Determination of Azidothymidine – an Antiproliferative and Virostatic Drug by Square‐Wave Voltammetry

The 3′‐azido‐3′‐deoxythymidine (AZT, Zidovudine) is an antiproliferative and virostatic drug widely used in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1) infection treatment. With respect to side effects of high doses and a short half‐life of AZT, a fast and simple detection method for this agent could be helpful. The aim of our study was to determine AZT levels in natural samples (urine, serum, whole blood, and cell cultures, such as the HaCaT line of keratinocytes) without their mineralization and/or purification, by means of electrochemical methods using hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE). On this electrode, AZT undergoes irreversible reduction at the peak potential near E_p?1.1 V (vs. Ag/AgCl/3 M KCl). Reduction AZT signals were measured by cyclic voltammetry (CV), differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), square‐wave voltammetry (SWV), and constant current chronopotentiometric stripping analysis (CPSA). In phosphate buffer (pH 8) the SWV yielded the best AZT signal with the detection limit of 1 nM. The determination of AZT concentration in biological materials is affected by electroactive components, such as proteins and DNA. For monitoring the influence of these compounds, AZT reduction was performed in the presence of 10 μg/mL calf thymus ssDNA and/or 100 μg/mL bovine serum albumin. In these cases, the detection limit increased to 0.25 μM. Also studied was the AZT concentration in keratinocyte cells (HaCaT line) during cell cultivation. It has been shown that the SWV may be considered as a useful tool for the determination of AZT concentration in cell cultures, and for monitoring AZT pharmacokinetics.     

Salt effects and the mechanism of electrophilic mercuration of unsaturated compounds

The reaction of Hg(OAc)₂ with bornylene in THF-H₂O and CH₃CN-H₂O mixed solvents (75 25, v/v) was studied. The effects of the addition of NaOAc on the reaction rate and the composition of products were investigated. In the CH₃CN-H₂O mixture, the addition of NaOAc decreases the amount of the rearranged product, fundamentally changes the ratio between the regioisomeric solvoadducts, and promotes the formation of products of Hg(OAc)₂ addition. The reaction proceedsvia an ion pair and free mercurinium ion; the cation of the ion pair and the free mercurinium ion have dissimilar structures.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 3, pp. 544–548, March, 1995.     

Quantitative determination of chloride by means of flow injection analysis with spectrophotometric detection in the UV/VIS range

Chloride is determined indirectly by Spectrophotometric flow injection analysis. Two systems are compared, both based on the principle of ion exchange of easily detectable anions versus chloride from suitable mercury salts. The first method is based on the exchange of chloride with chloranilate which is detected at 332 nm or at 306 nm in neutral or in acidic medium respectively. In the second case, chloride reacts with Hg(SCN)₂. The liberated thiocyanate forms a strongly coloured complex with Fe(III) in acidic solution with an absorption maximum at 460 nm. Both methods have a detection limit of about 5 mol Cl^–/l (175 ng/ml). In the case of the thiocyanate method, the relative standard deviation is about 2% (7 measurements) in the range of 5 to 150 mol/l and decreases significantly to a value of approximately 0.2% at higher concentrations; for the chloranilate method it is 10% for lower and about 1% for higher concentrations respectively.     

Ein Beitrag über Ba3Pt4HgO11: Das erste Erdkalimetall-Oxoplatinat(II,V)/Oxomercurat

A Contribution on Ba₃Pt₄HgO₁₁: The First Alkaline-Earth Oxoplatinate(II,V)/Oxomercurate Single crystals of Ba₃Pt₄HgO₁₁ were prepared by oxygen high pressure technique (4 200–3 600 bar) and investigated by X-ray methods. It crystallizes with hexagonal symmetry, space group D? P6 2c, a = 6.021, c = 17.374 Å, Z = 2. Ba₃Pt₄HgO₁₁ represents a new structure type, showing structural relationships to Ba₂Hg₃Pd₇O₁₄ and to the precious metal 6L-perovskites. The Hg²⁺ ions show dumb-bell like coordination, Pt²⁺ a square-planar surrounding and Pt⁵⁺ face shared double octahedra.     

CdHgO2: Ein Oxomercurat mit Verwandtschaft zur Crednerit-Struktur

CdHgO₂: An Oxomercurate related to the Crednerite Structure Single crystals of CdHgO₂ were prepared by oxygen high pressure technique (600°C, 3900 bar) and investigated by X-ray technique. It crystallizes with monoclinic symmetry, space group C–C2/m; a = 5.933, b = 3.452, c = 5.875 Å, β = 91.26°; Z = 2. The Hg²⁺ ions show dumb-bell like coordination, Cd²⁺ an octahedral one. CdHgO₂ shows strong relationship to the Crednerite structure. The orientation of the O? Hg? O dump-bells to the CdO₆ octahedra layers is discussed with respect to related oxomercurates.     

Effect of aryl ligands on the chemical hardness of arylmercury cations

¹⁹F NMR spectroscopy was used to study the exchange reactions involving 4-fluorothiophenoxides, 4-nitrophenoxides, chlorides, and acetates of arylmercury and triphenylphosphinegold. The analysis of the data on equilibrium constants allows one to obtain information on the comparative chemical hardness of ArHg⁺ and Ph₃PAu⁺ cations. The increase in the electron-donating ability of aryl ligands enhances the chemical hardness of ArHg⁺ cations, their influence being best described by ⁰ constants of substituted phenyl groups.Translated fromIzvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 5, pp. 1255–1260, May, 1996.     

Mercury species immobilized on sulphydryl cotton: A new candidate reference material for mercury speciation

A batch of sulphydryl cotton microcolumns was prepared and charged with a mixed Hg standard solution (methyl-, ethyl- and inorganic Hg, 10 g l^–1 as Hg, 3 ml) and stored at 4 °C in a light-tight box. At regular time intervals over a 4 month period microcolumns were removed and Hg species were quantified by gas chromatography microwave-induced plasma atomic emission spectrometry (after elution, extraction and derivatization steps). It was found that analyte recoveries for methyl- and inorganic Hg were quantitative over the 4 month period while ethyl-Hg species appeared to be stable for up to 2 months.     

Determination of particulate fatty acids as P-bromophenacyl- or phenylphenacylesters using HPLC

Summary A method for the determination of fatty acids of the molecular weight range of propionic to erucic acid is reported. The acids are converted to either p-bromophenacyl-or p-phenylphenacylesters and the esters are separated by HPLC and detected by UV-absorption. Twentytwo esters, including saturated, monoolefinic and polyunsaturated ones were separated within one HPLC-run. The detection limit is about 5 pmol per fatty acid. The application of the method to particulate material is described.     

Flow-injection analysis with a small cylindrical wire type electrode

An amperometric detector with a small thin mercury film electrode is described. The device demonstrates advantageous operational characteristics such as small dispersion (D<2) and “memory effect” (me<0.6%), extensive maximum sample frequency (msf −200 samples/h), and high sensitivity. It has been proven useful in flow-injection analysis at a constant potential under hydrodynamic conditions.     

Interaction of the mutagen ethidium bromide with DNA, using a carbon paste electrode and a hanging mercury drop electrode

The interaction of ethidium bromide (2,7-diamino-10-ethyl-9-phenylphenanthridinium bromide; EB) with double stranded (ds) calf thymus DNA and thermally denatured single stranded (ss) DNA was studied in solution and at the electrode surface by means of transfer voltammetry using a carbon paste electrode (CPE) as working electrode in 0.2 M acetate buffer, pH 5.0. As a result of intercalation of this dye between the base pairs of dsDNA, the characteristic peak of dsDNA, due to the oxidation of guanine residues, decreased and after a particular concentration of EB a new peak at +0.81 V appeared, probably due to the formation of a complex between dsDNA and EB. The non-intercalated EB gives another peak, but at an increased concentration of the dye. A similar behaviour was observed during the interaction of the dye with ssDNA.Furthermore, the interaction of EB with ds, ss and supercoiled (sc) DNA was studied at the hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE) surface by means of alternating current voltammetry in 0.3 M NaCl and 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 8.5) as supporting electrolyte. dsDNA yields a smaller peak at −1.42 V (peak III) compared to the one yielded by ssDNA, since the latter is a relaxed and more accessible form. By addition of EB into the buffer solution an increase of peak III was observed in the dsDNA form as well as in ssDNA resulting from their interaction with EB. Furthermore, the appearance of peak III in covalently closed circular scDNA after exposure to increasing concentrations of EB is a result of the introduction of ‘free ends’ in DNA affecting its structural integrity.