Top-down fabrication of biodegradable multilayer tunicate cellulose films with controlled mechanical properties

Owing to non-degradable waste plastics caused serious environmental pollution, development of natural polymeric materials has become an important topic. Herein, multilayer tunicate cellulose films (MTCFs) were fabricated by a top-down approach, where the alkali treated mantles of tunicate were layer-by-layer hot-pressed. Strong hydrogen bonds that formed between tunicate cellulose layers resulted in good interfacial compatibility of multilayer films. The as-prepared MTCFs exhibited improved thermal stabilities, excellent mechanical properties, and good degradability in natural soil. This work provided a top-down approach for the preparation of biodegradable multilayer films as packaging materials.

Estimation of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors protein binding degree using chromatographic hydrophobicity data

Introduction. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors represent a significant group of drugs primarily used in the treatment of hypertension and congestive heart failure. Objective. Selected ACE inhibitors (enalapril, quinapril, fosinopril, lisinopril, cilazapril) were studied in order to establish a fast and easy estimation method of their plasma protein binding degree based on their lipophilicity data. Methods. Chromatographic hydrophobicity data (parameter C0) were obtained on cellulose layers under conditions of normal-phase thin-layer chromatography (NPTLC), using different binary solvent systems. The ACE inhibitors lipophilicity descriptors (logP) values were calculated using the software package Virtual Computational Chemistry Laboratory. The ACE inhibitors plasma protein binding data were collected from relevant literature. Results. ACE inhibitors protein binding data varied from negligible (lisinopril) to 99% (fosinopril). The calculated lipophilicity descriptors, logPKOWWIN values ranged from -0.94 (lisinopril) to 6.61 (fosinopril). Good correlations were established between plasma protein binding values and calculated logPKOWWIN values (R2=0.8026) as well as chromatographic hydrophobicity data, C0 parameters (R2=0.7662). Even though good correlation coefficients (R2) were obtained in both relations, unacceptable probability value with p>0.05 was found in relation between protein binding data and calculated logPKOWWIN values. Subsequently, taking into consideration the request for probability value lower than 0.05, a better relationship was observed between protein binding data and chromatographically obtained hydrophobicity parameters C0 values. Conclusion. Cellulose layers are easily available and cost effective sorbent to assess hydrophobicity. Experimentally obtained data on ACE inhibitors hydrophobicity and plasma protein binding estimation are important parameters in evaluating bioavailability of these drugs.

Chiral Separation of Diastereoisomers of Cefuroxime Axetil by High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatography

Conditions for separation and determination of diastereoisomers of cefuroxime axetil by HPTLC on cellulose layers with densitometry were developed. A good separation of the constituents was achieved using a mobile phase composed of 1 aqueous -cyclodextrinmethanol (15 + 1, v/v). For detecting spots on the chromatograms, densitometric measurements were used at 285 nm. The method is characterized by high sensitivity; the LOD was 0.04 g/spot and LOQ was 0.11 g/spot for both forms of the cefuroxime axetil diastereoisomers. For the individual diastereoisomers, high recovery values from 96.63 to 104.16 were obtained. Identification of the diastereoisomers was performed by 1H-NMR spectrometric analysis.