A sensitive and specific method for the determination of total ribavirin in human red blood cells by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A sensitive and specific method using high-performance liquid chromatography (LC)-tandem mass spectrometry (MS) for the analysis of total ribavirin in human red blood cells (RBC) is developed and validated. The method involves the addition of an internal standard and perchloric acid, the conversion of ribavirin phosphorylated metabolites to ribavirin, purification with a solid-phase exchange cartridge, and LC-MS-MS analysis. The MS-MS is selected to monitor m/z 245-113 for ribavirin and m/z 250-113 for [13C]ribavirin using positive electrospray ionization. The calibration curve is linear over a concentration of 100-10,000 ng/mL with a limit of quantitation of 100 ng/mL. Mean interassay accuracy for quality control (QC) at 100, 1000, and 10,000 ng/mL are 101.8%, 99.4%, and 98.8%, respectively. Mean interassay precision (%CV) for QC at 100, 1000, and 10,000 ng/mL are 5.0%, 5.0%, and 2.5%, respectively. Extractibility of total ribavirin from RBC is confirmed with RBC obtained from a [(14)C]ribavirin-dosed monkey. The method is used to determine the free and total ribavirin concentration in human RBC obtained from hepatitis C patients treated with ribavirin.     

Quantitative analysis of multivalent interactions of carbohydrate-encapsulated gold nanoparticles with concanavalin A

Multivalent interactions between carbohydrate-encapsulated gold nanoparticles and Con A are found with high affinity and specificity.     

Readily synthesised arylamino fumaronitrile for non-doped red organic light-emitting diodes

Bright (maximum 10034 cd m(-2), 455 cd m(-2) at 20 mA cm(-2)) and efficient (maximum 2.4% at 4 mA cm(-2)) red (lambda(max)el 634-636 nm) organic light-emitting diodes employ arylamino-substituted fumaronitrile as the novel host emitter, which is readily prepared and easily purified.     

Synthesis,and Antimycobacterial and Cytotoxic Evaluation of Certain Fluoroquinolone Derivatives

Certain 1‐ethyl‐ and 1‐aryl‐6‐fluoro‐1,4‐dihydroquinol‐4‐one derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for antimycobacterial and cytotoxic activities. Preliminary results indicated that, for 1‐aryl‐6‐fluoroquinolones, both 7‐(piperazin‐1‐yl)‐ and 7‐(4‐methylpiperazin‐1‐yl) derivatives, 9b and 11a , are able to completely inhibit the growth of M. tuberculosis at a concentration of 6.25 μg/ml, while the 7‐[4‐(2‐oxo‐2‐phenylethyl)piperazin‐1‐yl] derivative 13 exhibits only 31% growth inhibition at the same concentration. For 1‐ethyl‐6‐fluoroquinolones, both 7‐[4‐(2‐oxopropyl)piperazin‐1‐yl]‐ and 7‐[4‐(2‐oxo‐2‐phenylethyl)piperazin‐1‐yl]‐derivatives, 2a and 2b , respectively, show complete inhibition, while their 2‐iminoethyl and substituted phenyl counterparts 3a and 2c are less active. In addition, the 6,8‐difluoro derivative was a more‐favorable inhibitor than its 6‐fluoro counterpart ( 2b vs. 2d ). These results deserve full attention especially because 2a, 2b, 9b , and 11a are non‐cytotoxic at a concentration of 100 μM . Furthermore, compound 9b proved to be a potent anti‐TB agent with selective index (SI)>40 and an EC₉₀ value of 5.75 μg/ml.     

Self-assembly of tetrahedral and trigonal antiprismatic clusters [Fe4(L4)4] and [Fe6(L5)6] on the basis of trigonal tris-bidentate chelators

In a one-pot reaction, the tetranuclear iron chelate complex [Fe4(L4)4] 6 was generated from benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylic acid trichloride (4), bis-tert-butyl malonate (5a), methyllithium, and iron(II) dichloride under aerobic conditions. Alternatively, hexanuclear iron chelate complex [Fe(L5)6] 7 was formed starting from bis-para-tolyl malonate (5b) by employing identical reaction conditions to those applied for the synthesis of 6. The clusters 6 and 7 are present as racemic mixtures of homoconfigurational (delta,delta,delta,delta)/(lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda)-fac or (delta,delta,delta,delta,delta,delta)/(lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda,lambda)-fac stereoisomers. The structures of 6 and 7 were unequivocally resolved by single-crystal X-ray analyses. The all-iron(III) character of 6 and 7 was determined by M?ssbauer spectroscopy.     

Unsymmetrical linear pentanuclear nickel string complexes: [Ni(5)(tpda)(4)(H(2)O)(BF(4))](BF(4))(2) and [Ni(5)(tpda)(4)(SO(3)CF(3))(2)](SO(3)CF(3))

The one-electron oxidized linear pentanuclear nickel complexes [Ni(5)(tpda)(4)(H(2)O)(BF(4))](BF(4))(2) (1) and [Ni(5)(tpda)(4)(SO(3)CF(3))(2)](SO(3)CF(3)) (2) have been synthesized by reacting the neutral compound [Ni(5)(tpda)(4)Cl(2)] with the corresponding silver salts. These compounds have been characterized by various spectroscopic techniques. Compound 1 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2(1)/n with a = 15.3022(1) A, b = 31.0705(3) A, c = 15.8109(2) A, beta = 92.2425(4) degrees, V = 7511.49(13) A(3), Z = 4, and compound 2 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group C2/c with a = 42.1894(7) A, b = 17.0770(3) A, c = 21.2117(4) A, beta = 102.5688(8) degrees, V = 14916.1(5) A(3), Z = 8. X-ray structural studies reveal an unsymmetrical Ni(5) unit for both compounds 1 and 2. Compounds 1 and 2 show stronger Ni-Ni interactions as compared to those of the neutral compounds.     

Pd-Xantphos-catalyzed direct arylation of nucleosides

Direct arylation of the exocyclic amino groups of nucleosides represents a simple approach to N-aryl nucleoside derivatives. To date, one limitation has been that only electron-deficient aryl bromides and triflates possessed adequate reactivity for efficient, direct N-arylation of nucleosides. We demonstrate herein that Pd-Xantphos catalytic systems lead to successful N-arylation of suitably protected 2'-deoxyadenosine and 2'-deoxyguanosine with a wide range of aryl bromides.     

Advances in methods and algorithms in a modern quantum chemistry program package

Advances in theory and algorithms for electronic structure calculations must be incorporated into program packages to enable them to become routinely used by the broader chemical community. This work reviews advances made over the past five years or so that constitute the major improvements contained in a new release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry package, together with illustrative timings and applications. Specific developments discussed include fast methods for density functional theory calculations, linear scaling evaluation of energies, NMR chemical shifts and electric properties, fast auxiliary basis function methods for correlated energies and gradients, equation-of-motion coupled cluster methods for ground and excited states, geminal wavefunctions, embedding methods and techniques for exploring potential energy surfaces.     

Contact angle hysteresis on regular pillar-like hydrophobic surfaces

A series of pillar-like patterned silicon wafers with different pillar sizes and spacing are fabricated by photolithography and further modified by a self-assembled fluorosilanated monolayer. The dynamic contact angles of water on these surfaces are carefully measured and found to be consistent with the theoretical predictions of the Cassie model and the Wenzel model. When a water drop is at the Wenzel state, its contact angle hysteresis increases along with an increase in the surface roughness. While the surface roughness is further raised beyond its transition roughness (from the Wenzel state to the Cassie state), the contact angle hysteresis (or receding contact angle) discontinuously drops (or jumps) to a lower (or higher) value. When a water drop is at the Cassie state, its contact angle hysteresis strongly depends on the solid fraction and has nothing to do with the surface roughness. Even for a superhydrophobic surface, the contact angle hysteresis may still exhibit a value as high as 41 degrees for the solid fraction of 0.563.