A simple, sensitive and green bienzymatic UV-spectrophotometric assay of amoxicillin formulations

Synthesis of a novel diaquabis(1,10-phenanthroline)copper(II)chloride complex and its voltammetric application for detection of amoxicillin in pharmaceutical and biological samples

A one step facile synthesis of the novel diaquabis(1,10-phenanthroline)copper(II)chloride (A₂P₂CuC) complex is demonstrated. Cyclic voltammetric and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic results revealed potentiodynamic deposition of a conductive electroactive poly(A₂P₂CuC) film on the glassy carbon electrode surface increasing its effective surface area. In contrast to the unmodified glassy carbon electrode, appearance of an oxidative peak at a reduced potential with over two fold current for amoxicillin at poly(A₂P₂CuC)/GCE demonstrated its electrocatalytic property attributed to reduce charge transfer resistance and the improved surface area of the electrode surface. Better correlation of the oxidative peak current with square root of scan rate (R² = 0.99779) than with scan rate (R² = 0.96953) supplemented by slope of 0.58 for log(current) versus log(scan rate) confirmed diffusion controlled irreversible oxidation of amoxicillin. At optimized solution and SWV parameters, current response of poly(A₂P₂CuC)/GCE showed linear dependence on concentration of amoxicillin (2.0–100.0 μM) with LoD 0.0115 μM. While no amoxicillin was detected in the human blood serum sample, an amount 89.40–100.55% of the nominal level was detected in the analyzed eight tablet brands. Spike recovery in tablet samples (98.90–101.95%) and blood serum sample (102.20–101.37%); interference with an error (%RSD) of 0.00–4.51% in tablet and 0.00–2.10% in serum samples; excellent stability and reproducible results, added with the wide dynamic range and low LoD validated the method for amoxicillin determination in pharmaceutical formulations and human urine samples.

Synergistic Nanocomposites of Different Antibiotics Coupled with Green Synthesized Chitosan-Based Silver Nanoparticles: Characterization, Antibacterial, in vivo Toxicological and Biodistribution Studies

Purpose

The present study reports chitosan functionalized green synthesized CS-AgNPs, conjugated with amoxicillin (AMX), cefixime (CEF), and levofloxacin (LVX) for safe and enhanced antibacterial activity.

Methods

The CS-AgNPs and conjugates CS-AgNPs+AMX CS-AgNPs+CEF, and CS-AgNPs+LVX were characterized by UV–Vis, FTIR, SEM, TEM, EDX spectroscopy. The size distribution and zeta potential were measured using the dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique. The interaction between CS-AgNPs and antibiotic molecules was also investigated using UV–Vis spectroscopy at the concentrations of 5, 50, 500, and 5000 µM for each antibiotic. Antibacterial activity and synergism were assessed by the Fractional Inhibitory Concentration (FIC) index. The mechanism for synergistic activity was investigated by the detection of hydroxyl species based on the chemiluminescence of luminol. The biocompatibility index (BI) was calculated from IC₅₀ using the HeLa cell line. In vivo toxicity and tissue distribution of silver ions were evaluated on Sprague Dawley rats. Physical interactions of antibiotics and significant (P<0.05) antibacterial activity were observed after loading on CS-AgNPs surfaces.

Results

The spherical shape nanocomposites of CS-AgNPs with different antibiotics were prepared with mean size ranges of 80–120 nm. IC₅₀ of antibiotics-conjugated CS-AgNPs decreased compared to CS-AgNPs. The biocompatibility (BI) index showed that antibiotics-conjugated CS-AgNPs have high antibacterial potential and low toxicity. Highly significant (P<0.005) increase in the generation of hydroxyl species indicated the radical scavenging mechanism for synergistic activity of CS-AgNPs after combined with different antibiotics. Biochemical analysis and histopathological examinations confirmed low toxicity with minor hepatotoxicity at higher doses. After oral administration, extensive distribution of Ag ion was observed in spleen and liver.

Conclusion

The study demonstrates positive attributes of antibiotics-conjugated CS-AgNPs, as a promising antibacterial agent with low toxicity.

d-Phenylglycine aminotransferase (d-PhgAT) – substrate scope and structural insights of a stereo-inverting biocatalyst used in the preparation of aromatic amino acids

We report the crystal structure and substrate scope of a versatile aminotransferase biocatalyst.

The analytical determination and electrochemiluminescence behavior of amoxicillin

A novel electrochemiluminescence (ECL) luminophor of amoxicillin was studied and found to generate ECL following the oxidation or reduction of amoxicillin. The amoxicillin oxidation state was also found to eliminate the reduction state, generating ECL. When solutions of amoxicillin were scanned between +1.5 V and −1.0 V with a graphite electrode in the presence of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide using KC1 as the supporting electrolyte, ECL emissions were observed at potentials of −0.7 V and +0.5 V. The ECL intensity at −0.7 V was enhanced by H₂O₂. Based on these findings, an ECL method for the determination of the amoxicillin concentration is proposed. The ECL intensities were linear with amoxicillin concentrations in the range of 1.8 × 10⁻⁸ g/mL to 2.5 × 10⁻⁷ g/mL, and the limit of detection (signal/noise = 3) was 5 × 10⁻⁹ g/mL. The florescence of amoxicillin had the greatest emission intensity in a neutral medium, with the emission wavelength dependent on the excitation wavelength. The experiments on the ECL mechanism for amoxicillin found that the electrochemical oxidation products of dissolved oxygen and active oxygen species contributed to the ECL process. The data also suggest that the hydroxyl group of amoxicillin contributed to its ECL emission.

Highly sensitive colorimetric determination of amoxicillin in pharmaceutical formulations based on induced aggregation of gold nanoparticles

A novel, simple and highly sensitive colorimetric method is developed for determination of Amoxicillin (AMX). The system is based on aggregation of citrate-capped gold nanoparticles (AuNP) in acetate buffer (pH=4.5) in the presence of the degradation product of Amoxicillin (DPAMX). It was found that the color of gold nanoparticles changed from red to purple and the intensity of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak of AuNPs decreased. A new absorption band was appeared in the wavelength range of 600-700nm upon addition of DPAMX. The absorbance ratio at the wavelength of 660 and 525nm (A660/A525) was chosen as the analytical signal indirectly related to AMX concentration. The linearity of the calibration graph was found over the concentration range of 0.3-4.5μM AMX with a correlation coefficient of 0.9967. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the detection limit was found to be 0.15μM. The applicability of the method was successfully demonstrated by analysis of AMX in pharmaceutical formulations including capsules and oral suspensions.

Effective improvement of D-phenylglycine aminotransferase solubility by protein crystal contact engineering

Structure-guided genetic engineering of D-phenylglycine aminotransferase (D-PhgAT) aimed at increasing protein solubility was attempted. In silico analyses predicted the Asn439 and Gln444 as highly solvent-exposed β-turn residues involved with protein crystal contact (CC) potential candidates for solubility-improving mutations. They were replaced with Asp and Glu creating the N439D and Q444E single mutants, and N439D/Q444E double mutant with 2.5-, 3.3- and 5.9-fold increases in solubility, respectively. The protein CC prevention effect rather than the net charge effect accounted for the dramatically improved solubility since the N439D, Q444E and N439D/Q444E mutations altered the isoelectric point of D-PhgAT by only 0.1, 0.1 and 0.3 units, respectively. Examination of the D-PhgAT structural model revealed that the N439D mutation weakened the CC attraction force and the Q444E mutation created electrostatic repulsion at the CC point. Analysis of circular dichroism spectra, melting temperature, and D-PhgAT-specific activity showed that the mutations posed no unfavorable effect on the conformational stability and catalytic performance of the enzyme. The protein solubility-improving strategy employed on D-PhgAT in this study was successful with minimal protein structure modification required. It should be applicable with a high chance of success for other proteins, especially those with 3-D structural models available.