Injectable Self-Healing Hydrogels Based on Boronate Ester Formation between Hyaluronic Acid Partners Modified with Benzoxaborin Derivatives and Saccharides.

We demonstrate here, for the first time, formation of injectable dynamic covalent hydrogels at physiological pH using benzoxaborin-saccharide complexation as a reversible cross-linking method. The gels were prepared by simply mixing hyaluronic acid modified with an original boronic acid derivative, 3,4-dihydro-2H-benzo[e][1,2]oxaborinin-2-ol (1,2-ABORIN), and HA functionalized with 1-amino-1-deoxy-d-fructose. Dynamic rheological experiments confirmed the gel-like behavior (storage modulus (G') > loss modulus (G″) in the frequency window explored) for the designed HA-1,2-ABORIN/HA-fructose network. Furthermore, this hydrogel exhibited excellent self-healing and injectability behaviors in aqueous conditions and was found to be responsive to pH. Additionally, fibroblast cells encapsulated in the HA network showed high viability (>80% after 7 days of cell culture), as monitored by Live/Dead staining. Taken together, this new class of boronate ester cross-linked hydrogel provides promising future for diverse biomedical applications.

Boronic acid and diol-containing polymers: how to choose the correct couple to form "strong" hydrogels at physiological pH.

Dynamic covalent hydrogels crosslinked by boronate ester bonds are promising materials for biomedical applications. However, little is known about the impact of the crosslink structure on the mechanical behaviour of the resulting network. Herein, we provide a mechanistic study on boronate ester crosslinking upon mixing hyaluronic acid (HA) backbones modified, on the one hand, with two different arylboronic acids, and on the other hand, with three different saccharide units. Combining rheology, NMR and computational analysis, we demonstrate that carefully selecting the arylboronic-polyol couple allows for tuning the thermodynamics and molecular exchange kinetics of the boronate ester bond, thereby controlling the rheological properties of the gel. In particular, we report the formation of "strong" gels (i.e. featuring slow relaxation dynamics) through the formation of original complex structures (tridentate or bidentate complexes). These findings offer new prospects for the rational design of hydrogel scaffolds with tailored mechanical response.

Identification of unknown impurities J, RRT 2.2, 2.4, 2.6 and 3.4 in tetralysal® capsules.

Tetralysal® is a Galderma oral drug product (DP) marketed for the treatment of acne. Tetralysal® is sold in capsules containing either 150 mg or 300 mg of the drug substance. In the British Pharmacopoeia monograph for Lymecycline Capsules, the impurities already specified in the drug substance (A-G), visible in the European Pharmacopoeia 〈1654〉, are also specified together with an unidentified impurity at RRT 1.6 (Impurity J). Based on both monographs Galderma has focused on characterizing most of specified and unspecified impurities to better understand the stability and degradation processes of the formulation. In this manuscript, through both formal synthesis, preparative LCMS and formal degradation studies, we are the first group to confirm the structural identities of 5 unidentified impurities (Impurity J (RRT 1.6), RRT 2.2, 2.4, 2.6 and 3.4), conditions which exacerbate the formation of all 5 impurities and response factors for RRT 2.2, 2.6 and 3.4.

Completion of the impurity profile of lymecycline: Formal identification of impurities E and F.

Lymecycline is the drug substance (DS) used in the Galderma drug product Tetralysal® capsules with 7 impurities currently described in the pharmacopeia labelled as A-G. In the current monograph, the structural identity of all impurities except E and F have been formally identified. In this manuscript, through both formal synthesis and preparative chromatography, we are the first group to confirm the structural identity, response factor of Impurity F and conditions which exacerbate the formation of both impurities.

Determination of substitution positions in hyaluronic acid hydrogels using NMR and MS based methods.

In hydrogels of cross-linked polysaccharides, the total amount of cross-linker and the degree of cross-linking influence the properties of the hydrogel. The substitution position of the cross-linker on the polysaccharide is another parameter that can influence hydrogel properties; hence methods for detailed structural analysis of the substitution pattern are required. NMR and LC-MS methods were developed to determine the positions and amounts of substitution of 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE) on hyaluronic acid (HA), and for the first time it is shown that BDDE can react with any of the four available hydroxyl groups of the HA disaccharide repeating unit. This was achieved by studying di-, tetra-, and hexasaccharides obtained from degradation of BDDE cross-linked HA hydrogel by chondroitinase. Furthermore, amount of linker substitution at each position was shown to be dependent on the size of the oligosaccharides. For the disaccharide, substitutions were predominantly at ΔGlcA-OH2 and GlcNAc-OH6 while in the tetra- and hexasaccharides, it was mainly at the reducing end GlcNAc-OH4. In the disaccharide there was no substitution at this position. Since chondroitinase is able to completely hydrolyse non-substituted HA into unsaturated disaccharides, these results indicate that the enzyme is prevented to cleave on the non-reducing side of an oligosaccharide substituted at the reducing end GlcNAc-OH4. The procedure can be adopted for the determination of substitution positions in other types of polymers.

Unexpected C-C bond cleavage: synthesis of 1,2,4-oxadiazol-5-ones from amidoximes with pentafluorophenyl or trifluoromethyl anion acting as leaving group.

An unexpected C-C bond cleavage has been observed on pentafluorobenzoylamidoximes under mild basic conditions. This observation has been exploited to develop a new synthesis of 1,2,4-oxadiazol-5-ones from amidoximes using pentafluorobenzoyl chloride or trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAA) as a double acylating agent. The pentafluorophenyl anion and the trifluoromethyl anion acted as leaving groups in this transformation.