Chiral Nanoceramics

The study of different chiral inorganic nanomaterials has been experiencing rapid growth during the past decade, with its primary focus on metals and semiconductors. Ceramic materials can substantially expand the range of mechanical, optical, chemical, electrical, magnetic, and biological properties of chiral nanostructures, further stimulating theoretical, synthetic, and applied research in this area. An ever‐expanding toolbox of nanoscale engineering and self‐organization provides a chirality‐based methodology for engineering of hierarchically organized ceramic materials. However, fundamental discoveries and technological translations of chiral nanoceramics have received substantially smaller attention than counterparts from metals and semiconductors. Findings in this research area are scattered over a variety of sources and subfields. Here, the diversity of chemistries, geometries, and properties found in chiral ceramic nanostructures are summarized. They represent a compelling materials platform for realization of chirality transfer through multiple scales that can result in new forms of ceramic materials. Multiscale chiral geometries and the structural versatility of nanoceramics are complemented by their high chiroptical activity, enantioselectivity, catalytic activity, and biocompatibility. Future development in this field is likely to encompass chiral synthesis, biomedical applications, and optical/electronic devices. The implementation of computationally designed chiral nanoceramics for biomimetic catalysts and quantum information devices may also be expected.Chiral nanoceramics are emerging as a remarkably active area of chiral research. It is still in its infant stage and is thus full of challenges and opportunities. Recent advances in the diversity of chemistries, geometries, and properties of chiral ceramic nanostructures are reviewed. An outlook of synthesis, computational methods, and emerging applications of chiral nanoceramics is presented.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163453/2/adma201906738_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163453/1/adma201906738.pd

Quenched phosphorescence as alternative detection mode in the chiral separation of methotrexate by electrokinetic chromatography

Quenched phosphorescence was used, for the first time, as detection mode in the chiral separation of methotrexate (MTX) enantiomers by electrokinetic chromatography. The detection is based on dynamic quenching of the strong emission of the phosphorophore 1-bromo-4-naphthalene sulfonic acid (BrNS) by MTX under deoxygenated conditions. The use of a background electrolyte with 3 mg/mL 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin and 20% MeOH in 25 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) and an applied voltage of 30 kV allowed the separation of l-MTX and its enantiomeric impurity d-MTX with sufficient resolution. In the presence of 1 mM BrNS, a detection limit of 3.2 × 10−7 M was achieved, about an order of magnitude better than published techniques based on UV absorption. The potential of the method was demonstrated with a degradation study and an enantiomeric purity assessment of l-MTX. Furthermore, l-MTX was determined in a cell culture extract as a proof-of-principle experiment to show the applicability of the method to biological samples

Preface for the selected papers from Recent Developments in Pharmaceutical Analysis 2021 (RDPA2021) special issue

This special issue of the Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis contains selected papers from the Recent Development in Pharmaceutical Analysis 2021 (RDPA 2021) international symposium, organized by the Department of Life Sciences of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE) in collaboration with the Division of Medicinal Chemistry of the Italian Chemical Society (SCI) from September 6th to September 8th 2021. RDPA is a very stimulating biennial meeting, which continues a long-standing tradition of excellent scientific meetings for the international and national scientists dealing with pharmaceutical analysis in all its domains and multiple aspects. The most appealing and relevant topics of research in (bio)pharmaceutical analysis, including advanced instrumentation and methodologies for drug discovery, were addressed, giving also peculiar attention to natural products, food and nutraceuticals, forensic science, to name a few. The congress was provided in an on-line edition, due to COVID-19. Despite this, this event gave us the opportunity to share the most advanced research experience and establish new collaboration in the concrete perspective of providing a significant contribution to pharmaceutical analysis in an international context. This edition was fully dedicated to the memory of Emeritus Professor Sergio Pinzauti, an international scientist author and co-author of more than 230 publications in the field of (bio)pharmaceutical analysis. In 1983 Prof. Pinzauti contributed to the launch of the Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, of which he became Editor in 2002. Creative and proactive, Prof. Pinzauti was founder and organizer of the series of biennial international conferences on Recent Development on Pharmaceutical Analysis (RDPA) and of the annual Summer Course on Pharmaceutical Analysis (SSPA). All his colleagues and the scientific community will always remember him for his high scientific profile, his dedication to research and teaching with enthusiasm and innovation in the ambit of pharmaceutical and biomedical analysis. Coming to the specific content of this special issue, it is addressed at the development of innovative methods, based on hyphenated techniques, for the determination of drugs and their metabolites in different samples, including biological fluids and pharmaceuticals. A special role is also played by new analytical methodologies for the assessment of bioactive natural compounds in plant extracts and food products. The most recent advances of metabolomics based on the untargeted lipidomics are also discussed, including a study on COVID-19 patients with different severity to identify new diagnostic markers of current pandemic. The next symposium in the series (RDPA 2023) is going to be organized from September 3rd to September 6th 2023 by the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences of the University of Eastern Piedmont (UNIUPO) in Novara (Italy). We hope it will be another successful edition in this well-established conference series

Contemporary chiral simulators for capillary zone electrophoresis.

For separation of enantiomers in presence of a chiral selector, data obtained with the 1D dynamic simulators SIMUL5complex and GENTRANS are compared to data predicted by PeakMaster 6, a recently released generalized model of the linear theory of electromigration. Four electrophoretic systems with stereoisomers of weak bases were investigated. They deal with the estimation of input data for complexation together with the elucidation of the origin of observed system peaks, the interference of analyte and system peak migration, the change of enantiomer migration order as function of the selector concentration and the inversion of analyte migration direction in presence of a multiply negatively charged selector. For all systems, data predicted with PeakMaster 6 are in agreement with those of the dynamic simulators and simulation data compare well with experimental data that were monitored with setups featuring conductivity and/or UV absorbance detection along the capillary. SIMUL5complex and GENTRANS provide the full dynamics of any buffer and sample arrangement and require very long execution time intervals. PeakMaster 6 is restricted to conventional CZE, is based on an approximate solution of the transport equations, provides data for realistic experimental conditions within seconds and represents a practical tool for an experimentalist