Enhancement of cyclosporine aqueous solubility using α- and hydroxypropyl β-cyclodextrin mixtures

Cyclodextrins (CDs) are cyclic oligosaccharides that form inclusion complexes with lipophilic molecules through their hydrophobic central cavity. In this study, the effect of α-CD, hydroxylpropyl-β-CD (HP-β-CD) and mixtures of these two CDs on the aqueous solubility of cyclosporine A (CyA) was investigated. Infrared spectroscopy and thermal analysis were used to confirm CyA-CD complex formation. CyA aqueous solubility was increased by 10 and 80 fold in the presence of α-CD and HP β-CD, respectively. The phase-solubility profile for HP-β-CD was linear while that for α-CD had positive deviation from linearity. In the presence of constant concentration of α-CD (15% w/v), aqueous solubility of CyA was further increased upon addition of HP-β-CD up to a concentration of 20% w/v. At higher HP-β-CD concentrations, aqueous solubility of CyA was observed to decrease. Addition of sodium acetate (up to 5% w/v) to aqueous solutions containing 20% w/v HP-β-CD and increasing concentrations of α-CD resulted in a significant reduction in CyA solubility. Complex formation between CyA and both α-CD and HP-β-CD was confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). No significant changes were observed in the IR spectra of either CyA or CD following complex formation suggesting chemical interaction between CyA and the CD was unlikely. Phase-solubility studies showed that α-CD had a much greater effect on the solubility of CyA than HP-β-CD. Addition of HP-β-CD to aqueous solutions of α-CD affected the solubility of CyA in these systems. A mixture of 15% w/v α-CD and 20% w/v HP-β-CD was optimal for increasing aqueous solubility of CyA.     

Drug metabolite cluster centers-based strategy for comprehensive profiling of Neomangiferin metabolites in vivo and in vitro and network pharmacology study on anti-inflammatory mechanism

Neomangiferin (NMF) is an extremely special xanthone that could be simultaneously attributed to C-glycoside and O-glycoside with a variety of biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antipyretic, and so on. So far as we know, the metabolism profiling has been insufficient until now. Herein, Drug Metabolite Cluster Centers (DMCCs)-based Strategy has been developed to profile the NMF metabolites in vivo and in vitro. Firstly, the DMCCs was proposed depending on literature-related and preliminary analysis results. Secondly, the specific metabolic rule was implemented to screen the metabolites of candidate DMCCs from the acquired Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography Quadrupole Exactive Orbitrap Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Exactive Orbitrap MS) data by extracted ion chromatography (EIC) method. Thirdly, candidate metabolites were accurately and tentatively identified according to the pyrolysis law of mass spectrometry, literature reports, comparison of reference substances, and especially the diagnostic product ions (DPIs) deduced preliminarily. Finally, network pharmacology was adopted to elucidate the anti-inflammatory action mechanism of NMF on the basis of DMCCs. As a result, 3 critical metabolites including NMF, Mangiferin (MF) and Norathyriol (NA) were proposed as DMCCs, and a total of 61 NMF metabolites (NMF included) were finally screened and characterized coupled with 3 different biological sample preparation methods including solid phase extraction (SPE), acetonitrile precipitation and methanol precipitation. Among them, 32 metabolites were discovered in rat urine, 30 in rat plasma, 12 in rat liver, 9 metabolites in liver microsomes and 8 in rat faeces, respectively. Our results also illustrated that NMF primarily underwent deglucosylation, glucuronidation, methylation, sulfation, dihydroxylation and their composite reactions in vivo and in vitro. Additionally, network pharmacology analysis based on DMCCs revealed 85 common targets of disease-metabolites, and the key targets were TNF, EGFR, ESR1, PTGS2, HIF1A, IL-2, PRKCA and PRKCB. They exerted anti-inflammatory effects mainly through the pathways of inflammatory response, calcium-dependent protein kinase C activity, nitrogen metabolism, pathways in cancer and so on. In general, our study constructed a novel strategy to comprehensive elucidate the biotransformation pathways of NMF in vivo and in vitro, and provided vital reference for further understanding its anti-inflammatory action mechanism. Moreover, the established strategy could be generalized to the metabolism and action mechanism study of other natural products.     

Atomic structure of InAs quantum dots on GaAs

In recent years, the self-assembled growth of semiconductor nanostructures, that show quantum size effects, has been of considerable interest. Laser devices operating with self-assembled InAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in GaAs have been demonstrated. Here, we report on the InAs/GaAs system and raise the question of how the shape of the QDs changes with the orientation of the GaAs substrate. The growth of the InAs QDs is understood in terms of the Stranski–Krastanow growth mode. For modeling the growth process, the shape and atomic structure of the QDs have to be known. This is a difficult task for such embedded entities.

In our approach, InAs is grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs until self-assembled QDs are formed. At this point the growth is interrupted and atomically resolved scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) images are acquired. We used preparation parameters known from the numerous publications on InAs/GaAs. In order to learn more about the self-assemblage process we studied QD formation on different GaAs(0 0 1), (1 1 3)A, and ( )B substrates. From the atomically resolved STM images we could determine the shape of the QDs. The quantum “dots” are generally rather flat entities better characterized as “lenses”. In order to achieve this flatness, the QDs are terminated by high-index bounding facets on low-index substrates and vice versa. Our results will be summarized in comparison with the existing literature.     

Room-temperature synthesis and conductivity of the pyrochlore type Dy2(Ti1−yZry)2O7 (0?y?1) solid solution

Different compositions in a solid solution of general formula Dy₂(Ti_1−yZr_y)₂O₇, showing high oxygen ion conductivity, have been successfully prepared at room temperature via mechanochemical synthesis. Stoichiometric mixtures of the constituent oxides were dry milled together in a planetary ball mill by using zirconia vials and balls. Chemical changes in the powder mixtures as a function of composition and milling time were followed by X-ray diffraction and revealed that, in all cases and after milling for 19 h, the powder mixtures consisted of a single phase. Electrical properties were measured on sintered pellets as a function of frequency, temperature and zirconium content, revealing an increase in conductivity of more than one order of magnitude for y?0.4, which, as observed in the similar Y₂(Ti_1−yZr_y)₂O₇, has been related with the onset of disordering of the anion sublattice. Despite increasing structural disorder with increasing Zr content, conductivity remains almost constant for y>0.6, reaching a maximum value of ∼5×10⁻³ for Dy₂Zr₂O₇ at 900 °C.     

负载型TiO2-聚酰亚胺亲水复合膜的制备与分离性能

采用溶解－流涎法，湿相转换法和干湿相转换法制轩了负载型ＴｉＯ２－聚酰亚胺亲水复合膜，采用扫描电镜，红外光谱，压汞和透气性实验等手段对该膜的孔径分布，表面结构及扩散性能进行了表征，并讨论了制备亲水对膜孔结构的影响，实验结果表明，三种膜均具有很好的亲水性能，而干湿相转换膜具有良好的孔径分布和分离性能。     

Cationic amino-containing N-isopropyl- acrylamide–styrene copolymer latex particles: 1-Particle size and morphology vs. polymerization process

 Cationic hydrophilic copolymer latexes were synthesized at 70 °C either by batch or two-step emulsifier-free emulsion poly-merization of styrene (St), N-iso-propylacrylamide (NIPAM), and aminoethylmethacrylate hydro-chloride (AEM) using 2,2′-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride as initiator. At first, batch polymerization kinetics were followed by gas chromatography (GC), revealing that NIPAM rapidly homopolymerized, before the polymerization of styrene had started. Particle size analysis by quasi-elastic light scattering (QELS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) showed that monodispersed particles were obtained with the formation of a poly[NIPAM] rich shell. Adding a small amount of the cationic monomer caused a strong decrease of the particle size without affecting the size monodispersity. When a shot process was used, a narrow particle size distribution was maintained, provided that the monomer addition was performed at a relatively high conversion of the first batch step. The poly[NIPAM] rich shell layer was larger with the shot process, but increasing the amino-containing monomer in the recipe resulted in a dramatic decrease of the thickness. Combination of transmission, scanning and atomic force microscopy techniques showed that these hydrophilic particles exhibited odd-shaped structures, the unevenness being dependent upon the performed process. Kinetic data and particle morphology information were inferred for discussion of the polymerization mechanism of this system. Received: 21 August 1997 Accepted: 22 October 1997     

Thermodynamic simulation of four-component carnallite type systems

Summary The standard method ofPitzer for predicting the solubility isotherms of systems in which solid phases with a constant composition crystallize is applied to cases when mixed crystals are formed. The four-component carnallite type systems RbCl-CsCl-MgCl₂-H₂O, RbCl-KCl-MgCl₂-H₂O, and RbCl-RbBr-MgCl₂-MgBr₂-H₂O and the corresponding subsystems are thermodynamically simulated at 25°C. It is established that the solubility diagrams consist of crystallization regions of the simple saltsMX,MX, MgX ₂·6H₂O, and MgX₂·6H₂O and of the corresponding carnallite type double salts with the composition 1:1:6. A method of calculation of the integralGibbs energy of mixingG ^mix(s) of crystals formed in water-salt systems has been proposed. The results on the systems RbCl-KCl-H₂O, RbCl-RbBr-H₂O, and MgCl₂-MgBr₂-H₂O are compared with experimental data from the literature and with values calculated using various models.

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Thermodynamische Simulation von Vierkomponentensystemen des Carnallit-Types

Zusammenfassung DiePitzer-Methode zur Voraussage der Löslichkeitsisothermen in Mehrstoffsystemen, in welchen feste Phasen mit konstanter Zusammensetzung auskristallisieren, wurde auch für Fälle angewendet, bei denen sich Mischkristalle bilden. Die Vierstoffsysteme RbCl-CsCl-MgCl₂-H₂O, RbCl-KCl-MgCl₂-H₂O und RbCl-RbBr-MgCl₂-MgBr₂-H₂O, aus welchen Carnallit-Typ-Mischkristalle auskristallisieren, und die dazugehörigen Dreistoff-Randsysteme wurden bei 25°C simuliert. Man stellt fest, daß die Löslichkeitsdiagramme sowohl Kristallisationsbereiche der einfachen SalzeMX,M'X, MgX ₂·6H₂O und MgX ₂·6H₂O als auch der entsprechenden carnallitartigen Doppelsalze mit der Zuzammensetzung 1:1:6 umfassen. Eine Methode zur Berechnung derGibbs-EnergieG ^mix(s) für die in Wasser-Salz-Systemen gebildeten Mischkristalle wird vorgeschlagen. Die für die Systeme RbCl-KCl-H₂O, RbCl-RbBr-H₂O und MgCl₂-MgBr₂-H₂O erhaltenen Ergebnisse werden mit experimentellen Literaturdaten und Resultaten von Berechnungen aufgrund verschiedener Modelle verglichen.

     

2,4,6—三氧—1,3,5,2—三氮磷杂环己烷衍生物的合成及其抗肿瘤活性

利用Ｎ，Ｎ－二（２－氯乙基）氨基磷酰二异氰酸酯和胺的加成反应，合成了２，４，６三氧－１，３，５，２三氮磷杂环己烷衍生物，它们的结构经＾１ＨＮＭＲ，ＩＲ和元素分析所证实。初步生物活性测试结果表明，部分化合物具有一定的抗肿瘤活性。     

Investigation of polymer-protected noble metal nanoparticles by transmission electron microscopy: control of particle morphology and shape

 Noble metal nanoparticles were prepared by the in situ reduction of the respective metal salt precursors in the presence of various protective polymers. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used to determine the particle shapes and morphologies. These are strongly influenced by the reduction methods and conditions chosen, but the choice of the protective polymer is equally important for controlling the particle morphologies and for the stabilization of the colloids. A whole spectrum of nanoparticle morphologies and shapes was obtained, ranging from nanoagglomerates which are nevertheless well-defined and well-stabilized to nanosized single crystals with triangular shape. Received: 2 February 1998 Accepted: 29 May 1998     

溶剂浓度对PVDF相转换膜大孔结构的影响

提出决定大孔能否发展的初始分相点处溶剂浓度临界点的概念 ,认为初始分相点处较高的溶剂浓度有利于大孔的发展 ,溶剂浓度低于一定的界限后 ,大孔停止发展 ,转为海绵状结构 .实验考察了不同凝胶液组成下制得的PVDF中空膜的结构 ,建立了相应的传质模型 ,模拟不同制膜条件下初生态膜内的组成分布情况 ,根据初始分相点处溶剂浓度临界点的概念 ,预测膜的形态结构 .模拟结果与相应制膜条件下的电镜照片有很好的对应关系 ,证明了上述大孔形成机理的正确性 .