Degradation kinetics of atorvastatin under stress conditions and chemical analysis by HPLC.

Atorvastatin is an antilipemic drug belonging to the statins class, whose reference drug is Pfizer's Lipitor®. It is used to reduce the levels of lipoproteins rich in cholesterol and reduce the risk of coronary artery disease. It is well-known that calcium atorvastatin (ATV), C66H68CaF2N4O10•3H2O, presents polymorphism. The drug in question is commonly sought after by pharmaceutical industries that produce generic drugs, due to the fact that the drug has a high value price, it is consumed globally, and its patent expired in late 2010. Many questions concerning this drug's pharmaceutical scope demonstrate its importance regarding stability studies and the identification of degradation products of drugs and pharmaceutical formulations. ATV has been found to degrade under acid and basic conditions, including a first order kinetic degradation under acid conditions, as compared to a zero order kinetic degradation under basic conditions, which tends to be less stable when studied within acid mediums. The rate constant (k) for degradation in acid medium was 1.88 × 10⁻² s⁻¹ (first order), while for basic medium k = 2.35 × 10⁻4 mol L⁻¹ s⁻¹ (zero order), demonstrating a lower stability of the drug within acid mediums.

Characterization of semi-solid Self-Emulsifying Drug Delivery Systems (SEDDS) of atorvastatin calcium by Raman image spectroscopy and chemometrics.

A methodology based on Raman image spectroscopy and chemometrics for homogeneity evaluation of formulations containing atorvastatin calcium in Gelucire(®) 44/14 is presented. In the first part of the work, formulations with high amounts of Gelucire(®) 44/14 (80%) and solvents of different polarities (diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, propyleneglycol, propylene glycol monocaprylate and glyceryl mono/dicaprylate/caprate) were prepared for miscibility screening evaluation by classical least squares (CLS). It was observed that Gelucire(®) 44/14 presented higher affinity for the lipophilic solvents glyceryl mono/dicaprylate/caprate and propylene glycol monocaprylate, whose samples were observed to be homogeneous, and lower affinity for the hydrophilic solvents diethylene glycol monoethyl ether and propyleneglycol, whose samples were heterogeneous. In the second part of the work, the ratio of glyceryl mono/dicaprylate/caprate and Gelucire(®) 44/14 was determined based on studies in water and allowed the selection of the proportions of these two excipients in the preconcentrate that provided supersaturation of atorvastatin upon dilution. The preconcentrate was then evaluated for homogeneity by partial least squares (PLS) and an excellent miscibility was observed in this proportion as well. Therefore, it was possible to select a formulation that presented simultaneously homogeneous preconcentrate and solubility enhancement in water by Raman image spectroscopy and chemometrics.

Antimalarial activity of potential inhibitors of Plasmodium falciparum lactate dehydrogenase enzyme selected by docking studies.

The Plasmodium falciparum lactate dehydrogenase enzyme (PfLDH) has been considered as a potential molecular target for antimalarials due to this parasite's dependence on glycolysis for energy production. Because the LDH enzymes found in P. vivax, P. malariae and P. ovale (pLDH) all exhibit ∼90% identity to PfLDH, it would be desirable to have new anti-pLDH drugs, particularly ones that are effective against P. falciparum, the most virulent species of human malaria. Our present work used docking studies to select potential inhibitors of pLDH, which were then tested for antimalarial activity against P. falciparum in vitro and P. berghei malaria in mice. A virtual screening in DrugBank for analogs of NADH (an essential cofactor to pLDH) and computational studies were undertaken, and the potential binding of the selected compounds to the PfLDH active site was analyzed using Molegro Virtual Docker software. Fifty compounds were selected based on their similarity to NADH. The compounds with the best binding energies (itraconazole, atorvastatin and posaconazole) were tested against P. falciparum chloroquine-resistant blood parasites. All three compounds proved to be active in two immunoenzymatic assays performed in parallel using monoclonals specific to PfLDH or a histidine rich protein (HRP2). The IC(50) values for each drug in both tests were similar, were lowest for posaconazole (<5 µM) and were 40- and 100-fold less active than chloroquine. The compounds reduced P. berghei parasitemia in treated mice, in comparison to untreated controls; itraconazole was the least active compound. The results of these activity trials confirmed that molecular docking studies are an important strategy for discovering new antimalarial drugs. This approach is more practical and less expensive than discovering novel compounds that require studies on human toxicology, since these compounds are already commercially available and thus approved for human use.

Total synthesis of pteridic acids A and B.

The total synthesis of pteridic acids A and B is reported. The convergent asymmetric synthesis involved the use of a diastereoselective ethyl ketone aldol reaction followed by an efficient spiroketalization and provided pteridic acids A and B in 2.9% and 2.8% overall yield, respectively.