Development and validation of LC–MS/MS method for amlexanox in rat plasma and its application in preclinical pharmacokinetics

Amlexanox, an anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic agent, has been widely used clinically for the treatment of canker sores, asthma, and allergic rhinitis. Recently, amlexanox has received considerable attention in curing nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases and hepatitis virus infection. Herein, we first established a sensitive high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrum (LC–MS/MS) method for the determination of amlexanox in rat plasma. Propranolol was used as the internal standard (IS). Using a simple protein precipitation method, the amlexanox and IS were separated with Capcell Pak C18 column (2.0 × 50 mm, 5 μm) and eluted with water and acetonitrile each containing 0.1% formic acid using gradient elution condition at a flow rate of 0.4 mL·min⁻¹. Amlexanox and IS were detected by a triple quadrupole mass in multiple reactive monitoring (MRM) under the transitions of m/z 299.2 → 281.2 and m/z 259.9 → 116.1 with positive electrospray ionization, respectively. The calibration curves of amlexanox were established with the range of 50 to 2000 ng·mL⁻¹ (r² > 0.99). The validation method consisted of selectivity, accuracy, precision, carryover effect, matrix effect, recovery, dilution effect, and stability. The fully validated method was successfully applied to the pharmacokinetic study of amlexanox in Wistar rats.     

Catalytic Nitrene Transfer by an FeIV-Imido Complex Generated by a Comproportionation Process

Nitrene transfer reactions have emerged as one of the most powerful and versatile ways to insert an amine function to various kinds of hydrocarbon substrates. However, the mechanisms of nitrene generation have not been studied in depth albeit their formation is taken for granted in most cases without definitive evidence of their occurrence. In the present work, we compare the generation of tosylimido iron species and NTs transfer from Fe^II and Fe^III precursors where the metal is embedded in a tetracarbene macrocycle. Catalytic nitrene transfer to reference substrates (thioanisole, styrene, ethylbenzene and cyclohexane) revealed that the same active species was at play, irrespective of the ferrous versus ferric nature of the precursor. Through combination of spectroscopic (UV-visible, Mössbauer), ESI-MS and DFT studies, an Fe^IV tosylimido species was identified as the catalytically active species and was characterized spectroscopically and computationally. Whereas its formation from the Fe^II precursor was expected by a two-electron oxidative addition, its formation from an Fe^III precursor was unprecedented. Thanks to a combination of spectroscopic (UV-visible, EPR, Hyscore and Mössbauer), ESI-MS and DFT studies, we found that, when starting from the Fe^III precursor, an Fe^III tosyliodinane adduct was formed and decomposed into an Fe^V tosylimido species which generated the catalytically active Fe^IV tosylimide through a comproportionation process with the Fe^III precursor.     

Global existence and time decay of the non-cutoff Boltzmann equation with hard potential

This paper is concerned with the Cauchy problem on the Boltzmann equation without angular cutoff assumption for hard potential in the whole space. When the initial data is a small perturbation of a global Maxwellian, the global existence of solution to this problem is proved in unweighted Sobolev spaces $H^N\left({\mathbb{R}}_{x,v}^6\right)$ with $N\ge 2$. But if we want to obtain the optimal temporal decay estimates, we need to add the velocity weight function, in this case the global existence and the optimal temporal decay estimate of the Boltzmann equation are all established. Meanwhile, we further gain a more accurate energy estimate, which can guarantee the validity of the assumption in Chen et al. (0000).     

Visible light-driven acridone catalysis for atom transfer radical polymerization

Acridone as a new kind of visible light photocatalyst has been developed to catalyze metal free atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The photocatalyst possess low excited state potential as can undergo an oxidative quenching pathway to initiate ATRP of vinyl monomers. Kinetic study and light on/off reaction demonstrate the “living”/controlled nature of the polymerization by light. Block copolymers can be achieved by using PMMA as macroinitiator to reinitiate polymerization of other vinyl monomers, which shows highly preserved Br chain-end functionality in the synthesized polymers. Moreover, the polymerization can be conducted under air atmosphere as most photocatalysts need anaerobic condition, which may give inspiration of further application of this kind of photocatalyst.     

Synthesis and investigation of structural,optical, magnetic,and biocompatibility properties of nanoferrites AFeO2

Sol-gel method has been used for the synthesis of biocompatible superparamagnetic nanoferrites of AFeO₂ (A = Li, Na, K, Ca). Structural study of the nanoferrites reveals that LiFeO₂ exhibits cubic phase on the other hand NaFeO₂, KFeO₂, CaFeO₂ nanoparticles possess orthorhombic phase. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) suggests that synthesized nanoferrites are nano-sized with spherical morphology. Optical properties confirm that nanoferrites emit and absorb light in a visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. International Commission on Illumination (CIE) study discloses that the nanoparticles can be used to produce light of various colors. Magnetic study reveals that the nanoferrites exhibit superparamagnetic nature with high values of saturation magnetization 40.26 emu/g, 41.69 emu/g, 57.16 emu/g, and 43.66 emu/g, respectively for LiFeO_2, NaFeO₂, KFeO₂, and CaFeO₂. Biocompatibility study of the nanoferrites has been performed using Sulforhodamine B (SRB) and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The reason behind the observed properties and behavior has been discussed.     

Wave-based vibration control of large cable net structures

Large cable net structures have been widely applied in aerospace engineering due to the feature of light-weight, high packaging efficiency, and high thermal stability. Structural vibrations induced by a variety of disturbances are inevitable in the space environment, resulting in the requirement of effective vibration control strategies for large cable net structures. Since the large cable net structures have many closely spaced vibrational modes in the range of low frequencies, traditional modal based control may cause modal truncation and spillover problems. In this paper, a wave-based boundary control strategy is adopted and its effectiveness to control the vibration of cable net structures is investigated, by transfer function analysis and numerical methods. It is found that the structural vibration can be absolutely resisted by applying the wave-based boundary controllers onto all the exterior nodes, when disturbances come from the external boundaries of the cable net. Our results in this paper can provide a theoretical basis for the vibration control of large cable net structures.     

Plasmon Coupling-Induced Hot Electrons for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

We present the fabrication of core-shell-satellite Au@SiO₂-Pt nanostructures and demonstrate that LSPR excitation of the core Au nanoparticle can induce plasmon coupling effect to initiate photocatalytic hydrogen generation from decomposition of formic acid. Further studies suggest that the plasmon coupling effect induces a strong local electric field between the Au core and Pt nanoparticles on the SiO₂ shell, which enables creation of hot electrons on the non-plasmonic-active Pt nanoparticles to participate hydrogen evolution reaction on the Pt surface. In addition, small SiO₂ shell thickness is required in order to obtain a strong plamon coupling effect and achieve efficient photocatalytic activities for hydrogen generation.     

Theoretical Design of Biodegradable Phthalic Acid Ester Derivatives in Marine and Freshwater Environments

The biodegradability of phtalic acid esters in marine and freshwater environments was characterized by their binding free energy with corresponding degrading enzymes. According to comprehensive biodegradation effects weights, the binding free energy values were converted into dimensionless efficacy coefficient using ratio normalization method. Then, considering comprehensive dual biodegradation effects value and the structural parameters of PAEs in both marine and freshwater environments, a 3D-QSAR pharmacophore model was constructed, five PAE derivatives (DBP−COOH, DBP−CHO, DBP−OH, DINP−NH₂, and DINP−NO₂) were screened out based on their environmental friendliness, functionality and stability. The prediction of biodegradation effects on five PAE derivatives by biodegradation models in marine and freshwater environment increased by 15.90 %, 15.84 %, 27.21 %, 12.33 %, and 8.32 %, and 21.57 %, 15.21 %, 20.99 %, 15.10 %, and 9.74 %, respectively. By simulating the photodegradation path of the PAE derivative molecular, it was found that DBP−OH can generate ^.OH and provides free radicals for the photodegradation of microplastics in the environment.