Evaluation of the risk of occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs in healthcare sector: part I - medical gloves.

Antineoplastic drugs (ADs) are essential tools in cancer treatment, but their cytotoxicity poses a risk to workers involved in their handling. In a hospital environment fundamental strategies for minimising exposure involve proper use of safety cabinets and closed-circuit transfer devices, along with personnel training and increased awareness of risks. However, medical gloves remain the first line of defence. In this respect the evaluation of glove materials and best choices can improve hospital safety management and prevent potential hazards and long-term consequences. The aim of this study was to assess contamination of gloves in samples taken from AD administration and preparation units of nine Italian hospitals and to raise awareness of the importance of evaluating chemico-physical properties of gloves. Our findings show that 33 % of the analysed gloves were positive for at least one AD, with contaminations ranging from 0.6 to 20,729 pg/ cm2. We proposed the alert glove values (AGVs) for each AD as a limit value for contamination assessment and good practice evaluation. Our findings also point to multiple AD contamination (43 % of positive findings in preparation units), calculated as total AGV (AGV-T), and confirm that gloves should be replaced after 30 min of AD handling, based on cumulative permeation and area under the curve (AUC), to maintain safety and limit dermal exposure.

A New Perspective on SPME and SPME Arrow: Formaldehyde Determination by On-Sample Derivatization Coupled with Multiple and Cooling-Assisted Extractions.

Formaldehyde (FA) is a toxic compound and a human carcinogen. Regulating FA-releasing substances in commercial goods is a growing and interesting topic: worldwide production sectors, like food industries, textiles, wood manufacture, and cosmetics, are involved. Thus, there is a need for sensitive, economical, and specific FA monitoring tools. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME), with O-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)-hydroxylamine (PFBHA) on-sample derivatization and gas chromatography, is proposed for FA monitoring of real-life samples. This study reports the use of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as a sorbent phase combined with innovative commercial methods, such as multiple SPME (MSPME) and cooling-assisted SPME, for FA determination. Critical steps, such as extraction and sampling, were evaluated in method development. The derivatization was performed at 60 °C for 30 min, followed by 15 min sampling at 10 °C, in three cycles (SPME Arrow) or six cycles (SPME). The sensitivity was satisfactory for the method's purposes (LOD-LOQ at 11-36 ng L-1, and 8-26 ng L-1, for SPME and SPME Arrow, respectively). The method's linearity ranges from the lower LOQ at trace level (ng L-1) to the upper LOQ at 40 mg L-1. The precision range was 5.7-10.2% and 4.8-9.6% and the accuracy was 97.4% and 96.3% for SPME and SPME Arrow, respectively. The cooling MSPME set-up applied to real commercial goods provided results of quality comparable to previously published data.

Simultaneous Determination by Selective Esterification of Trimellitic, Phthalic, and Maleic Anhydrides in the Presence of Respective Acids.

Trimellitic, phthalic, and maleic anhydrides are important building blocks to produce polymers and additives, such as plasticizers. In humans, the exposure to these compounds can cause several health issues. In European Union and USA, their presence in substances and mixtures is restricted by CLP Regulation (no. 1272/2008) and HCS/HazCom 2012, respectively, but no information about the corresponding acids is reported. For this reason, a selective method to determine anhydrides in mixtures, in the presence of acids, could be interesting. Nowadays, methods in the literature are either not selective or use explosive and toxic reagents (as diazomethane). In this work, an innovative, greener, and safer method for the simultaneous recognition and quantification of anhydrides and acids, via direct injection gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, is developed. The sample pretreatment consists in selective esterification with absolute ethanol on the anhydride, followed by a treatment with boron trifluoride-methanol for the methylation of remaining carboxylic groups. The optimization of the functionalization, a crucial step of the method, was optimized by experimental design. The limit of detection-limit of quantification (LOD-LOQ) values for trimellitic, phthalic, and maleic anhydrides are 0.31-0.93, 0.47-1.41, and 0.06-0.18 µg/mL, respectively.

Organocatalytic Reduction of Aromatic Nitro Compounds: The Use of Solid-Supported Phenyl(2-quinolyl)methanol.

The reduction of aromatic nitro compounds has been performed employing a catalytic amount of Wang resin-supported phenyl(2-quinolyl)methanol (Wang-PQM) in the presence of an excess of NaBH4 to regenerate the reactive reducing species at the end of the process. The reduction products are easily isolated through a simple filtration/extraction protocol, and the catalyst can be efficiently recovered and recycled. The condensation route is generally preferred, and azo- and/or hydrazo-arenes can be easily prepared in high yields.

Bromotrimethylsilane as a selective reagent for the synthesis of bromohydrins.

Bromotrimethylsilane (TMSBr) is a very efficient reagent in the solvent-free conversion of glycerol into bromohydrins, useful intermediates in the production of fine chemicals. As glycerol is a relevant by-product in biodiesel production, TMSBr has been also tested as a mediator in transesterification in acidic conditions, providing FAME from castor oil in good yields, along with bromohydrins from glycerol. Subsequently the glycerol conversion was optimized and depending on the reaction conditions, glycerol can be selectively converted into α-monobromohydrin (1-MBH) or α,γ-dibromohydrin (1,3-DBH) in very good yields.

Synthesis of New Indolizidine Derivatives from 1-(2-Quinolyl)-2-propen-1-ol.

The four-step procedure involving bromination, reduction, and nucleophilic substitution via elimination/addition previously applied to 1-(2-pyridyl)-2-propen-1-ol for the synthesis of indolizidine systems has now been extended to 1-(2-quinolyl)-2-propen-1-ol allowing a general access to benzo-fused derivatives. For instance, (±)-benzo[e]lentiginosine has been easily synthesized in an 18% overall yield.