Structural study of 8-azole derivatives of protoberberine alkaloids: experimental and quantum chemical approach

New derivatives of protoberberine alkaloids were prepared by nucleophilic addition of some azoles (differing in bulkiness) to the iminium functionality of the quaternary protoberberine alkaloids. Compounds were structurally characterized mainly by ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy, and the structure of 8-carbazol-1-yl-7,8-dihydroberberine was determined using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Additionally, conformational behaviors of five derivatives varying in bulkiness of the azole moiety have been investigated by low temperature NMR spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations. Ring current effects of pyrrole and carbazole moieties on selected ¹H NMR resonances have been characterized, visualized, and discussed.     

Nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis coupled with laser-induced native fluorescence detection for the analysis of berberine, palmatine, and jatrorrhizine in Chinese herbal medicines

LIF detection is one of the most sensitive detection methods for CE. However, its application is limited because the analyte is usually required to be derivatized with a fluorescent label. As a result, LIF is seldom used to analyze active ingredients in plants. In this work, we introduce a rapid, simple, and sensitive method of nonaqueous CE (NACE) coupled with laser-induced native fluorescence detection for the simultaneous analysis of berberine, palmatine, and jatrorrhizine. This method skillfully utilizes the native fluorescence of these alkaloids and requires no troublesome fluorescent derivatization. As these alkaloids can fluoresce to some degree, they were simply detected by a commercially available 488 nm Ar+ laser. The native fluorescence of the analytes was greatly enhanced by nonaqueous media. Compared with the reported UV detection method, much lower LOD was achieved (6.0 ng/mL for berberine, 7.5 ng/mL for palmatine, and 380 ng/mL for jatrorrhizine). This method was successfully applied to analyze berberine, palmatine, and jatrorrhizine in two Chinese herbal medicines, Rhizoma coptidis and Caulis mahoniae.     

小檗碱在TLC原位的FT-SERS研究

应用表面增强技术将薄层色谱与近红外傅里叶变换拉曼光谱联用，获得了中成药三黄片中主要有效成分小檗碱在薄层原位的傅里叶变换表面增强拉曼光谱（FT－SERS）。研究表明，在薄层原位约2.5μm样品的FT－SERS与纯固体样品的FT－Raman光谱的主要特征峰波数基本一致，相对强度有一定变化，出现特别增强的拉曼峰是波数为727nm的芳香环上CH键面内变形振动峰。小檗碱分子以异喹啉环共轭体系的π电子与表面增强活性物质银晶体微粒相互作用，呈平面吸附样式。获得了中成药三黄片中主要有效成分小檗碱分离与高灵敏度指纹检测的可靠的新方法。     

Preliminary studies of berberine and its semi-synthetic derivatives as a promising class of multi-target anti-parkinson agents

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder bearing motor and nonmotor symptoms. The treatment today is symptomatical rather than preventive or curative and this leaves the field open for the search of both novel molecular targets and drug candidates. Interference with α-synuclein fibrillation, monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibition, modulation of adenosine receptors and the inhibition of specific phosphodiesterase (PDE) isoforms are some of the currently pursued strategies. We synthesised and studied some semi-synthetic berberine derivatives using a set of in silico tools. We evaluated their drug-likeness and tested the compounds against a set of target proteins involved in the onset or progression of PD, with a particular attention to MAO-B. Preliminary in vitro assay on MAO-B confirmed our in silico predictions.     

Fundamental characteristics of synthetic adsorbents intended for industrial chromatographic separations

With the aim of obtaining comprehensive information on the selection of synthetic adsorbents for industrial applications, effect of pore and chemical structure of industrial-grade synthetic adsorbents on adsorption capacity of several pharmaceutical compounds was investigated. For relatively low molecular mass compounds, such as cephalexin, berberine chloride and tetracycline hydrochloride, surface area per unit volume of polystyrenic adsorbents dominated the equilibrium adsorption capacity. On the contrary, effect of pore size of the polystyrenic adsorbents on the equilibrium adsorption capacity was observed for relatively high molecular mass compounds, such as rifampicin, Vitamin B12 and insulin. Polystyrenic adsorbent with high surface area and small pore size showed small adsorption capacity for relatively high molecular mass compounds, whereas polystyrenic adsorbent with relatively small surface area but with large pore size showed large adsorption capacity. Effect of chemical structure on the equilibrium adsorption capacity of several pharmaceutical compounds was also studied among polystyrenic, modified polystyrenic and polymethacrylic adsorbents. The modified polystyrenic adsorbent showed larger adsorption capacity for all compounds tested in this study due to enhanced hydrophobicity. The polymethacrylic adsorbent possessed high adsorption capacity for rifampicin and insulin, but it showed lower adsorption capacity for the other compounds studied. This result may be attributed to hydrogen bonding playing major role for the adsorption of compounds on polymethacrylic adsorbent. Furthermore, column adsorption experiments were operated to estimate the effect of pore characteristics of the polystyrenic adsorbents on dynamic adsorption behavior, and it is found that both surface area and pore size of the polystyrenic adsorbents significantly affect the dynamic adsorption capacity as well as flow rate.     

Determination of berberine by measuring the enhanced total internal reflected fluorescence at water/tetrachloromethane interface in the presence of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate

A highly sensitive method for determination of berberine is proposed based on the measurements of total internal reflected fluorescence (TIRF) at water/ tetrachloromethane (H₂O/CCl₄) interface. In the pH range of 2.6–5.7, the co-adsorption of the berberine with the anionic surfactants such as sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (SDBS), sodium dodecylsulfonate (SDS), and sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS) occurs at the H₂O/CCl₄ interface, resulting in greatly enhanced TIRF signal characterized by the emission at 526 nm when excited with a 351 nm light beam. The enhanced TIRF intensity is in proportion to the berberine concentration in the range 0.2–10.0×10^-7 mol L^-1. The limit of detection is 1.7×10^-9 mol L^-1 (3). It was found that ions such as Ca(II), Cu(II), Fe(III), Cd(II), Mg(II), Zn(II), Pb(II), and Al(III) can be allowed larger than 1.0×10^-4 mol L^-1. Meanwhile, the organic compounds such as vitamin B, saccharine, and amino acid do not display any effect for the present TIRF method even if they are larger than 1.0×10^-2 mol L^-1in high concentration levels (larger than 1.0×10^-5 mol L^-1). The results of determination for synthetic samples were agreement with the desired values, and the ones for tablets were identical with those obtained according to the method of Chinese Pharmacopoeia.     

小檗碱质谱碎片离子稳定性分析及碎裂机理的量子化学研究

用量子化学B3LYP/6-31G(d)方法, 研究了小檗碱质谱碎片离子的稳定性规律. 通过几何参数分析、 结合能计算和前线分子轨道分析, 研究碎片离子可能的活性部位及各部位相对反应活性, 并从理论上探讨了质谱碎裂机理. 结合能计算结果表明, 分子离子中C9所连甲氧基的C—O键比C10所连甲氧基的C—O键更容易断裂. 同时发现, 质谱碎裂过程中, 氢的解离促进了羰基的解离, 即质谱中常见的解离CO的过程.     

The drug interaction potential of berberine hydrochloride when co-administered with simvastatin,fenofibrate, gemfibrozil,metformin, glimepiride,nateglinide, pioglitazone and sitagliptin in beagles

Berberine (BBR) hydrochloride is a traditional Chinese medicine with unique hypoglycemic and lipid-lowering effects discovered in recent years. The combination of BBR with other hypoglycemic drugs and lipid-lowering drugs could become a promising treatment strategy. With the aim of evaluating the potential drug-drug interaction (DDI) based on the pharmacokinetics between BBR and simvastatin, fenofibrate, gemfibrozil, metformin, glimepiride, nateglinide, pioglitazone and sitagliptin in beagles, an UPLC-MS/MS method has been developed and validated. The analytes and internal standards were extracted from plasma samples using a magnetic solid phase extraction technique, and then separated by a Luna® Omega C₁₈ column (20.0 × 2.0 mm, 1.6 μm) with water containing 3 mM ammonium and 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile containing 3 mM ammonium and 0.1% formic acid as the mobile phase. Validation of the UPLC-MS/MS method was carried out following the criteria of the Chinese Pharmacopeia, mainly including specificity, carryover, calibration curve, crosstalk, precision, accuracy, dilution integrity, matrix effect, recovery and stability. The results showed that all the criteria of the method validation met the Chinese Pharmacopoeia guidelines, and the proposed UPLC-MS/MS method was proven to be sensitive, simple and specific to determine all the analytes in the beagles’ plasma samples simultaneously. Meanwhile, the potential DDI between BBR and simvastatin, fenofibrate, gemfibrozil, metformin, glimepiride, nateglinide, pioglitazone and sitagliptin was confirmed in this paper, especially for simvastatin, fenofibrate, gemfibrozil and glimepiride.     

Luminescence Studies on Interaction of an Isoquinoline Alkaloid with Calf Thymus DNA in Aqueous Medium and on Solid Substrate

The interaction of calf thymus DNA(ctDNA) with berberine(Ber) was systematically investigated via UV-Vis, fluorescence and phosphorescence spectroscopies in aqueous solution and on solid substrate. The very weak fluorescence intensity of Ber at 525 nm in aqueous solution can be greatly enhanced by ctDNA. The UV-Vis spectrum shows that Ber could bind with DNA by intercalation. In addition, strong fluorescence of Ber alone could be observed on filter paper substrate and can be quenched by ctDNA effectively, and the increase of fluorescence polarization of Ber on the filter paper implies the intercalation binding. Ber emits phosphorescence at 619 nm in the presence of thallium(I) acetate. The lifetime of Ber increased from 38.4 ms to 43.4 ms with the increase of ctDNA. The increase of lifetime is possibly attributed to the increase of rigidity of Ber after its intercalating into the ctDNA base pairs. This explanation is also augmented by the anionic quenching results. Ber behaves as a typical intercalating agent into ctDNA.The intrinsic binding constant between Ber and ctDNA is (1.84?0.12)?10⁴ L/mol and n=0.16.     

小檗碱C(9)位硫辛酸酯类化合物的设计合成及量子化学计算研究

现代医学研究证实,小檗碱具有显著的降糖活性和临床安全性。目前,临床应用的降糖药物能够有效控制血糖,但使用不方便,副作用的问题难以避免,且对胰岛素分泌不足、胰岛素抵抗等问题研究少之甚少。本文以小檗碱为先导化合物,对其C(9)位进行结构修饰,并在相应的位点引入具有抗氧化作用的硫辛酸,合成了小檗碱C(9)位硫辛酸酯及其类似物,希望能够得到一种具有双功能双位点的新型降糖药物,达到修复和改善胰岛功能的目的。中间体9-O-取代基类BBR的合成是反应中关键一步,通过量子化学计算比较了三种试剂1,2-二溴乙烷、2-溴乙醇、环氧乙烷的亲电反应能力,为后续中间体的合成工艺提供初步理论依据。