formation of the sodium carboxylate. The structural characterization of the degradation product was very important to understand the degradation mechanism of the GFM under alkaline conditions. In addition, the results highlight the importance of appropriate protection against hydrolysis and UV radiation during the drug‐development process, storage, handling and quality control. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Easy Separation of Δ and Λ Isomers of Highly Luminescent [IrIII]‐Cyclometalated Complexes Based on Chiral Phenol‐Oxazoline Ancillary Ligands

A new class of neutral cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes with enantiomerically pure C₁‐symmetric phenol‐oxazolines ( 3 a,b ) have been synthetized in high yields and fully characterized. Resolution of the corresponding Δ_R and Λ_R or Δ_S and Λ_S isomers was easily achieved by conventional flash chromatography. The corresponding Δ and Λ helicities have been confirmed by CD spectroscopy and X‐ray crystallography. Regarding the absorption and luminescence properties with unpolarized light, no significant difference between Δ and Λ isomers has been observed. A strong blue luminescence is observed for deaerated solutions of complexes 5 a and 5 b in CH₃CN.     

Vibrations of thin tolerance-periodic plates

In this contribution, linear-elastic thin plates with a tolerance-periodic structure in planes parallel to the plate midplane are considered. It is assumed that their averaged (macroscopic) properties are described by continuous, slowly-varying functions. Hence, plates of this kind can be treated as plates with a functionally graded structure. Here, free vibrations frequencies of a plate band are calculated within the proposed averaged model using the finite differences method. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A Note on the Uniform Laws for Dependent Processes Via Coupling

In this note we investigate the coupling of a class of dependent sequences with an independent one having the same marginal distributions. This method is then used to prove that a uniform law of averages for this class holds if a similar law holds for the associated independent sequence.     

A Bernstein type inequality and moderate deviations for weakly dependent sequences

In this paper we present a Bernstein-type tail inequality for the maximum of partial sums of a weakly dependent sequence of random variables that is not necessarily bounded. The class considered includes geometrically and subgeometrically strongly mixing sequences. The result is then used to derive asymptotic moderate deviation results. Applications are given for classes of Markov chains, iterated Lipschitz models and functions of linear processes with absolutely regular innovations.     

Screening a Panel of Topical Ophthalmic Medications against MMP-2 and MMP-9 to Investigate Their Potential in Keratoconus Management

Keratoconus (KC) is a serious disease that can affect people of any race or nationality, although the exact etiology and pathogenic mechanism are still unknown. In this study, thirty-two FDA-approved ophthalmic drugs were exposed to virtual screening using docking studies against both the MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins to find the most promising inhibitors as a proposed computational mechanism to treat keratoconus. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent proteases, and MMP inhibitors (MMPIs) are usually designed to interact with zinc ion in the catalytic (CAT) domain, thus interfering with enzymatic activity. In our research work, the FDA-approved ophthalmic medications will be investigated as MMPIs, to explore if they can be repurposed for KC treatment. The obtained findings of the docking study suggest that atenolol and ampicillin are able to accommodate into the active sites of MMP-2 and MMP-9. Additionally, both exhibited binding modes similar to inhibitors used as references, with an ability to bind to the zinc of the CAT. Molecular dynamic simulations and the MM-GBSA binding free-energy calculations revealed their stable binding over the course of 50 ns. An additional pharmacophoric study was carried out on MMP-9 (PDB ID: 1GKC) using the co-crystallized ligand as a reference for the future design and screening of the MMP-9 inhibitors. These promising results open the door to further biological research to confirm such theoretical results.     

Organosulfate formation in biogenic secondary organic aerosol

Organosulfates of isoprene, alpha-pinene, and beta-pinene have recently been identified in both laboratory-generated and ambient secondary organic aerosol (SOA). In this study, the mechanism and ubiquity of organosulfate formation in biogenic SOA is investigated by a comprehensive series of laboratory photooxidation (i.e., OH-initiated oxidation) and nighttime oxidation (i.e., NO3-initiated oxidation under dark conditions) experiments using nine monoterpenes (alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, d-limonene, l-limonene, alpha-terpinene, gamma-terpinene, terpinolene, Delta(3)-carene, and beta-phellandrene) and three monoterpenes (alpha-pinene, d-limonene, and l-limonene), respectively. Organosulfates were characterized using liquid chromatographic techniques coupled to electrospray ionization combined with both linear ion trap and high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Organosulfates are formed only when monoterpenes are oxidized in the presence of acidified sulfate seed aerosol, a result consistent with prior work. Archived laboratory-generated isoprene SOA and ambient filter samples collected from the southeastern U.S. were reexamined for organosulfates. By comparing the tandem mass spectrometric and accurate mass measurements collected for both the laboratory-generated and ambient aerosol, previously uncharacterized ambient organic aerosol components are found to be organosulfates of isoprene, alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, and limonene-like monoterpenes (e.g., myrcene), demonstrating the ubiquity of organosulfate formation in ambient SOA. Several of the organosulfates of isoprene and of the monoterpenes characterized in this study are ambient tracer compounds for the occurrence of biogenic SOA formation under acidic conditions. Furthermore, the nighttime oxidation experiments conducted under highly acidic conditions reveal a viable mechanism for the formation of previously identified nitrooxy organosulfates found in ambient nighttime aerosol samples. We estimate that the organosulfate contribution to the total organic mass fraction of ambient aerosol collected from K-puszta, Hungary, a field site with a similar organosulfate composition as that found in the present study for the southeastern U.S., can be as high as 30%.