Stability studies of endocrine disrupting tributyltin and triphenyltin compounds in an artificial sea water model.

Triorganotins belong to toxic components present predominantly in antifouling paints for marine vessels. Tributyltin/triphenyltin at pico- or nanomolar concentrations in sea water are known to induce an irreversible sexual abnormality in females of over 190 marine species, an "imposex" phenomenon - the superimposition of male genitalia on a female. Moreover, trialkyltins and triaryltins function as potent nuclear retinoid X receptors (RXR) agonists. In mammals, triorganotin compounds induce immunosuppressive, metabolic, reproductive or developmental effects. Toxic effects of triorganotins warrant the need for monitoring of their long-lasting presence in the environment. This study brings novel data on the stability of two triorganotin compounds in artificial sea water model obtained by applying ultra-pressure liquid chromatography (UPLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods. Stability of tributyltin and triphenyltin chlorides was studied for 180 days and the degradation kinetic parameters were obtained. Tributyltin chloride was the less stable with the degradation kinetic parameters Kdeg = 0.00014 day-1 and t1/2 = 4950 days (13.6 years). Kdeg of the more stable triphenyltin chloride was determined to be Kdeg = 0.00006 day-1 with t1/2 = 11550 days (31.6 years). Since similar stability data of triorganotin compounds were not published previously, we report high stability for both tested compounds, which indicates a significant environmental problem when these substances enter sea water and later coastal sediments.

Effects of varied substituents on the antibacterial activity of triazolylmethyl oxazolidinones.

A number of 1,2,3-triazolylmethyl piperazino oxazolidinone derivatives with optionally varied substituents at the 4N-piperazine position were synthesized and their antibacterial activity evaluated against a panel of susceptible and resistant Gram-positive and selected Gram-negative bacteria. Substitution with 5-membered heteroaroyl and dinitrobenzoyl moieties potentiated activity against staphylococci and enterococci strains. Furthermore, the compounds having dinitrobenzoyl 7n, 7o, and 5-nitrofuroyl 7t substitutions were four- to eightfold more potent than linezolid against M. catarrhalis. However, substitution of guanidino and other water-solubilizing functionalities at the 4N-piperazine position resulted in compounds that are devoid of antibacterial activity.

Assessment of the stability of novel antibacterial triazolyl oxazolidinones using a stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography method.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the stability of 12 triazolyl oxazolidinone (TOZ) derivatives in simulated gastric and intestinal fluids as well as in human plasma at 37 ± 1°C. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) procedure with a C(8) column (250 × 40 mm, 5 µm particle size) and a mobile phase of acetonitrile/H(2)O (50/50 v/v) at 1.0 ml/min was used. Accelerated stability studies were conducted at 37 ± 1°C in 0.1 M HCl solution as simulated gastric fluid and in phosphate buffer solution (pH about 7.4) as simulated intestinal fluid. The stability of TOZs in human plasma at a simulated biological temperature of 37 ± 1°C was evaluated as well. RESULTS: The stability studies indicated that the examined TOZs were stable in the above media, with the exception of compounds 1a [tert- butyl 4-(4-((R)-5-((1H-1,2,3-triazol-1-yl)methyl)-2-oxooxazolidin-3-yl)-2-fluorophenyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate] and 1b [tert-butyl 4-(2-fluoro-4-((R)-5-((4-methyl-1H-1,2,3-triazol- 1-yl)methyl)-2-oxooxazolidin-3-yl)phenyl) piperazine-1-carboxylate], which underwent degradation in simulated gastric fluid. The degradation kinetics revealed degradation parameters (k(deg), t(1/2), t(90)) of 0.180 h(-1), 3.85 h, and 0.58 h for 1a and of 0.184 h(-1), 3.76 h and 0.57 h for 1b, respectively. Furthermore, the degradation products were identified by mass-spectrometric analysis at mass-to-charge ratios 347.5 and 361.5, respectively, and proton nuclear magnetic resonance analysis. CONCLUSION: With the exception of compounds 1a and 1b, the TOZs are stable in simulated gastric and intestinal fluids as well as in human plasma. Being carbamate derivatives, compounds 1a and 1b underwent fast and complete degradation in simulated gastric fluid. The obtained results should be considered for future studies of formulation of structurally related TOZs in oral dosage forms.

Homologous housekeeping proteins in Nocardia--the NoDaMS proteomic database.

Nocardiosis is on the rise but hard to diagnose and the application of advanced subtyping technologies is called for. While the genomic sequence for the most virulent strain, Nocardia farcinica is available, proteome data are essentially non-existent. Nevertheless, they are necessary for functional studies on virulence and disease prevention. Here, comparative gel electrophoresis (PAGE)-based analyses of the five Nocardia strains SD1828, N. africana SD910, SD 925, N. sp. 1086, and N. asteroides N317 are discussed. The two-dimensional gel images of all strains are similar and dominated by housekeeping proteins such as chaperones and metabolic enzymes. The sequences of many proteins are highly homologous among strains and in some cases Mycobacterium sequences are closer matches to the unknown than those of N. farcinica. All mass spectrometry data are made available in the NoDaMS database at URL http://ifg.uni-muenster.de/ (Proteomics-Projects-NoDaMS) for re-evaluation with fresh sequencing information. Assignments, homology analyses, and peptide matches are presented. This data review comprises the first comprehensive summary of proteomic data of Nocardia.

Determination of novel antibacterial triazolylmethyl oxazolidinones concentrations in human plasma by APCI-LC-MS: application to stability study.

UNLABELLED: Triazolylmethyl oxazolidinones are novel potent antibacterial agents recently synthesized in our laboratory. PURPOSE: Development of a rapid and specific LC-MS method for evaluating the stability of three potentially active antibacterial triazolylmethyl oxazolidinone compounds, namely PH-27, PH-38 and PH-41, in human plasma. METHODS: Ion-trap mass spectrometry using +APCI-MS at m/z 348.1 (PH-27), 389.1 (PH-38) and 451.1 (PH-41) combined with liquid chromatographic analysis using C18 reversed-phase column and a mobile phase consisting of 20 mM ammonium acetate solution and acetonitrile (50:50 v/v) was used. Plasma samples were pre-treated with acetonitrile to precipitate proteins prior to LC-MS analysis. Linezolid was used as an internal standard whose predominant ion at m/z 338.1 was monitored and used to construct the calibration curves. An accelerated stability study under controlled experimental conditions was conducted at -20 oC for a 5-weeks period. RESULTS: Calibration curves of the examined oxazolidinones in human plasma were established (r: 0.99) up to the concentration of 20.0 microg ml-1 with LLQ of 0.1 (PH-27), 0.5 (PH-38) and 1.0 microg ml-1 (PH-41). Validation data showed appropriate intra- and inter-day precision and accuracy as indicated from RSD% 1.3 - 8.6 and % DEVs -12.7 to +11.3, respectively. Stability studies gave the kinetic degradation parameters of kdeg 0.0191- 0.0857 week-1, t1/2 8.1-36.3 weeks and t90 1.2 -5.5 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: The developed +APCI-LC-MS assay is simple, fast and specific method that could be applied for the routine analysis of the selected oxazolidinones during stability and pharmacokinetic studies. The examined compound PH-27 was proved to be relatively more stable and resistant to degradation in human plasma compared to PH-38 and PH-41, as indicated from the kinetics and recovery studies at -20 oC.

LC-MS/MS determination of Synercid injections.

Synercid is a combination of two semisynthetic pristinamycin derivatives, quinupristin and dalfopristin in 30:70 (w/w) ratio. A rapid and specific high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was developed for the determination of quinupristin and dalfopristin using positive electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (+ESI-MS/MS). Multiple reaction monitoring transitions at 1023.05>134.34 and 691.87>166.26 were selected for the quantitation of quinupristin and dalfopristin, respectively. The assay run cycle-time was approximately 2.0 min injection-to-injection. The assay was linear up to concentration of 4000 ng x ml(-1) quinupristin and 1920 ng x ml(-1) dalfopristin. The lowest limits of quantitation of quinupristin and dalfopristin were found to be 1000 and 480 ng x ml(-1), respectively. Quantitation was based on peak area measurement of quinupristin and dalfopristin using weighed linear regression. Linear relationships with correlation coefficients (r>0.99) were automatically computed for both constituents by MASSLYNX quantify program. The ratio of the slopes of the calibration curves of quinupristin and dalfopristin was found to be 0.425, which matches the nominal ratio composition of the antimicrobial compounds in Synercid. The %RSD ranges were 2.3-4.0% for dalfopristin and 1.3-4.2% for quinupristin, whereas the %DEV ranges were (-7.5+3.7) and (-1.2+9.1%), respectively, indicating appropriate precision and accuracy. Recoveries of 99.5-103.8% and 97.8-99.0% of quinupristin and dalfopristin, respectively, were computed from Synercid injection. The described method is recommended for rapid determination of the contents and for tracking the stability and compatibility of quinupristin and dalfopristin in Synercid injection.

LC/MS determination of the enaminones E139, DM5 and DM27 in rat serum.

Enaminones, E139, DM5 and DM27, have been recently recognized as potential anticonvulsant compounds. The molecular masses of these enarminones were proven using ion trap Finnigan mass spectrometer. For conduction of biological studies in animals, a sensitive and selective high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) was developed for the determination of the selected enaminones in rat serum. A simple protein precipitation procedure was followed for cleaning up the serum samples before analysis. LC/MS determinations were performed using an APCI probe at 430 degrees C. Positive ions (M+1)(+) were acquired in MS/MS-SRM mode at m/z 308.1 (parent m/z 340.2) for E139 and m/z 262.1 (parent m/z 294.1) for DM5. On the other hand, DM27 and E118 (internal standard) were measured in SIM mode at m/z 236.5 and 222.5, respectively. Quantitation was based on measurement of the peak area ratio of enaminones (E139, DM5, DM27) and E118 as an internal standard. Calibration curves were linear (r>0.9989) over the concentration range 100-1000 ngml(-1) and were free from serum interference. Precision and accuracy studies of control samples showed intra-day and inter-day %RSD <10.1 and % deviation from nominal concentrations (%DEV) from -4.3 to +10.1. Recoveries of E139, DM5 and DM27 from quality control rat serum samples using protein precipitation method were 92.3, 89.4 and 89.6%, respectively. The reported data suggest the utility of this developed method for structural elucidation and for performing pharmacokinetics studies on the selected enaminones in rats.

Stability study of the anticonvulsant enaminone (E118) using HPLC and LC-MS.

The stability of the new chemical synthetic enaminone derivative (E118) was investigated using a stability-indicating high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) procedure. The examined samples were analyzed using a chiral HSA column and a mobile phase (pH 7.5) containing n-octanoic acid (5 mM), isopropyl alcohol and 100 mM disodium hydrogen phosphate solution (1:9 v/v) at a flow rate of 1 ml min(-1). The developed method was specific, accurate and reproducible. The HPLC chromatograms exhibited well-resolved peaks of E118 and the degradation products at retention times <5 min. The stability of E118 was performed in 0.1 M hydrochloric acid, 0.1 M sodium hydroxide, water/ethanol (1:1) and phosphate buffer (pH approximately 7.5) solutions. E118 was found to undergo fast hydrolysis in 0.1 M hydrochloric acid solution. The decomposition of E118 followed first order kinetics under the experimental conditions. The results confirmed that protonation of the enaminone system in the molecule enhanced the hydrolysis of E118 at degradation rate constant of 0.049 min(-1) and degradation half-life of 14.1 min at 25 degrees C. However, E118 was significantly stable in 0.1 M sodium hydroxide, physiological phosphate buffer (pH 7.5) and ethanol/water (1:1) solutions. The degradation rate constants and degradation half-lives were in the ranges 0.0023-0.0086 h(-1) and 80.6-150.6 h, respectively. Analysis of the acid-induced degraded solution of E118 by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) revealed at least two degradation products of E118 at m/z 213.1 and 113.1, respectively.

Development of LC-MS method for determination of ursolic acid: application to the analysis of ursolic acid in Staphylea holocarpa Hemsl.

Ursolic acid is a hydroxy pentacyclic triterpene, which has a chemoprotective activity in human. A reliable and reproducible liquid chromatography-mass spectrometric assay (LC-MS) was developed for the determination of ursolic acid in laboratory-made mixtures and in leaves and twigs extracts of Staphylea holocarpa Hemsl. The methanolic solution of the extracted ursolic acid was chromatographically analyzed using Shim Pack CLC-CN, C18 (150 x 6 mm, 5 mu) column and a mobile consisting of methanol-1% acetic acid solution (4:1) at a flow rate of 1.0 ml min(-1). The mass spectrometer (LCQ-Finnigan) was programmed in the positive single ion monitoring (SIM) to permit detection and quantitation of ursolic acid in MS-SIM mode at m/z 439.2, 411.2 and 390.9. Linear correlation (r > 0.99) of the peak area and the concentration of ursolic acid over the concentration range 0.25-10 microg ml(-1) was obtained. The relative standard deviation (%R.S.D.) and percentage deviation from the nominal concentrations (%DEV) were found to be 3.03-3.59% and -4.5 to +6.2%, respectively. Analysis of laboratory-made mixtures containing known concentrations of ursolic acid, as quality control samples, gave a mean recovery percentage of 97.8%. Application of the proposed method for the analysis of leaves and twigs extracts of S. holocarpa Hemsl. gave mean percentage contents of ursolic acid of 0.95 and 0.25%, respectively.

Synthesis and antibacterial activities of N-substituted-glycinyl 1H-1,2,3-triazolyl oxazolidinones.

A series of 1H-1,2,3-triazolyl piperazino oxazolidinone analogs with optionally varied glycinyl substitutions were synthesized and their antibacterial activity assessed against a panel of susceptible and resistant Gram-positive and selected Gram-negative bacteria including clinical isolates. The N-aroyl- and N-heteroaroyl-glycinyl (MIC: 0.06-4 µg/ml) derivatives were more potent than the N-acylglycinyl (2-8 µg/ml) derivatives against all Gram-positive bacteria tested. Nitro substitution on aryl and heteroaryl rings significantly enhanced activity against Gram-positive bacteria, as noted with the 3,5-dinitrobenzoyl (6m and 6n) and 5-nitro-2-furoyl (6u and 6v) derivatives with MIC ranges of and 0.25-0.5 and 0.06-0.5 µg/ml, respectively. These nitro analogs also showed more potent extended activity against Moraxella catarrhalis, with MICs ranges of 0.25-1 µg/ml, compared to linezolid (MIC: 8 µg/ml). Hence, the presence of the N-aroyl and/or N-heteroaroyl glycinyl structural motifs as spacer group could significantly enhance the antibacterial activities of 1H-1,2,3-triazolyl oxazolidinone class of compounds.

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of novel 5-(4-methyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole) methyl oxazolidinones.

A series of 5-(4-methyl-1,2,3-triazole)methyl oxazolidinones were synthesized and tested for their antibacterial activity against a panel of Gram-positive and Gram-negative clinical isolates in comparison with linezolid and vancomycin. Most of the compounds demonstrated strong to moderate in vitro antibacterial activity against susceptible and resistant Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria. Antibacterial activity varied with substitutions at the phenyl C4 position with bulky alkylcarbonyl and alkoxycarbonyl substitutions on the piperazine N4 being detrimental to antibacterial activity. Whereas the presence of the 4-methyl-1,2,3-triazole moiety in the acyl-piperazine containing analogs resulted in increased protein binding, and decreased antibacterial activity particularly against Streptococcus pneumoniae strains.