Separation of Rare Earth Elements (REE) by Ion Interaction Chromatography (IIC) Using Diglycolic Acid (ODA) as a Complexing Agent

Chromatographia - The possibility of rare earth elements (REE) separation by ion interaction chromatography (IIC) employing their complexes with diglycolic acid (ODA) in anion exchange mode has...     

Rational Design,Synthesis, and Evaluation of Tetrahydroxamic Acid Chelators for Stable Complexation of Zirconium(IV)

Metals of interest for biomedical applications often need to be complexed and associated in a stable manner with a targeting agent before use. Whereas the fundamentals of most transition‐metal complexation processes have been thoroughly studied, the complexation of Zr^IV has been somewhat neglected. This metal has received growing attention in recent years, especially in nuclear medicine, with the use of ⁸⁹Zr, which a β⁺‐emitter with near ideal characteristics for cancer imaging. However, the best chelating agent known for this radionuclide is the trishydroxamate desferrioxamine B (DFB), the Zr^IV complex of which exhibits suboptimal stability, resulting in the progressive release of ⁸⁹Zr in vivo. Based on a recent report demonstrating the higher thermodynamic stability of the tetrahydroxamate complexes of Zr^IV compared with the trishydroxamate complexes analogues to DFB, we designed a series of tetrahydroxamic acids of varying geometries for improved complexation of this metal. Three macrocycles differing in their cavity size (28 to 36‐membered rings) were synthesized by using a ring‐closing metathesis strategy, as well as their acyclic analogues. A solution study with ⁸⁹Zr showed the complexation to be more effective with increasing cavity size. Evaluation of the kinetic inertness of these new complexes in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) solution showed significantly improved stabilities of the larger chelates compared with ⁸⁹Zr‐DFB, whereas the smaller complexes suffered from insufficient stabilities. These results were rationalized by a quantum chemical study. The lower stability of the smaller chelates was attributed to ring strain, whereas the better stability of the larger cyclic complexes was explained by the macrocyclic effect and by the structural rigidity. Overall, these new chelating agents open new perspectives for the safe and efficient use of ⁸⁹Zr in nuclear imaging, with the best chelators providing dramatically improved stabilities compared with the reference DFB.     

Health-Promoting Properties of Medicinal Mushrooms and Their Bioactive Compounds for the COVID-19 Era—An Appraisal: Do the Pro-Health Claims Measure Up?

Many mushroom species are consumed as food, while significant numbers are also utilised medicinally. Mushrooms are rich in nutrients and bioactive compounds. A growing body of in vitro, in vivo, and human research has revealed their therapeutic potentials, which include such properties as anti-pathogenic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, gut microbiota enhancement, and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 specificity. The uses of medicinal mushrooms (MMs) as extracts in nutraceuticals and other functional food and health products are burgeoning. COVID-19 presents an opportunity to consider how, and if, specific MM compounds might be utilised therapeutically to mitigate associated risk factors, reduce disease severity, and support recovery. As vaccines become a mainstay, MMs may have the potential as an adjunct therapy to enhance immunity. In the context of COVID-19, this review explores current research about MMs to identify the key properties claimed to confer health benefits. Considered also are barriers or limitations that may impact general recommendations on MMs as therapy. It is contended that the extraction method used to isolate bioactive compounds must be a primary consideration for efficacious targeting of physiological endpoints. Mushrooms commonly available for culinary use and obtainable as a dietary supplement for medicinal purposes are included in this review. Specific properties related to these mushrooms have been considered due to their potential protective and mediating effects on human exposure to the SARS CoV-2 virus and the ensuing COVID-19 disease processes.     

Investigation of metabolic changes in irradiated rat brain tissue by means of 1H NMR in vitro relaxation study

The effect of irradiation on concentrations and relaxation behaviour of brain metabolites was studied by means of high-resolution 1H NMR in vitro. The studies were performed on rat brains irradiated with the doses of 20 Gy applied in fractions of 2 Gy. Standard procedures were used to obtain HClO4 extracts of rat brains. The 1H NMR studies of the extracts solutions in D2O were performed using a Varian Inova-300 NMR spectrometer. The integral intensities of the metabolite signals were found to change during the irradiation cycle and after it. These changes are accompanied by the variations in the T1 relaxation times. N-acetylaspartate, glycerophosphocholine, phosphocholine, choline, creatine and phosphocreatine, myoinositol and taurine were analysed as potential markers of irradiation injury.     

Room temperature emission from the Pr3+ 1 S 0-level in PrF3

PrF₃ as well as PrF₃-LiF and PrF₃-MgF₂ mixtures were investigated by means of high-energetic excitation with synchrotron radiation. In the PrF₃ emission spectrum bands due to the intra-configurational 4f²4f² transitions originating from the ¹S₀ level of the Pr³⁺ ion have been identified. The emission from the ³P₀ multiplet is very weak due to non-radiative decay by cross-relaxation processes. Therefore, PrF₃ is not an efficient direct cascade emitter. In the PrF₃ excitation spectra in the ultraviolet/vacuum-ultraviolet spectral range, the ³H₄¹S₀ transition at 46858 cm^-1 as well as broad bands due to the inter-configurational 4f²4f5d transitions are observed. By comparison with data of Pr³⁺ doped YF₃, the branching ratios of the emission transitions for PrF₃ from the ¹S₀ were determined; these are 0.008, 0.075, 0.262, 0.023 and 0.629 for transitions ¹S₀³H₄, ³F₄, ¹G₄, ¹D₂ and ¹I₆, respectively. For the polycrystalline PrF₃-LiF and PrF₃-MgF₂ samples investigated by us, the measured emission and excitation spectra are nearly identical to those of PrF₃. For polycrystalline PrF₃-KMgF₃ the observed spectra are superpositions of the PrF₃ and Pr³⁺:KMgF₃ spectra. PACS 42.70.-a; 78.55.-m; 78.55.Hx     

Certification of reference materials for inorganic trace analysis: the INCT approach

This paper presents the work done by the Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology (INCT), Warsaw on a procedure of the certification of matrix reference materials (CRMs) for inorganic trace analysis. The INCT has been involved in preparation and certification of that type of CRMs since 1986 till now. The certification of CRMs is performed on the basis of statistical evaluation of the data obtained from the worldwide interlaboratory comparison. The initially adopted certification procedure has been developed, and the final shape is presented and discussed. The modifications are connected with the new demands of the international standards. The results of analysis of candidate CRMs obtained by the potentially primary procedures based on radiochemical neutron activation analysis (RNAA) and results of analysis of CRM accompanying candidate RMs are applied in the certification process for quality assurance purpose.     

Prediction of protein structure using a knowledge-based off-lattice united-residue force field and global optimization methods

A united-residue model of polypeptide chains developed in our laboratories with united side-chains and united peptide groups as interaction sites is presented. The model is designed to work in continuous space; hence efficient global-optimization methods can be applied. In this work, we adopted the distance-scaling method that is based on continuous deformation of the original rugged energy hypersurface to obtain a smoothed surface. The method has been applied successfully to predict the structures of simple motifs, such as the three-helix bundle structure of the 10-58 fragment of staphylococcal protein A in de novo folding simulations and more complicated motifs in inverse-folding simulations. Received: 24 April 1998 / Accepted: 4 August 1998 / Published online: 2 November 1998     

HPLC method for determination of moxifloxacin in plasma and its application in pharmacokinetic analysis

Moxifloxacin is a representative of the fourth generation of fluoroquinolones. It possesses bacteriostatic activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. A simple and fast high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) method was developed for moxifloxacin analysis. The separation was performed on C18 column. The mobile phase was a mixture of acetonitrile and 0.4% triethylamine solution. The regression curve was linear over the range 0.2–10.0?µg/mL. The validation parameters obey the European Medicine Agency limits. The in vivo study confirmed the practical application of the method.     

Phytochemical and cytotoxic investigations of Curcuma mangga rhizomes

Investigations on the cytotoxic effects of the crude methanol and fractionated extracts (hexane, ethyl acetate) C. mangga against six human cancer cell lines, namely the hormone-dependent breast cell line (MCF-7), nasopharyngeal epidermoid cell line (KB), lung cell line (A549), cervical cell line (Ca Ski), colon cell lines (HCT 116 and HT-29), and one non-cancer human fibroblast cell line (MRC-5) were conducted using an in-vitro neutral red cytotoxicity assay. The crude methanol and fractionated extracts (hexane and ethyl acetate) displayed good cytotoxic effects against MCF-7, KB, A549, Ca Ski and HT-29 cell lines, but exerted no damage on the MRC-5 line. Chemical investigation from the hexane and ethyl acetate fractions resulted in the isolation of seven pure compounds, namely (E)-labda-8(17),12-dien-15,16-dial (1), (E)-15,16-bisnor-labda-8(17),11-dien-13-on (2), zerumin A (3), β-sitosterol, curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bis-demethoxycurcumin. Compounds 1 and 3 exhibited high cytotoxic effects against all six selected cancer cell lines, while compounds 2 showed no anti-proliferative activity on the tested cell lines. Compound 1 also demonstrated strong cytotoxicity against the normal cell line MRC-5. This paper reports for the first time the cytotoxic activities of C. mangga extracts on KB, A549, Ca Ski, HT-29 and MRC-5, and the occurrence of compound 2 and 3 in C. mangga.