Capillary electrophoretic assay for the stability of tris(8-quinolinolato)gallium(III) in tablet formulations

Capillary electrophoresis in metallodrug development

Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a separation method based on differential migration of analytes in electric fields. The compatibility with purely aqueous separation media makes it a versatile tool in metallodrug research. Many metallodrugs undergo ligand exchange reactions that can easily be followed with this method and the information gained can even be improved by coupling the CE to advanced detectors, such as mass spectrometers. This gives the method high potential to facilitate the development of metallodrugs, especially when combined with innovative method development and experimental design.

Self-assembled tubular nanostructures of tris(8-quinolinolato)gallium(iii)

We report for the first time the controllable growth of tubular nanostructures at the nanoscale of the broadly applied organic drug material, tris(8-hydroxyquinoline)gallium (Gaq₃), by an extremely facile approach.

Can neutral analytes be concentrated by transient isotachophoresis in micellar electrokinetic chromatography and how much?

Transient isotachophoresis (tITP) is a versatile sample preconcentration technique that uses ITP to focus electrically charged analytes at the initial stage of CE analysis. However, according to the ruling principle of tITP, uncharged analytes are beyond its capacity while being separated and detected by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). On the other hand, when these are charged micelles that undergo the tITP focusing, one can anticipate the concentration effect, resulting from the formation of transient micellar stack at moving sample/background electrolyte (BGE) boundary, which increasingly accumulates the analytes. This work expands the enrichment potential of tITP for MEKC by demonstrating the quantitative analysis of uncharged metal-based drugs from highly saline samples and introducing to the BGE solution anionic surfactants and buffer (terminating) co-ions of different mobility and concentration to optimize performance. Metallodrugs of assorted lipophilicity were chosen so as to explore whether their varying affinity toward micelles plays the role. In addition to altering the sample and BGE composition, optimization of the detection capability was achieved due to fine-tuning operational variables such as sample volume, separation voltage and pressure, etc. The results of optimization trials shed light on the mechanism of micellar tITP and render effective determination of selected drugs in human urine, with practical limits of detection using conventional UV detector.

Metallomics for drug development: serum protein binding and analysis of an anticancer tris(8-quinolinolato)gallium(III) drug using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

The application of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) assay for quantifying in vitro binding of a gallium-based anticancer drug, tris(8-quinolinolato)gallium(III), to serum albumin and transferrin and in human serum is described. The distribution of the drug between the protein-rich and protein-free fractions was assessed via ICP-MS measurement of total gallium in ultrafiltrates. Comparative kinetic studies revealed that the drug exhibits a different reactivity toward individual proteins. While the maximum possible binding to albumin (~10%) occurs practically immediately, interaction with transferrin has a step-like character and the equilibrium state (with more than 50% binding) is reached for about 48 h. Drug transformation into the bound form in serum, also very fast, results in almost quantitative binding (~95%). The relative affinity of protein-drug binding was characterized in terms of the association constants ranging from 10(3) to 10(4)M(-1). In order to further promote clinical testing of the gallium drug, the ICP-MS method was applied for direct quantification of gallium in human serum spiked with the drug. The detection limit for gallium was found to be as low as 20 ng L(-1). The repeatability was better than 8% (as RSD) and the achieved recoveries were in the range 99-103%.

Analytical sonochemistry; developments, applications, and hyphenations of ultrasound in sample preparation and analytical techniques

Ultrasonic assistance is one of the great successes of modern analytical chemistry, which uses this energy for a variety of purposes in relation to sample preparation and development of methods for the analysis of numerous contaminants including organic and inorganic compounds. This review will attempt to provide an overview of more recent applications of ultrasound in different environmental and biological samples such as food, soil and water as well as a brief description of the theoretical understanding of this method. Also, the possibility of coupling ultrasound with other analytical techniques will be discussed.

Capillary electrophoretic methods in the development of metal-based therapeutics and diagnostics: new methodology and applications

In recent years, capillary electrophoresis (CE) has matured to a standard method in medicinal inorganic chemistry. More and more steps of the drug discovery process are followed by CE. However, not only the number of applications has steadily increased but also the variety of used methodology has significantly broadened and, as compared to a few years ago, a wider scope of separation modes and hyphenated systems has been used. Herein, a summary of the newly utilized CE methods and their applications in metallodrug research in the timeframe 2006-2011 is presented, following related reviews from 2003 and 2007 (Electrophoresis, 2003, 24, 2023-2037; Electrophoresis 2007, 28, 3436-3446). Areas covered include impurity profiling, quality control of pharmaceutical formulations, lipophilicity estimation, interactions between metallodrugs and proteins or nucleotides, and characterization and also quantification of metabolites in biological matrices and real-world samples.

Review on supermolecules as chemical drugs

Supramolecular medicinal chemistry field has been a quite rapidly developing, increasingly active and newly rising interdiscipline which is the new expansion of supramolecular chemistry in pharmaceutical sciences, and is gradually becoming a relatively independent scientific area. Supramolecular drugs could be defined as medicinal supermolecules formed by two or more molecules through non-covalent bonds. So far a lot of supermolecules as chemical drugs have been widely used in clinics. Supermolecules as chemical drugs, i.e. supramolecular chemical drugs or supramolecular drugs, which might have the excellences of lower cost, shorter period, higher potential as clinical drugs for their successful research and development, may possess higher bioavailability, better biocompatibility and drug-targeting, fewer multidrug-resistances, lower toxicity, less adverse effect, and better curative effects as well as safety, and therefore exhibit wide potential application. These overwhelming advantages have drawn enormous special attention. This paper gives the definition of supramolecular drugs, proposes the concept of supramolecular chemical drugs, and systematically reviews the recent advances in the research and development of supermolecules, including organic and inorganic complex ones as chemical drugs in the area of antitumor, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimalarial, antibacterial, antifungal, antivirus, anti-epileptic, cardiovascular agents and magnetic resonance imaging agents and so on. The perspectives of the foreseeable future and potential application of supramolecules as chemical drugs are also presented.