Gas chromatographic analysis of isomeric organic mononitrates in plasma.

A specific, sensitive and precise capillary gas chromatographic method using electron-capture detection was developed for the determination of four isomeric vasodilating organic mononitrates, viz. L-isoidide mononitrate (L-IIMN), isosorbide-2-mononitrate (IS-2-MN), isomannide mononitrate (IMMN) and isosorbide-5-mononitrate (IS-5-MN), in rat plasma. With a sample size of 100 microliters of rat plasma, the detection limits were found to be between 0.5 and 2 ng/ml for these mononitrates, and the absolute recovery was found to range from 83 to 90%. The within-day coefficients of variation for the assay of the four isomers were less than 5%, while the between-day coefficients of variation were less than 10%. Because of the short retention times of these isomers in this assay, routine analyses of about sixty plasma samples per day can be carried out. The possibility of in vivo interconversion among these four isomers in rats was investigated after individual administration of each isomer. No interconversion was found based on examination of plasma samples. The gas chromatographic method was applied to the pharmacokinetic studies of these four isomers in rats; at an intravenous dose of 2 mg/kg, the biological half-lives of L-IIMN, IMMN, IS-2-MN and IS-5-MN were found to be 13.2, 25.2, 54.6 and 112 min, respectively.     

A study of the excited state structure and vibrations of hydroquinone by ab initio calculations and resonant two-photon ionization spectroscopy

Hydroquinone (HYQ) in the lowest electronically excited state has been studied by ab initio quantum chemical calculations and resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI) spectroscopy. Calculations at the MP2/6-31G* and CIS/6-31G* levels yield satisfactory results on structures and vibrational frequencies of the cis-HYQ and trans-HYQ in both the S₀ and S₁ states. Only transitions involving in-plane modes are observed in the R2PI spectrum of HYQ. All spectral bands including some newly observed ones have been successfully assigned with the help of our computed results and analogy with the reported spectra for similar molecules.     

Synthesis of Coumarin Derivatives as Inhibitors of Platelet Aggregation

In a search for the inhibitors of platelet aggregation, certain coumarin derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for antiplatelet activity against thrombin(Thr)-, arachidonic acid(AA)-, collagen(Col)-, and platelet-activating-factor(PAF)-induced aggregation in washed rabbit platelets. These compounds were synthesized from 4-hydroxycoumarin ( 1 ) or naphthalen-1-ol via alkylation and Reformatsky-type condensation (Schemes 1–3). Among them, 4-[(2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-4-methylidene-5-oxo-2-phenylfuran-2-yl)methoxy]-2H-1-benzopyran-2-one ( 6b ) showed potent antiplatelet effects on AA- and PAF-induced aggregation with IC₅₀ values of 8.21 and 103.67 m?M , respectively (see Tables 1 and 2). The antiplatelet potency of 6b against PAF-induced aggregation could be further improved by introducing a proper substituent at the 2-phenyl group of the lactone ring.     

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of 1-(substituted-benzyl)-6-fluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acids and their 6,8-difluoro analogs

Alkylation of 6,7-difluoro-4-hydroxyquinoline-3-carboxylic acid ethyl ester with substituted-benzyl chlorides gave 1-(substituted-benzyl)-6,7-difluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid ethyl esters. Their treatment with piperazine or N-methylpiperazine in pyridine yielded 1-(substituted-benzyl)-6-fluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxo-7-(l-piperazinyl)quinoline-3-carboxylic acid ethyl esters which were hydrolyzed with aqueous sodium hydroxide and then acidified with hydrochloric acid afforded the desired 1-(substituted-benzyl)-6-fluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxo-7-(1-iperazinyl)quinoline-3-carboxylic acids. The 6,8-difluoro analogs were prepared similarly using 6,7,8-trifluoro-4-hydroxyquinoline-3-carboxylic acid ethyl ester as a starting material. Some of these quinolones demonstrated fairly good antibacterial activities. Among them, 6-fluoro-1-(4-fluorophenylmethyl)-1,4-dihydro-7-(1-iperazinyl)-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid ( 7d ) and 6,8-difluoro-1-(3-fluorophenylmethyl)-1,4-dihydro-7-(1-piperazinyl)-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid ( 8c ) are two of the best.     

Stable shell structures in hydrogen-bonded complexes

Neutral clusters (NH₃) _n ((CH₃)₃N) _m and (H₂O) _n ((CH₃)₃N) _m , prepared in a pulsed nozzle supersonic expansion, are ionized by multiphoton ionization and investigated with a reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometry technique. The observed mixed cluster ions display a maximum intensity atm=2(n+1) whenn ≦ 5 for (NH₃) _n ·((CH₃)₃N) _m H⁺ andm=n+2 whenn ≦ 4 for (H₂O) _n ((CH₃)₃N) _m H⁺ indicating that the cluster ions with these combinations have a stable closed shell structure. However, the pattern begins to break down whenn>5 for ammonia system andn>4 for water system. Thereupon, the most intense peaks are reached with one molecule less than the pattern required, i.e.m=2(n+1)?1 whenn=6 for (NH₃) _n ((CH₃)₃N) _m H⁺ andm=(n+2)?1 whenn=5 for (H₂O) _n ((CH₃)₃N) _m H⁺. These findings strongly suggest the onset of hydrogen-bonded ring structures from chain-like ones at critical cluster sizes. This is also supported by the studies of the metastable decomposition.     

Plastic microchip electrophoresis for genetic screening: the analysis of polymerase chain reactions products of fragile X (CGG)n alleles

Clinical screening of abnormal chromosomes associated with fragile X syndrome (FXS) demands a high-throughput method including DNA sizing and detection of the amplified products. This study is to explore the use of polymer microchip electrophoresis for the analysis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products of fragile X (CGG)n alleles to facilitate a fast exclusion test of FXS. The sequences flanking the CGG-repeat of FMR1 gene was amplified by betaine-PCR and the amplified products were desalted and then analyzed by microchips which were fabricated on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrate. The PCR bands with more than six CGG-repeats in difference could be clearly distinguished in less than 3 min by microchip electrophoresis with a separation length of 6 cm. It was found that the signal was greatly enhanced with the use of both covalent (Cy5) and intercalating dye (TORRO-3), which has never been demonstrated before. We tested the method by reanalysis of twelve samples from males and six samples from females. For female samples with less than six repeat differences, Southern blotting method was performed to confirm or exclude the findings from microchips. It was found that the test results from all male and female samples show a 100% correlation between the microchip electrophoresis and the existing methods.     

Role of the F spin-orbit excited state in the F+HD reaction: contributions to the dynamical resonance

We report quantum mechanical calculations of excitation functions (relative reaction cross sections) for the F+HD reaction. We include three potential energy surfaces and an accurate treatment of all couplings (non-adiabatic, spin-orbit, and Coriolis). Comparison with experimental results [Dong, Lee, and Liu, J. Chem. Phys., 113, 3633 (2000)] show excellent agreement for the DF product channel and an improved but not perfect agreement for the HF product channel. In the former case, when weighted by the (16%) fractional population of the spin-orbit excited state (F(*)) in the beam, the overall reactivity of the F(*) is small (approximately 5%). For the HF product channel and with the same (16%) fractional weight, F(*) reactivity makes a contribution of approximately 12% in the high-energy tail of the resonance peak. As a result, averaging over the population of F spin-orbit states in the beam changes the shape of the resonance. The greater the fraction of F(*) in the beam, the less pronounced will be the resonance modulation of the reaction excitation function.     

A simple and efficient one-pot synthesis of 1,4-dihydropyridines using heterogeneous catalyst under solvent-free conditions

One-pot condensation of β-dicarbonyl compounds with aldehydes and ammonium acetate in the presence of HClO₄–SiO₂ at 80 °C under solvent-free conditions with good to excellent yields. The catalyst is easily prepared, stable, reusable and efficiently used under reaction conditions.     

Excited-state structure and vibrations of p-diaminobenzene studied by ab initio calculations

The structures and vibrations of p-diaminobenzene (PDAB) in the S₀ and S₁ states have been studied by ab initio quantum-chemical calculations. Results from geometry optimization show that the two stable cis and trans conformers of PDAB are non-planar in the S₀ state. Upon electronic excitation to the S₁ state, enhanced interaction between the ring and the amino substituent causes the molecule to become planar and contract along the long in-plane axis. A detailed analysis of the normal vibrations of PDAB in both states has been done on the basis of the motions of individual atoms as well as reduced masses, force constants and frequencies. The computed frequencies are in reasonably good agreement with the available experimental data.