Ethyl chloroformate mediated gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric biomonitoring of acidic biomarkers of occupational exposure and endogenous metabolites in human urine.

Numerous industrial organic pollutants such as aromates, alkoxyalcohols, other organic solvents and monomers are absorbed, metabolized, and finally excreted in urine mostly as carboxylic acids that are determined as biomarkers of exposure. For a number of these xenometabolites, biological limits (levels of biomarkers in biological material) have been established to prevent damage to human health. Till now, most of the analytical procedures used have been optimized for one or a few analytes. Here, we report a more comprehensive approach enabling rapid GC-MS screening of sixteen acidic biomarkers in urine that are metabolized in the human body from several important industrial chemicals; benzene, toluene, styrene, xylenes, alkoxyalcohols, carbon disulfide, furfural and N,N-dimethylformamide. The new method involves immediate in situ derivatization - liquid liquid microextraction of urine by an ethyl chloroformate-ethanol-chloroform-pyridine medium and GC-MS analysis of the derivatized analytes in the lower organic phase. The xenometabolite set represents diverse chemical structures and some of hippuric and mercapturic acids also provided unusual derivatives that were unambiguously elucidated by means of new ethyl chloroformates labeled with stable isotopes and by synthesis of the missing reference standards. In the next step, an automated routine was developed for GC-MS/MS analysis using a MetaboAuto® sample preparation workstation and the new method was validated for fourteen metabolites over the relevant concentration range of each analyte in the spiked pooled human urine. It shows good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.982), accuracy (from 85% to 120%), precision (from 0.7% to 20%) and recovery (from 89% to 120%). The method performance was further successfully proved by GC-MS/MS analysis of the certified IP45 and RM6009 reference urines. Moreover, we show that the new method opens up the possibility for biomonitoring of combined and cumulative occupational exposures as well as for urinary metabolite profiling of persons exposed to harmful industrial chemicals.

Mechanism of Alkyl Chloroformate-Mediated Esterification of Carboxylic Acids in Aqueous Media.

The protection of carboxyl groups by esterification has been the most common method in macroscale and microscale chemistries. The esterification is usually conducted under anhydrous conditions; however, in biological chemistry and related fields, the reaction is of major concern in aqueous environments. Immediate esterification of the carboxyl in aqueous alcoholic media driven by an alkyl chloroformate and pyridine has been such a method which has found widespread use in many research and industrial laboratories. Nevertheless, the reaction mechanism has not yet been investigated, to our knowledge, and is not well understood. Herein, we describe the reaction intermediates and demonstrate that the reaction proceeds via a continual formation of the N-acylpyridinium intermediate decomposed by several reaction channels to the final ester. The understanding of the mechanism could encourage novel laboratory applications of this important esterification method.

Chiral separation of benzothiazole derivatives of amino acids using capillary zone electrophoresis.

A method for the separation of enantiomers of leucine and phenylalanine benzothiazole derivatives as potential antimicrobial agents was developed using capillary zone electrophoresis with a dual cyclodextrin (CD) system. The best resolution of enantiomers was achieved in 100 mmol/L phosphate background electrolyte (pH 3.5) with the dual CD system consisting of 10 mmol/L of ß-CD with 10 mmol/L of 2-hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin for leucine derivative and 10 mmol/L of 2-hydroxypropyl-γ-cyclodextrin for phenylalanine derivative, respectively. Under the optimal conditions, the highest enantioresolution of 1.25 was achieved in a noncoated-fused silica capillary at 17°C and 24 kV applied voltage.

Synthesis, structural characterization, docking, lipophilicity and cytotoxicity of 1-[(1R)-1-(6-fluoro-1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)ethyl]-3-alkyl carbamates, novel acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase pseudo-irreversible inhibitors.

In the current study, sixteen novel derivatives of (R)-1-(6-fluorobenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)ethanamine were synthesized as acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitors. Chemical structures together with purity of the synthesized compounds were substantiated by IR, (1)H, (13)C, (19)F NMR, high resolution mass spectrometry and elemental analysis. The optical activities were confirmed by optical rotation measurements. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for their AChE and BChE inhibitory activities. In addition, the cytotoxicity of the most active compounds was investigated against human cell lines employing XTT tetrazolium salt reduction assay and xCELLigence system allowing a label-free assessment of the cells proliferation. Our results demonstrated that the inhibitory mechanism was confirmed to be pseudo-irreversible, in line with previous studies on carbamates. Compounds indicated as 3b, 3d, 3l and 3n showed the best AChE inhibitory activity of all the evaluated compounds and were up to tenfold more potent than standard drug rivastigmine. The binding mode was determined using state-of-the-art covalent docking and scoring methodology. The obtained data clearly demonstrated that 3b, 3d, 3l and 3n benzothiazole carbamates possess high inhibitory activity against AChE and BChE and concurrently negligible cytotoxicity. In conclusion, our results indicate, that these derivatives could be promising in an effective therapeutic intervention for Alzheimer's disease.

Synthesis and in vitro evaluation of new derivatives of 2-substituted-6-fluorobenzo[d]thiazoles as cholinesterase inhibitors.

A series of novel cholinesterase inhibitors based on 2-substituted 6-fluorobenzo[d]thiazole were synthesised and characterised by IR, (1)H, (13)C and (19)F NMR spectroscopy and HRMS. Purity was checked by elemental analyses. The novel carbamates were tested for their ability to inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE). The toxicity of the most active compounds was investigated using a standard in vitro test with HepG2 cells, and the ratio between biological activity and toxicity was determined. In addition, the toxicity of the most active compounds was evaluated against MCF7 cells using the xCELLigence system. Structure-activity relationships reflecting the dependence of cholinesterase inhibitors on the lipophilicity of the compounds as well as on the Taft polar and steric substituent constants are discussed. The specific orientation of the inhibitors in the binding site of acetylcholinesterase was determined using molecular docking of the most active compound.

Activation of E-Cl bonds (E = C, Si, Ge and Sn) by a C,N-chelated stannylene.

The reactivity of (L(CN))(2)Sn (1) (where L(CN) is 2-(N,N-dimethylaminomethyl)phenyl-) towards various substrates containing E­Cl bond(s) has been studied (E = C, Si, Ge and Sn). Alkyl chlorides like chloroform or dichloromethane reacts with 1 to form (L(CN))(2)SnCl(2) and unidentified by-products in poor yields. The reaction of benzoyl chloride with 1 at low temperature yielded a thermally unstable product (L(CN))(2)Sn(Cl)C(O)Ph (2) which was isolated and characterized by both multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques. The vicinity of the central tin atom in 2 reveals trigonal bipyramidal geometry. Attempts to oxidize 2 by dioxygen to give the corresponding organotin(IV) benzoate failed. On the other hand, the reaction of the in situ prepared (L(CN))(2)Sn=O (synthesized by the reaction of 1 with dioxygen) with PhCOCl resulted in the formation of the desired organotin(IV) benzoate (L(CN))(2)Sn(Cl)C(=O)OPh (3). The reaction of 1 with Ph3GeCl yielded triphenylgermyl-substituted diorganotin(IV) chloride (L(CN))(2)Sn(Cl)GePh(3) (4) which subsequently gave mixed diorganotin(IV) chloride-oxide [(L(CN))(2)SnCl](2)O (5) upon loss of the GePh(3) moiety in the air. When the same reaction was carried out in benzene instead of chloroform a unique [Ph(3)Ge](4)[Sn(6)O(8)] cluster (6) was obtained. Similarly, the reaction of 1 with Ph3SiCl provided triphenylsilyl-substituted diorganotin(IV) chloride (L(CN))(2)Sn(Cl)SiPh(3) (7) which was then oxidized to (L(CN))(2)Sn(Cl)OSiPh(3) (8). The unprecedented reaction of 1 with (n-Bu)(3)SnCl provided the distannane (L(CN))(2)Sn(Cl)SnBu(3) (9) which could be oxidized by dioxygen to a distannoxane (L(CN))(2)Sn(Cl)OSnBu(3) (10). In addition, the solid-state structures of 3, 5, 6 and 8 were determined by the X-ray diffraction techniques.

Synthesis and characterization of pH-sensitive conjugate of isoniazid--methoxypoly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(L-lysine).

The present paper deals with the preparation and characterization of a conjugate of isoniazid (INH) with the block copolymer methoxypoly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(L-lysine) (mPEG-b-PLL). The structure of the conjugate (mPEG-b-PLL-INH) was verified by means of (1)H NMR, GPC, infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis and powder X-ray diffraction. The conjugate contains six l-lysine units with five INH molecules, which are attached by means of pH-sensitive amidine bond. Under in vitro conditions, the conjugate is hydrolyzed and isoniazid is released (pH 4; 37 °C; t(1/2) ≈ 10 h).

1,3-substituted imidazolidine-2,4,5-triones: synthesis and inhibition of cholinergic enzymes.

A series of novel and highly active acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors derived from substituted benzothiazoles containing an imidazolidine-2,4,5-trione moiety were synthesized and characterized. The molecular structure of 1-(2,6-diisopropyl-phenyl)-3-[(1R)-1-(6-fluoro-1,3-benzothiazol-2-yl)ethyl]-imidazolidine-2,4,5-trione (3g) was determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Both optical isomers are present as two independent molecules in the triclinic crystal system. The lipophilicity of the compounds was determined as the partition coefficient log K(ow) using the traditional shake-flask method. The in vitro inhibitory activity on acetylcholinesterase from electric eel and butyrylcholinesterase isolated from equine serum was determined. The inhibitory activity on acetylcholinesterase was significantly higher than that of the standard drug rivastigmine. The discussed compounds are also promising inhibitors of butyrylcholinesterase, as some of the prepared compounds inhibit butyrylcholinesterase better than the internal standards rivastigmine and galanthamine. The highest inhibitory activity (IC50 = 1.66 µmol/L) corresponds to the compound 1-(4-isopropylphenyl)-3-[(R)-1-(6-fluorobenzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)ethyl]imidazolidine-2,4,5-trione (3d). For all the studied compounds, the relationships between the lipophilicity and the chemical structure as well as their structure-activity relationships are discussed.