N‐phosphinyl ureas: Synthesis,characterization, X‐ray structure,and in vitro evaluation of antitumor activity

A new series of N‐phosphinylureas 5b, 6a–7c was synthesized and characterized by ¹H, ¹³C, ³¹P NMR, IR, and elemental analysis. The three‐dimensional structure of 5b has been determined by X‐ray crystallography. The crystal structure revealed the existence of four independent molecules. All structures form two chains with different arrangements and connect to each other via hydrogen bonds to produce two‐dimensional polymeric chains. The cytotoxicity of cyclophosphamide (a standard antitumor compound) and its nine analogues with formula R¹C₆H₄ NHC(O)NHP(O)XCH₂C(R²)₂ CH₂Y(X = Y = NH, R² = CH₃, R¹ = H ( 5a ), CH₃ ( 5b ), NO₂ ( 5c ), X = O, Y = NH, R² = H, R¹ = H ( 6a , CH₃ ( 6b ), NO₂ ( 6c ), and X = Y = O, R² = CH₃, R¹ = H ( 7a ), CH₃ ( 7b ), NO₂ ( 7c )) as well as phenyl urea were evaluated in vitro against three human tumor cell lines K562, MDA‐MB‐231, and HepG2. The results showed that most of the compounds have significant activity against the selected cell lines. Also, HepG2 cells were more sensitive to all the tested compounds than other cell lines. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 23:74–83, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com . DOI 10.1002/hc.20754     

Development of a sensitive method for the determination of ganciclovir by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

Ganciclovir is a nucleoside analogue widely used in the treatment of cytomegalovirus infections, which affects mainly immunocompromised patients. Recently, new pharmaceutical dosage forms based on the use of albumin nanoparticles have been developed for improving the efficacy of this drug. The aim of this study was to develop an analytical HPLC method for the determination of ganciclovir in both pharmaceuticals (i.e. albumin nanoparticles) and biological medium samples. The chromatography was performed on a reversed-phase encapped column (LiChrospher Select B C₈) with a mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile in 0.05 M ammonium acetate (pH 6.5; 2: 98, v/v). Acyclovir was used as internal standard and the detection wavelength was 254 nm. The limit of quantitation of ganciclovir was 50 ng/ml and the average recoveries over a concentration range of 0.05–10 μg/ml ranged from 98 to 102%. Precision did not exceed 5%. In summary, this assay is a selective, sensitive and reproducible method for the determination of the ganciclovir in albumin nanoparticles. It can be successfully applied to the estimation of the ganciclovir uptake by cultured human corneal fibroblasts.     

A two-dimensional potential function for bent hydrogen bonded systems. II-6-hydroxy-2-formylfulvene

A simple and practical method for treating the non-adiabatic proton tunneling in 6-hydroxy-2-formylfulvene was used. A two dimensional potential energy surface function, which couples OH stretching and in-plane bending modes, has been constructed for motion of hydrogen by the aid of quantum mechanical calculations at MP2/6-31G** level for a fixed skeleton geometry. This potential was used for calculation of energy levels from which a tunneling splitting of 181±14 cm⁻¹ was obtained in an excellent agreement with the experimental value of at least 150 cm⁻¹. The calculated barrier height for these results was about 26–27 kJ/mol. This method also assigns a broad band at about 1740 cm⁻¹ to the OH in-plane bending mode. The calculated hydrogen bond strength was estimated to be about 80 kJ/mol.     

Cell Repellent Coatings on Inner Walls of Tubes by Means of Transporting Discharge in Atmospheric Pressure

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - We report a method to obtain biocompatible PEG copolymer coatings inside high density polyethylene and Pyrex tubes, which was successfully developed by...     

Improvement of the Bioactivity of UHMWPE by Two Different Atmospheric Plasma Treatments

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - In this research work we demonstrated that a helium/oxygen Dielectric Barrier Discharge conferred hydrophilic functional groups onto the surface, which lead...     

Generation of a Novel High-Affinity Monoclonal Antibody with Conformational Recognition Epitope on Human IgM

As IgM is the first isotype of antibody which appears in blood after initial exposure to a foreign antigen in the pattern of primary response, detection, and quantification of this molecule in blood seems invaluable. To approach these goals, generation, and characterization of a highly specific mAb (monoclonal antibody) against human IgM were investigated. Human IgM immunoglobulins were used to immunize Balb/c mice. Spleen cells taken from the immunized animals were fused with SP2/O myeloma cells using PEG (polyethylene glycol, MW 1450) as fusogen. The hybridomas were cultured in HAT containing medium and supernatants from the growing hybrids were screened by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using plates coated with pure human IgM and the positive wells were then cloned at limiting dilutions. The best clone designated as MAN-1, was injected intraperitoneally to some Pristane-injected mice. Anti-IgM mAb was purified from the animals’ ascitic fluid by protein-G sepharose followed by DEAE-cellulose ion exchange chromatography. MAN-1 interacted with human IgM with a very high specificity and affinity. The purity of the sample was tested by SDS-PAGE and the affinity constant was measured ( K_\texta = \text3.\text5 ×\text10^\text9\textM^{\text - 1} ) \left( {{K_{\text{a}}} = {\text{3}}.{\text{5}} \times {\text{1}}{0^{\text{9}}}{{\text{M}}^{{\text{ - 1}}}}} \right) . Immunoblotting and competitive ELISA were done and the results showed that the harvested antibody recognizes a conformational epitope on the μ chain of human IgM and there was no cross-reactivity with other subclasses of immunoglobulins. Furthermore, isotyping test was done and the results showed the subclass of the obtained mAb which was IgG₁κ.     

Remarkable Improvement of Methylglyoxal Synthase Thermostability by His–His Interaction

Lately it has been proposed that interaction between two positively charged side chains can stabilize the folded state of proteins. To further explore this point, we studied the effect of histidine–histidine interactions on thermostability of methylglyoxal synthase from Thermus sp. GH5 (TMGS). The crystal structure of TMGS revealed that His23, Arg22, and Phe19 are in close distance and form a surface loop. Here, two modified enzymes were produced by site-directed mutagenesis (SDM); one of them, one histidine (TMGS-HH^O), and another two histidines (TMGS-HHH^O) were inserted between Arg22 and His23 (H^O). In comparison with the wild type, TMGS-HH^O thermostability increased remarkably, whereas TMGS-HHH^O was very unstable. To explore the role of His23 in the observed phenomenon, the original His23 in TMGS-HHH^O was replaced with Ala (TMGS-HHA). Our data showed that the half-life of TMGS-HHA decreased in relation to the wild type. However, its half-life increased in comparison with TMGS-HHH^O. These results demonstrated that histidine–histidine interactions at position 23 in TMGS-HH^O probably have the main role in TMGS thermostability.