Electrocatalytic oxidation of N-acetyl-l-cysteine by acetylferrocene at glassy carbon electrode

The Copper Reduction Potential Determines the Reductive Cytotoxicity: Relevance to the Design of Metal-Organic Antitumor Drugs

Copper-organic compounds have gained momentum as potent antitumor drug candidates largely due to their ability to generate an oxidative burst upon the transition of Cu2+ to Cu1+ triggered by the exogenous-reducing agents. We have reported the differential potencies of a series of Cu(II)-organic complexes that produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cell death after incubation with N-acetylcysteine (NAC). To get insight into the structural prerequisites for optimization of the organic ligands, we herein investigated the electrochemical properties and the cytotoxicity of Cu(II) complexes with pyridylmethylenethiohydantoins, pyridylbenzothiazole, pyridylbenzimidazole, thiosemicarbazones and porphyrins. We demonstrate that the ability of the complexes to kill cells in combination with NAC is determined by the potential of the Cu+2 → Cu+1 redox transition rather than by the spatial structure of the organic ligand. For cell sensitization to the copper-organic complex, the electrochemical potential of the metal reduction should be lower than the oxidation potential of the reducing agent. Generally, the structural optimization of copper-organic complexes for combinations with the reducing agents should include uncharged organic ligands that carry hard electronegative inorganic moieties.

Potentiality of PARAFAC approaches for simultaneous determination of N-acetylcysteine and acetaminophen based on the second-order data obtained from differential pulse voltammetry

N-acetylcysteine (N-AC) has widespread application such as pharmaceutical drug and nutritional supplement. Its adverse effects are rash, urticaria, and itchiness and large doses of N-AC could potentially cause damage to the heart and lungs. Therefore, in this work, a sensitive voltammetric sensor based on a carbon paste electrode modified with silica nano particles (i.e. Mobil Composition of Matter (No. 41) modified with Boron Trifluoride or BF₃@MCM-41) with a combination of 4,4'-dihydroxybiphenyl (DHB) (BF₃@MCM-41/DHB/CPE) was designed for determination of N-AC. The electrochemical oxidation of N-AC was examined using various techniques such as cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Under the optimum conditions, some parameters such as electron transfer coefficient (α) and heterogeneous rate constant (k_s) were estimated for N-AC. Due to the use of N-AC for the treatment of acetaminophen (AC) overdose, the application of modified electrode was investigated for the simultaneous determination of N-AC and AC in blood serum and tablet samples. Since, the signals of these species overlap and due to the presence of interfering species in blood samples, the simultaneous determination of mentioned species is difficult or impossible. To overcome this challenge, parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) was used for the analysis of the complex matrices to obtain the spectral profile of each component and interference. To achieve this goal, electrochemical second-order data were generated using a simple change in pulse height of differential pulse voltammetry. The results of the presently proposed strategy for the real samples analysis are similar to those obtained with HPLC. Thus, the proposed method has acceptable performance for simultaneous determination of the two species in real samples.

A novel cysteine sensor based on modification of carbon paste electrode by Fe(II)-exchanged zeolite X nanoparticles

An electrochemical sensor based on carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified with iron(II) doped into a synthesized nano-particles of zeolite X (Fe(II)-NX/ZCME) was constructed, which is highly sensitive for detection of cysteine (Cys). The modified electrode showed an excellent electro-activity for oxidation of Cys in phosphate buffer at pH7.4. It has been found that anodic peak potential of Cys oxidation, compared with the unmodified CPE (UCPE), was shifted towards negative values at the surface of the modified electrode under the optimum condition. The peak current increased linearly with the Cys concentration in the wide range of 5.0 × 10(-9)-3.0 × 10(-3) mol L(-1). The very low detection limit was obtained to be 1.5 × 10(-10) mol L(-1). Finally, the modified electrode was used as a selective, simple and precise new electrochemical sensor for the determination of Cys in the real samples, such as pharmaceutical and biological fluids.

Useful multivariate kinetic analysis: Size determination based on cystein-induced aggregation of gold nanoparticles

This study describes spectrometric monitored kinetic processes to determine the size of citrate-capped Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) based on aggregation induced by l-cysteine (l-Cys) as a molecular linker. The Au NPs association process is thoroughly dependent on pH, concentration and size of nanoparticles. Size dependency of aggregation inspirits to determine the average diameters of Au NPs. For this aim the procedure is achieved in aqueous medium at pH 7 (phosphate buffer), and multivariate data including kinetic spectra of Au NPs are collected during aggregation process. Subsequently partial least squares (PLS) modeling is carried out analyzing the obtained data. The model is built on the basis of relation between the kinetics behavior of aggregation and different Au NPs sizes. Training the model was performed using latent variables (LVs) of the original data. The analytical performance of the model was characterized by relative standard error. The proposed method was applied to determination of size in unknown samples. The predicted sizes of unknown samples that obtained by the introduced method are interestingly in agreement with the sizes measured by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) measurement.

New voltammetric strategy for simultaneous determination of N-acetylcysteine and folic acid using a carbon nanotube modified glassy carbon electrode

A novel 1-benzyl-4-ferrocenyl-1H-[1,2,3]-triazole (BFT)/carbon nanotube modified glassy carbon electrode (BFT-CNT-GCE) was prepared for the simultaneous determination of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) and folic acid (FA). Cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry (CHA), and square wave voltammetry (SWV) methods were used to investigate the modified electrode for the electrocatalytic oxidation of NAC and FA in aqueous solutions. The separation of the oxidation peak potentials for NAC-FA was about 280 mV. The calibration curve obtained for NAC was in the range of 0.1-600.0 μM. The detection limit (S/N=3) was 62.0±2.0 nM for NAC. The diffusion coefficient and the catalytic rate constant for the oxidation of NAC at the modified electrode were calculated as (3.5±0.2)×10(-5) cm(2) s(-1) and (9.85±0.4)×10(-4) M(-1) s(-1), respectively. The method was employed for the determination of NAC and FA in some real samples.

Nonexclusive fluorescent sensing for L/D enantiomers enabled by dynamic nanoparticle-nanorod assemblies

Fluorescence sensing of enantiomers is a much needed yet very challenging task due to nearly identical chemical and physical properties of the chiral isomers also known as chiral equivalence. In this study, we propose a novel strategy for fluorescence sensing of enantiomers using chiral nanoparticles and their ability to form dynamic assemblies. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) in nanoscale assemblies consisting of either L-cysteine- or D-cysteine-modified quantum dots (QDs) and gold nanorods (GNRs) was found to be strongly dependent on traces of cysteine. This occurs due to high sensitivity of dynamic assemblies to the weak internanoparticle interactions that can exponentially increase energy transfer efficiencies from QDs to GNRs. Comprehensive analysis of the fluorescence responses in the two types of chiral nanoscale assemblies enables accurate determination of both concentration and enantiomeric composition of the analyte, i.e., cysteine. The described method can quantify the composition of a chiral sample, even the content of one enantiomer is as low as 10% in the mixture. Exceptional selectivity in respect to D/L-cysteine in comparison to analogous small molecules was observed. Versatility of nanoparticle-nanorod assemblies and tunability of intermolecular interactions in them open the road to adaptation of this sensing platform to other chiral analytes.

Electrochemical oxidation of isoniazid catalyzed by (FcM)TMA at the platinum electrode and its practical analytical application

The electrocatalytic oxidation of isoniazid (INH) by (ferrocenylmethyl)trimethylammonium [(FcM)TMA] at the platinum electrode in 0.10 M Na2SO4 aqueous solution was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV). Although INH itself showed a very poor electrochemical response at the platinum electrode, the response could be greatly enhanced by using (FcM)TMA as a mediator, which enables a sensitive electrochemical determination of the substrate INH. The reaction rate constant for catalytic oxidation reaction was evaluated as (3.98+/-0.10)x10(3) M(-1) s(-1) by using chronoamperometry (CA). Experimental conditions such as supporting electrolyte and its concentration, solution pH, and the concentrations of the catalyst (FcM)TMA and the substrate INH were investigated to maximize the current efficiency of the electrocatalytic oxidation. The method can be used for the sensitive practical determination of INH, and also opens an avenue for using (FcM)TMA as a mediator in electroanalytical determination which is very simple, cheap, and rapid. Furthermore, no sample pretreatment or time-consuming extraction steps are required prior to the analysis.