Heterogeneous Fenton's-like catalysis for degradation of colchicine coupled with extraction of its biologically active metabolite

Work performed in Professor Huddersman's laboratory at De Montfort University by visiting Researcher (academic lecturer) from Faculty of Pharmacy, Assiut University, Egypt The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Nowadays, drug pollution; a form of water pollution caused by some pharmaceuticals and their metabolites resulting from consumers, industry and hospitals was reported. Colchicine (CLN) is considered one of the pharmaceutical wastewater contaminants which are not eliminated completely in municipal sewage treatment plants and are discharged into receiving water. Due to the higher toxicity of CLN, a novel heterogeneous Fenton's-like catalysis was established for complete degradation of CLN. So, a highly sensitive and specific liquid chromatographic method with quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC/Q-MS) was developed and validated for estimation of CLN in its pure form and in the presence of its degradation product. Herein, GraceSmart RP C18 column was utilized for separation of the cited drug (Retention time tR= 5.578 min) using methanol: water (55: 45, v/v) at 1.0 mL/min. Detection was performed by Agilent 6120 Quadrupole MS detector in a positive ionization mode. Thereafter and for the first time, degradation of CLN by heterogeneous Fenton's-like catalysis using modified polyacrylonitrile (PAN) as a catalyst with H2O2 in aqueous acidic medium was performed. This process was firstly optimized by HPLC/UV detection at 248 nm using the aforementioned chromatographic conditions. As a result, CLN degraded completely within 30 min. The only observed degradation product was the biologically active, potent and less toxic antitumor metabolite of CLN (3- demethyl CLN) which was collected, extracted, and analyzed by Fourier Transfer- Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and 13Carbon- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (13C-NMR). Finally, this method is eco-friendly and complies with the requirements of the green chemistry. It is suitable for complete removal of CLN and/or its metabolite contaminants from wastewater samples and estimation of the target drug without any interference from its degradation products. However, further study is required to expand the method applicability to the pharmaceutical wastewater treatment as well the production of 3- demethyl CLN on a large scale

Analysis for commonly prescribed non-sedating antihistamines

A comprehensive review with 185 references for the analysis of commonly prescribed members of an important class of drugs, non-sedating antihistamines (NSAs), is presented. The review covers most of the methods described for the analysis of cetirizine (CTZ), ebastine (EBS), fexofenadine (FXD), ketotifen (KET) and loratadine (LOR) in pure forms, in different pharmaceutical dosage forms and in biological fluids. The review covers the period from 1991 till now

Novel sublingual tablets of Atorvastatin calcium/Trimetazidine hydrochloride combination; HPTLC quantification, in vitro formulation and characterization

Background: Ischemic heart disorders and accumulation of lipids in blood vessels could contribute to angina pectoris. Therefore, the aim of this study was to formulate sublingual tablets containing a novel combination of Atorvastatin calcium (ATOR) and Trimetazidine HCl (TMZ) for efficient treatment of coronary heart disorders. Methods: The dissolution rate of water-insoluble ATOR was enhanced via complexation with sulfobutyl ether-β-cyclodextrin (SBE-β-CD) and addition of soluplus as a polymeric solubilizer excipient. The solubilized ATOR and TMZ were compressed into a sublingual tablets by direct compression technique and evaluated for their tableting characteristics. In addition, a new validated method based on High Performance Thin Layer Chromatography (HPTLC) was developed for simultaneous determination of both drugs in pure forms and sublingual tablets. Results: The developed HPTLC method showed LODs of 0.056 and 0.013 μg/band and LOQs of 0.17, 0.040 μg/band for TMZ and ATOR, respectively and proved to be linear, accurate, precise and robust. The optimum formulation containing mixture of superdisintegrants; Ac-Di-Sol and crospovidone (4.8% w/w, each) showed the shortest disintegration time (65 s) and enhanced release profiles of both drugs. Conclusions: The prepared sublingual tablets combining ATOR and TMZ will be a promising dosage form for coronary heart disease patients with an instant action and improved patient compliance. Keywords: Atorvastatin, Trimetazidine, Sublingual tablets, HPTLC, Sulfobutylether-β-Cyclodextri