Validation of an LC–MS/MS Method for Simultaneous Detection of Five Selective KCNQ Channel Openers: ICA-27243, ML-213, PF-05020182, SF-0034 and Flupirtine in Mice Plasma and its Application to a Pharmacokinetic Study in Mice

A sensitive and rapid LC–MS/MS method was developed and validated for the simultaneous quantitation of five selective KCNQ channel openers, namely ICA-27243, ML-213, PF-05020182, SF-0034 and flupirtine in mice plasma as per regulatory guideline. The analytes and the internal standard (IS; flupirtine-d ₄ ) were extracted from 50 µL mice plasma by liquid–liquid extraction, followed by chromatographic separation using an Atlantis C₁₈ column with an isocratic mobile phase comprising 0.2% formic acid: acetonitrile (20:80, v/v) at a flow rate of 0.6 mL min^?1 within 2.5 min. Detection and quantitation was done by multiple reaction monitoring on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer following the transitions: m/z 268.9 → 140.8, 258.1 → 95.1, 367.2 → 269.1, 322.2 → 248.2, 305.7 → 196.4 and 309.1 → 196.1 for ICA-27243, ML-213, PF-05020182, SF-0034, flupirtine and the IS, respectively, in the positive ionization mode. The calibration curves were linear from 1.00 to 2008 ng mL^?1 for all the analytes with r² ≥ 0.99. The intra- and inter-batch accuracy and precision (% CV) across quality controls varied from 90.0 to 113 and 2.64 to 13.0; 93.8 to 114 and 3.15 to 14.9%, respectively, for all the analytes. Analytes were found to be stable under different stability conditions. The method was applied to a pharmacokinetic study in mice.     

A new entry to polycyclic indole derivatives via intramolecular imino Diels-Alder reaction: observation of unexpected reaction

A new, efficient, and highly diastereoselective synthesis of polycyclic indole derivatives through intramolecular imino Diels-Alder reaction of aminoanthraquinone with N-prenylated indole-2-carboxaldehydes in the presence of 20 mol % of triphenylphosphonium perchlorate (TPPP) is reported with extremely high cis selectivity in good yield.     

Oxidative cleavage of S‐Arylmercaptoacetic acids by pyridinium chlorochromate: Kinetic and correlation analysis

Kinetics of oxidation of 24 S‐Arylmercaptoacetic acids (SAMA) by pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC) have been studied in acidmedium. The product of oxidation is the corresponding thiophenol. The rate data of meta‐ and para‐substituted acids have been correlated well with σ_I, σ_R^o values and the meta‐compounds correlate well with F,R values. The reaction constants are negative and of smaller magnitudes. Further, the ortho‐substituted acids show a good correlation with triparametric equation involving Taft's σ_I and σ_R^o and charton's steric parameter v. There is no considerable steric contribution to the total orthosubstituent effect. Based on these observations, the mechanism involving the formation of protonated arylsulfinylacetic acid intermediate, followed by an intramolecular rearrangement leading to the product thiophenol has been proposed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 31: 683–688, 1999     

Nafion SAC-13: heterogeneous and reusable catalyst for the activation of HMDS for efficient and selective O-silylation reactions under solvent-free condition

Nafion SAC-13 effectively activates hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) for the efficient and selective silylation of alcohols. Primary, secondary, and tertiary alcohols and phenols are efficiently converted to their corresponding silylethers in short reaction times (4-8 min) with excellent yield at rt under solvent-free condition. Simple and clean reactions, high yield of the products and efficient recycling of the catalyst are the salient features of this methodology.     

A minimalist approach toward protein recognition by epitope transfer from functionally evolved beta-sheet surfaces

New approaches for identifying small molecules that specifically target protein surfaces as opposed to active site clefts are of much current interest. Toward this goal, we describe a three-step methodology: in step one, we target a protein of interest by directed evolution of a small beta-sheet scaffold; in step two, we identify residues on the scaffold that are implicated in binding; and in step three, we transfer the chemical information from the beta-sheet to a small molecule mimic. As a case study, we targeted the proteolytic enzyme thrombin, involved in blood coagulation, utilizing a library of beta-sheet epitopes displayed on phage that were previously selected for conservation of structure. We found that the thrombin-binding, beta-sheet displaying mini-proteins retained their structure and stability while inhibiting thrombin at low micromolar inhibition constants. A conserved dityrosine recognition motif separated by 9.2 A was found to be common among the mini-protein inhibitors and was further verified by alanine scanning. A molecule containing two tyrosine residues separated by a linker that matched the spacing on the beta-sheet scaffold inhibited thrombin, whereas a similar dityrosine molecule separated by a shorter 6 A linker could not. Moreover, kinetic analysis revealed that both the mini-protein as well as its minimalist mimic with only two functional residues exhibited noncompetitive inhibition of thrombin. Thus, this reductionist approach affords a simple methodology for transferring information from structured protein scaffolds to yield small molecule leads for targeting protein surfaces with novel mechanisms of action.     

Biocidal effects of photocatalytic semiconductor TiO2

Photocatalytic action of the commercial TiO₂ was the subject of study on the destruction of the microbes within the biofilms. The TiO₂ powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) for identifying its type and the particle size was determined. The biofilm was allowed to form over TiO₂ coatings over glass slides irradiated with polychromatic light for different time durations and distances. It indicates that a five-fold decrease in bacterial count due to the formation of H₂O₂ at TiO₂/biofilm interface. The formation of H₂O₂ at the TiO₂/biofilm interface is estimated and it does not destroy the entire bacterial population within the biofilm. Bacterial killing effect is supported by FT-IR analysis.     

Effect of ultraviolet-B radiation on intact cells of the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis: characterization of the alterations in the thylakoid membranes

Intact trichomes of Spirulina platensis are exposed to ultraviolet- B (UV-B) radiation (270-320 nm; 1.9 mW m(-2)) for 9 h. This UV-B exposure results in alterations in the pigment-protein complexes and in the fluorescence emission profile of the chlorophyll-protein complexes of the thylakoids as compared with thylakoids isolated from control dark-adapted Spirulina cells. The UV-B exposure causes a significant decrease in photosystem II activity, but no loss in photosystem I activity. Although there is no change in the photosystem I activity in thylakoids from UV-B-exposed cells, the chlorophyll a emission at room temperature and at 77 K indicates alterations associated with photosystem I. Additionally, the results clearly demonstrate that the photosystem II core antennae of chlorophyll proteins CP47 and CP43 are affected by UV-B exposure, as revealed by Western blot analysis. Furthermore, a prominent 94 kDa protein band appears in the sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) profile of UV-B-exposed cell thylakoids, which is absent from the control thylakoids. This 94 kDa protein appears not to be newly induced by UV-B exposure, but could possibly have originated from the UV-B-induced cross-linking of the thylakoid proteins. The exposure of isolated Spirulina thylakoids to the same intensity of UV-B radiation for 1-3 h induces losses in the CP47 and CP43 levels, but does not induce the appearance of the 94 kDa protein band in SDS-PAGE. These results clearly demonstrate that prolonged exposure of Spirulina cells to moderate levels of UV-B affects the chlorophyll a-protein complexes and alters the fluorescence emission spectral profile of the pigment-protein complexes of the thylakoid membranes. Thus, it is clear that chlorophyll a antennae of Spirulina platensis are significantly altered by UV-B radiation.     

Boundary Layer Solutions in Elastic Solids

Circumferential shear deformation in an annular domain is studied for a large class of incompressible isotropic elastic materials. It is demonstrated that large strains are confined in a region adjacent to a boundary, in analogy to the boundary layer phenomenon in fluid mechanics. The size of this region is quantified. An approximate solution technique for the deformation of nonlinear elastic solids, proposed by Rajagopal [7], is further studied. In this solution, akin to the boundary layer approximation in classical fluid mechanics, the full nonlinear problem is solved in a relatively small region of large strain, while the linearized problem is solved in the remaining region. Error estimates for the approximate solution are obtained.     

Kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of methyl phenyl sulfoxide by peroxodiphosphate

The kinetics of the oxidation of methyl phenyl sulfoxide (MPSO) by potassium peroxodiphosphate (PP) in 50% aqueous acetic acid obeys the rate law.-d[PP]_T/dt=k[PP] [MPSO] at constant [H⁺]. The active species in the oxidation has been found to be H₃P₂O ₈ ^– . The kinetic results have been explained by a polar mechanism.

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() () 50%- (./.) -d[]^T/dt=k·[]·[] [H^*]. H₃P₂O ₈ ^– . .