DSC studies on the phase transformation of hydrazonium sulfate

The high temperature phase transformation of hydrazonium sulfate, N2H6SO4 has been studied using DSC. The enthalpy of phase transition is found to be 3.63 ± 0.1 kJ mole−1. The phase transition temperature is found to decrease with the increase of particle size. It appears that the strain energy and not surface energy, is responsible for the phase transformation. The molar volume of the salt increases during the transformation as found by the dilatometric experiment involving percentage of linear thermal expansion. On cooling, the transformation from the high temperature modification to orthorhombic form is incomplete and extends over a wide range of temperature.

Singlet emission studies on porphyrins appended with heterocyclic bases

Porphyrins appended in the meso positions with 1,2-diazole, indole and quinoline are shown to exhibit enhanced fluorescence quantum yields relative to meso tetraphenyl porphyrin. The singlet emission yields decrease with the number of appended heterocyclic bases. An intramolecular charge transfer resonance mechanism has been advanced to interpret these results.

LIII absorption edge studies of mixed valent cerium intermetallics and related systems

LIII absorption edge measurements clearly delineate 3+ and 4+ states of Ce. Absorption edges of 3+ compounds show a single peak, while those of 4+ compounds show two peaks, both appearing at higher energies than the characteristic peaks of 3+ compounds. In systems where there is interconfigurational fluctuation, features due to both 3+ and 4+ states are distinctly seen.

x-ray studies on crystalline complexes involving amino-acids and peptides .10. head-to-tail sequences in the crystal-structure of l-lysine acetate

l-Lysine acetate crystallises in the monoclinic space group P21 with a = 5.411 (1), b = 7.562(1), c= l2.635(2) Å and β = 91.7(1). The crystal structure was solved by direct methods and refined to an R value of 0.049 using the full matrix least squares method. The conformation and the aggregation of lysine molecules in the structure are similar to those found in the crystal structure of l-lysine l-aspartate. A conspicuous similarity between the crystal structures of l-arginine acetate and l-lysine acetate is that in both cases the strongly basic side chain, although having the largest pK value, interacts with the weakly acidic acetate group leaving the α-amino and the α-carboxylate groups to take part in head-to-tail sequences. These structures thus indicate that electrostatic effects are strongly modulated by other factors so as to give rise to head-to-tail sequences which have earlier been shown to be an almost universal feature of amino acid aggregation in the solid state.

Studies in metal-ammonia reduction-5: Reduction and reductive methylation of some naphthoic acids

Birch reductio and reductive methylations of some substituted naphtholic acids have been examined. The factors influencing the mechanism of reduction process have been discussed. Some of the reduced naphthoic acids are useful synthons for synthesis.

Statistical power calculation and sample size determination for environmental studies with data below detection limits

Power calculation and sample size determination are critical in designing environmental monitoring programs. The traditional approach based on comparing the mean values may become statistically inappropriate and even invalid when substantial proportions of the response values are below the detection limits or censored because strong distributional assumptions have to be made on the censored observations when implementing the traditional procedures. In this paper, we propose a quantile methodology that is robust to outliers and can also handle data with a substantial proportion of below-detection-limit observations without the need of imputing the censored values. As a demonstration, we applied the methods to a nutrient monitoring project, which is a part of the Perth Long-Term Ocean Outlet Monitoring Program. In this example, the sample size required by our quantile methodology is, in fact, smaller than that by the traditional t-test, illustrating the merit of our method.

Characterization of Ion-Exchange Fibers for Controlled Drug Delivery

Increasing attention has been focused on methods that deliver pharmacologically active compounds (e.g. drugs, peptides and proteins) in a controlled fashion, so that constant, sustained, site-specific or pulsatile action can be attained. Ion-exchange resins have been widely studied in medical and pharmaceutical applications, including controlled drug delivery, leading to commercialisation of some resin based formulations. Ion-exchangers provide an efficient means to adjust and control drug delivery, as the electrostatic interactions enable precise control of the ion-exchange process and, thus, a more uniform and accurate control of drug release compared to systems that are based only on physical interactions. Unlike the resins, only few studies have been reported on ion-exchange fibers in drug delivery. However, the ion-exchange fibers have many advantageous properties compared to the conventional ion-exchange resins, such as more efficient compound loading into and release from the ion-exchanger, easier incorporation of drug-sized compounds, enhanced control of the ion-exchange process, better mechanical, chemical and thermal stability, and good formulation properties, which make the fibers attractive materials for controlled drug delivery systems. In this study, the factors affecting the nature and strength of the binding/loading of drug-sized model compounds into the ion-exchange fibers was evaluated comprehensively and, moreover, the controllability of subsequent drug release/delivery from the fibers was assessed by modifying the conditions of external solutions. Also the feasibility of ion-exchange fibers for simultaneous delivery of two drugs in combination was studied by dual loading. Donnan theory and theoretical modelling were applied to gain mechanistic understanding on these factors. The experimental results imply that incorporation of model compounds into the ion-exchange fibers was attained mainly as a result of ionic bonding, with additional contribution of non-specific interactions. Increasing the ion-exchange capacity of the fiber or decreasing the valence of loaded compounds increased the molar loading, while more efficient release of the compounds was observed consistently at conditions where the valence or concentration of the extracting counter-ion was increased. Donnan theory was capable of fully interpreting the ion-exchange equilibria and the theoretical modelling supported precisely the experimental observations. The physico-chemical characteristics (lipophilicity, hydrogen bonding ability) of the model compounds and the framework of the fibrous ion-exchanger influenced the affinity of the drugs towards the fibers and may, thus, affect both drug loading and release. It was concluded that precisely controlled drug delivery may be tailored for each compound, in particularly, by choosing a suitable ion-exchange fiber and optimizing the delivery system to take into account the external conditions, also when delivering two drugs simultaneously.

Studies of phosphazenes. Part 15. Chloro(phenoxy)cyclotetraphosphazenes, N4P4Cl8-n(OPh)n

The reaction of N4P4Cl8(1) with sodium phenoxide (or phenol in the presence of triethylamine) has been studied under a variety of experimental conditions. The chloro(phenoxy)-derivatives, N4P4Cl8-n(OPh)n[n= 1 or 2 (mixture of four non-geminal isomers), 3(mixture of non-geminal isomers), 4(mixture of isomers), 5(mixture of isomers), 6(mixture of four non-geminal isomers), or 8], have been isolated by column chromatography over silica gel. Attempts to separate geometric isomers were unsuccessful. Structural elucidation of the products is based on the 31P n.m.r. data for the chloro-precursors and 1H and 31P n.m.r. spectra of the dimethylamino- and/or methoxy-derivatives. The chlorine-replacement pattern is discussed.

Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry in Studies of Drug Metabolism and Permeability

Poor pharmacokinetics is one of the reasons for the withdrawal of drug candidates from clinical trials. There is an urgent need for investigating in vitro ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion) properties and recognising unsuitable drug candidates as early as possible in the drug development process. Current throughput of in vitro ADME profiling is insufficient because effective new synthesis techniques, such as drug design in silico and combinatorial synthesis, have vastly increased the number of drug candidates. Assay technologies for larger sets of compounds than are currently feasible are critically needed. The first part of this work focused on the evaluation of cocktail strategy in studies of drug permeability and metabolic stability. N-in-one liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) methods were developed and validated for the multiple component analysis of samples in cocktail experiments. Together, cocktail dosing and LC/MS/MS were found to form an effective tool for increasing throughput. First, cocktail dosing, i.e. the use of a mixture of many test compounds, was applied in permeability experiments with Caco-2 cell culture, which is a widely used in vitro model for small intestinal absorption. A cocktail of 7-10 reference compounds was successfully evaluated for standardization and routine testing of the performance of Caco-2 cell cultures. Secondly, cocktail strategy was used in metabolic stability studies of drugs with UGT isoenzymes, which are one of the most important phase II drug metabolizing enzymes. The study confirmed that the determination of intrinsic clearance (Clint) as a cocktail of seven substrates is possible. The LC/MS/MS methods that were developed were fast and reliable for the quantitative analysis of a heterogenous set of drugs from Caco-2 permeability experiments and the set of glucuronides from in vitro stability experiments. The performance of a new ionization technique, atmospheric pressure photoionization (APPI), was evaluated through comparison with electrospray ionization (ESI), where both techniques were used for the analysis of Caco-2 samples. Like ESI, also APPI proved to be a reliable technique for the analysis of Caco-2 samples and even more flexible than ESI because of the wider dynamic linear range. The second part of the experimental study focused on metabolite profiling. Different mass spectrometric instruments and commercially available software tools were investigated for profiling metabolites in urine and hepatocyte samples. All the instruments tested (triple quadrupole, quadrupole time-of-flight, ion trap) exhibited some good and some bad features in searching for and identifying of expected and non-expected metabolites. Although, current profiling software is helpful, it is still insufficient. Thus a time-consuming largely manual approach is still required for metabolite profiling from complex biological matrices.

High-Pressure Low-Temperature Locknut Cell For Both Electron-Paramagnetic-Res And Nmr-Studies To 10 Kilobars And 77-K

A locked high-pressure cell with working pressure range up to 10 kbars suitable for low-temperature studies to 77 K has been described. It can be used for both EPR and NMR studies of single crystals (and other solid samples). The high-pressure seal and all other aspects of the cell remain the same for either application. Only a change of the bottom plug is required for a switch from a nuclear-magnetic-resonance (NMR) to an electron-paramagnetic-resonance (EPR) experiment. Details of the procedure for the calibration of pressure inside the cell at various temperatures are discussed. The performance of the cell in EPR (Cr3+ion) and NMR (27Al nucleus) studies is reported.

Analytical studies of gain optimization in CO2-N2 gasdynamic lasers employing two-dimensional wedge nozzles

An analytical method has been proposed to optimise the small-signaloptical gain of CO2-N2 gasdynamic lasers (gdl) employing two-dimensional (2D) wedge nozzles. Following our earlier work the equations governing the steady, inviscid, quasi-one-dimensional flow in the wedge nozzle of thegdl are reduced to a universal form so that their solutions depend on a single unifying parameter. These equations are solved numerically to obtain similar solutions for the various flow quantities, which variables are subsequently used to optimize the small-signal-gain. The corresponding optimum values like reservoir pressure and temperature and 2D nozzle area ratio also have been predicted and graphed for a wide range of laser gas compositions, with either H2O or He as the catalyst. A large number of graphs are presented which may be used to obtain the optimum values of small signal gain for a wide range of laser compositions without further computations.

Fluorescence-polarization studies on binding of 4-methylumbelliferyl beta-D-galactopyranoside to Ricinus communis (castor-bean) agglutinin

The binding of Ricinus communis (castor-bean) agglutinin 1 to saccharides was studied by equilibrium dialysis and fluorescence polarization by using the fluorescently labelled sugar 4-methylumbelliferyl beta-D-galactopyranoside. No appreciable change in ligand fluorescence of 4-methylumbelliferyl beta-D-galactopyranoside was considerably polarized on its binding to the lectin. The association constants obtained by Scatchard analysis of equilibrium-dialysis and fluorescence-polarization data do not differ much from each other, and at 25 degrees C, Ka = 2.4 (+/- 0.2) X 10(4)M-1. These values agree reasonably well with that reported in the literature for Ricinus agglutinin 1. The number of binding sites obtained by the different experimental procedures is 1.94 +/- 0.1 per molecule of 120 000 daltons and is equal to the reported value of 2. The consistency in the values of Ka and number of binding sites indicate the absence of additional subsites on Ricinus agglutinin 1 for its specific sugars. In addition, the excellent agreement between the binding parameters obtained by equilibrium dialysis and fluorescence polarization indicate the potential of ligand-fluorescence-polarization measurements in the investigation of lectin-sugar interactions.