pH‐Triggered Sustained Drug Delivery from a Polymer Micelle having the β‐Thiopropionate Linkage

The synthesis, micellar aggregation, and pH‐triggered intracellular drug delivery ability of an amphiphilic statistical copolymer (P2) are studied. Two methacrylate derivatives, one containing a hydrophilic pendant and the other containing a hydrophobic pendant chain, are copolymerized to produce P2. The hydrophobic pendant chain is linked to the polymer backbone by a β‐thiopropionate linkage, known to undergo slow hydrolysis at mild acidic pH. P2 forms a multimicellar cluster in water with a critical aggregation concentration of 0.02 mg mL⁻¹ and encapsulates a hydrophobic guest such as pyrene, Nile red, or the anti‐cancer drug doxorubicin (Dox). Sustained release of the entrapped Dox (80% after 100 h) is noticed at pH 5.2, while release is significantly slower (35% after 100 h) at pH 7.4. Acidic hydrolysis of the β‐thiopropionate linkage leading to the reduction of the hydrophobicity is established as the cause for micellar disassembly and triggered drug release. Cell‐culture studies with the human breast cancer cell line, MCF‐7, reveal biocompatibility of P2 (below 150 μg mL⁻¹). It is further tested for intracellular delivery of Dox. MCF‐7 cells remain healthy at pH 7.4 but become unhealthy at pH 5.2 when treated with a Dox‐loaded P2 micelles.

     

Pseudoplastic properties of ferric succinate sol

Summary The pseudoplastic properties of gel forming ferric succinate sols have been investigated. It has been shown that pseudoplasticity is intimately related to the tendency of a sol to form a gel. Whenever the conditions favour the development of pseudoplastic property, the sol has a greater approach to gel structure, which becomes more powerful when the sol takes up the property of an elastic solid. Further, it is seen that viscosity increases rapidly with age in the pure sols of ferric succinate.

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Zusammenfassung Das strukturviskose Verhalten von gelierenden Eisensuccinat-Solen wurde untersucht. Es wurde gezeigt, daß Strukturviskosität eng mit der Neigung des Sols zur Gelbindung verknüpft ist. Je ausgeprägter die Strukturviskosität auftritt, um so stärker beginnt das Sol Gelstrukturen auszubilden oder gar die Eigenschaften eines elastischen Festkörpers anzunehmen. Schließlich wurde gezeigt, daß die Viskosität mit zunehmendem Alter der reinen Eisensuccinat-Sole stark anwächst.

     

Diffusion-induced parametric dispersion and amplification in doped semiconductor plasmas

Using the hydrodynamic model of semiconductor plasma, the diffusion-induced nonlinear current density and the consequent second-order effective susceptibility are obtained under off-resonant laser irradiation. The analysis deals with the qualitative behaviour of the anomalous parametric dispersion and the gain profile with respect to the excess doping concentration and pump electric field. The analysis suggests that a proper selection of doping level and pump field may lead to either positive or negative enhanced parametric dispersion, which can be of great use in the generation of sequeezed states. It is found that gain maximizes at moderate doping concentration level, which may drastically reduce the fabrication cost of parametric amplifier based on this interaction.      

Strong Self-Similar Fluctuations of Target Fragments in Ring-like Events in Ultra-Relativistic Nuclear Collision

The intermittent fluctuation of target evaporated particles is studied in both ring-like and jet-like events emitted in ^32 S-emulsion interactions at 200 A Ge V within the framework of multi-dimensional factorial moment methodology using the concept of the Hurst exponent. It is observed that the intermittent fluctuation in the ring-like event is self-similar, whereas in the jet-like event fluctuation is self-affine. However, study indicates that the strength of fluctuation in the ring-like events is much stronger than that in the jet-like events.     

Synthesis and crystal structure of bis(benzimidazolium) tetrahalocobaltate(II)

The crystal structures of benzimidazolium tetrahalocobaltates (HBz)₂[CoX₄] (X = Cl and Br) have been determined. The chloride salt is triclinic, P-1, with a = 7.670(3) Å, b = 8.307(3) Å, c = 15.730(2) Å, and = 87.37(3)°, = 84.99(3)°, = 67.72(2)°. The bromide salt is monoclinic, C2/c, with a = 15.568(2) Å, b = 8.063(3) Å, c = 5.762(2) Å and = 91.36(3)°. The structures of the two salts are closely related. Both the compounds contain isolated tetrahedral CoX₄ ^2– anions and benzimidazolium cations. In the chloride salt, three chloride ions are involved in strong hydrogen bonding while only two bromide ions participate in the bromide salt. The greater deviation from the ideal tetrahedral geometry in CoBr₄ ^2– can be related to the less extensive hydrogen-bonding network compared to the chloro complex.     

Novel tangential-flow countercurrent cascade ultrafiltration configuration for continuous purification of humanized monoclonal antibody

This paper discusses the use of a novel tangential-flow, three-stage, countercurrent cascade ultrafiltration configuration for continuous purification of monoclonal antibody Campath-1H from simulated mammalian cell culture supernatant. The main limitation of conventional ultrafiltration based bioseparation, particularly when using a single-stage system is the trade-off between recovery and purity. The aim of this study was to try to improve both purity and recovery of the monoclonal antibody by using the novel cascade ultrafiltration system. Purification experiments were carried out with the three-stage cascade system as well as with single-stage and two-stage versions of the proposed system for comparison. The recovery and purification factor were both significantly higher with the three-stage system. The highest purity obtained using the three-stage cascade system was 85%. The experimental purity and recovery were compared with corresponding values obtained by simulation and found to be in reasonably good agreement.     

An efficient strategy for N-alkylation of benzimidazoles/imidazoles in SDS-aqueous basic medium and N-alkylation induced ring opening of benzimidazoles

A sustainable route for the N-1 alkylation of imidazole and benzimidazole derivatives has been developed under volatile organic solvent free condition in alkaline water-SDS system. Incorporation of SDS in the reaction medium enhances the reaction rate by suppressing the solubility issue that arises for different substrates. This method provides high yield of the alkylated product in a shorter reaction time. For reactive alkyl halides reaction proceeds at ambient temperature whereas in the cases of less reactive alkyl halides require 55–60?°C to complete alkylation process. N-alkylation induced ring opening of the heterocyclic ring in benzimidazole derivatives to multifunctional aromatic compounds were noticed at 60?°C when more than two equivalents of alkyl halide was used.     

Influence of <Emphasis Type="Italic">gauche</Emphasis> effect on uncharged oxime reactivators for the reactivation of tabun-inhibited AChE: quantum chemical and steered molecular dynamics studies

The neutral oxime reactivator RS194B with a seven-membered ring has shown better efficacy towards the tabun-inhibited AChE than that of RS69N with a six-membered ring and RS41A with a five-membered ring. The difference in the efficacy of these reactivators has remained unexplored. We report here the origin of the difference of efficacy of these reactivators based on the conformational analysis, quantum chemical calculations and steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulations. The conformational analysis using B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory revealed that RS41A and RS194B are more stable in gauche conformation due to the gauche effect (–N–C–C–N– bonds) whereas RS69N prefers anti-conformation. The SMD simulations show that RS194B retains in more stable gauche conformation inside the active gorge of AChE during different time intervals that experiences more hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interactions with the catalytic anionic site (CAS) residues and weaker interactions with the peripheral anionic site (PAS) residues compared to RS41A and RS69N. In an effort to design an even superior reactivator, RS194B-S has been chosen with a subtle change in the geometry of RS194B by replacing the carbonyl oxygen with the sulfur atom. The newly designed reactivator RS194B-S can also be a promising candidate to reactivate tabun-inhibited AChE.     

Determination of Drospirenone in Human Plasma by LC–Tandem-MS

A bioanalytical method has been developed and validated for determination of drospirenone in human plasma. The analytical method consists in the extraction of plasma sample with dichloromethane, followed by determination of drospirenone by LC–MS–MS using levonorgestrel as internal standard. Separation was achieved on a Peerless cyano column with an isocratic mobile phase consisting of methanol and ammonium formate buffer. Protonated ions formed by a Turboionspray in the positive mode were used to detect analyte and IS. The MS–MS detection was by monitoring the fragmentation for drospirenone and for levonorgestrel on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The assay was calibrated over the range 5–100 ng mL^?1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9998. Validation data showed intra-batch (n = 6) CV% ≤ 5.58 and RE (%) between ?3.34 and +6.27 and inter-batch (n = 18) CV% < 6.08 and RE (%) between ?1.84 and +6.73. Mean extraction recovery were 83.31–92.58% for three QC samples and 89.32% for IS. Plasma samples were stable for three freeze-thaw cycles, or 24 h ambient storage, or 1 and 3 months storage at ?20 °C. Processed samples (ready for injection) were stable up to 72 h at autosampler (4 °C). This method has been used for analyzing plasma samples from a bioequivalence study with 12 volunteers.