Photocatalysis as a Tool for in Vitro Drug Metabolism Simulation: Multivariate Comparison of Twelve Metal Oxides on a Set of Twenty Model Drugs

Photochemistry in Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Photochemistry has emerged as a transformative force in organic chemistry, significantly expanding the chemical space accessible for medicinal chemistry. Light-induced reactions enable the efficient synthesis of intricate organic structures and have found applications throughout the different stages of the drug discovery and development processes. Moreover, photochemical techniques provide innovative solutions in chemical biology, allowing precise spatiotemporal drug activation and targeted delivery. In this Perspective, we highlight the already numerous remarkable applications and the even more promising future of photochemistry in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology.

Identification and characterization of citalopram new metabolites with the use of UHPLC-Q-TOF technique: In silico toxicity assessment of the identified transformation products

In this study the metabolite profiling of citalopram with the use of human liver microsomes as well as the complementary photocatalytic method were established. This strategy allowed the detection of five metabolites of citalopram including 3-hydroxycitalopram and 3-oxocitalopram which were found as a new and not previously described metabolites of this drug The photocatalytic simulation of metabolism was carried out using tungsten (VI) oxide nanopowders with the different particle sizes, which allowed to examine the effect of this photocatalyst parameter on the mapping of metabolic processes. The accurate characterization of all observed structures was possible due to the use of ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography and high-resolution mass spectrometry combined system as a highly useful technique in drug metabolism studies. In order to perform the toxicity prediction of citalopram and its metabolites, the acute toxicity to rodents, as well as genotoxicity, carcinogenicity, developmental toxicity and receptor-mediated toxicity was calculated basing on the in silico tools.

Mimicking of Phase I Metabolism Reactions of Molindone by HLM and Photocatalytic Methods with the Use of UHPLC-MS/MS

Establishing the metabolism pathway of the drug undergoing the hepatic biotransformation pathway is one of the most important aspects in the preclinical discovery process since the presence of toxic or reactive metabolites may result in drug withdrawal from the market. In this study, we present the structural elucidation of six, not described yet, metabolites of an antipsychotic molecule: molindone. The elucidation of metabolites was supported with a novel photocatalytical approach with the use of WO3 and WS2 assisted photochemical reactions. An UHPLC-ESI-Q-TOF combined system was used for the registration of all obtained metabolite profiles as well as to record the high resolution fragmentation spectra of the observed transformation products. As a reference in the in vitro metabolism simulation method, the incubation with human liver microsomes was used. Chemometric comparison of the obtained profiles pointed out the use of the WO3 approach as being more convenient in the field of drug metabolism studies. Moreover, the photocatalysis was used in the direction of the main drug metabolite synthesis in order to further isolation and characterization.