Activity

Understanding the stability of drugs in a forensic toxicology setting is critical for the evaluation of drug concentrations. Synthetic cathinones are new psychoactive substances structurally derived from cathinone, the psychoactive component of Catha edulis (“khat”), a shrub that is indigenous to the Middle East and East Africa. Previous research has evaluated the stability of synthetic cathinones in biological matrices, including blood preserved with the combination of NaF and K2C2O4 used in gray-top tubes. However, it does not assess their stability in blood preserved with Na2EDTA, used for some clinical samples. Further, stability in unpreserved urine samples was only studied for two weeks. This research evaluates the stabilities of four Schedule I synthetic cathinones mephedrone, MDPV (3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone), naphyrone, and α-PVP (alpha-pyrrolidinopentiophenone) at 20°C (room temperature), 4°C (refrigerator), and -20°C (freezer). Stability was assessed in methanolic and acetonitrile solutions, astaining these cathinones should be stored in the freezer and used or tested with urgency to ensure that quantitative sample analysis is as accurate as possible in forensic casework.In the absence of an approved vaccine, developing effective severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antivirals is essential to tackle the current pandemic health crisis due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread. As any traditional drug discovery program is a time-consuming and costly process requiring more than one decade to be completed, in silico repurposing of existing drugs is the preferred way for rapidly selecting promising clinical candidates. We present a virtual screening campaign to identify covalent and non-covalent inhibitors of the SARS-CoV-2 papain-like protease (PLpro) showing potential multitarget activities (i.e., a desirable polypharmacology profile) for the COVID-19 treatment. A dataset including 688 phase III and 1,702 phase IV clinical trial drugs was downloaded from ChEMBL (version 27.1) and docked to the recently released crystal structure of PLpro in complex with a covalently bound peptide inhibitor. The obtained results were analyzed by combining protein-ligand interaction fingerprint similarities, conventional docking scores, and MM-GBSA-binding free energies and allowed the identification of some interesting candidates for further in vitro testing. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to repurpose drugs for a covalent inhibition of PLpro and could pave the way for new therapeutic strategies against COVID-19.A rise in atmospheric CO2 levels, following years of burning fossil fuels, has brought about increase in global temperatures and climate change due to the greenhouse effect. As such, recent efforts in addressing this problem have been directed to the use of CO2 as a non-expensive and non-toxic single carbon, C1, source for making chemical products. Herein, we report on the use of tetrazolyl complexes as catalyst precursors for hydrogenation of CO2. Specifically, tetrazolyl compounds bearing P-S bonds have been synthesized with the view of using these as P∧N bidentate tetrazolyl ligands (1-3) that can coordinate to iridium(III), thereby forming heteroatomic five-member complexes. Interestingly, reacting the P,N’-bidentate tetrazolyl ligands with [Ir(C5Me5)Cl2]2 led to serendipitous isolation of chiral-at-metal iridium(III) half-sandwich complexes (7-9) instead. Complexes 7-9 were obtained via prior formation of non-chiral iridium(III) half-sandwich complexes (4-6). The complexes undergo prior P-S bond heterolye reaction by the iridium(III) catalyst precursors was studied using 1H NMR techniques. This revealed that a chiral-at-metal iridium hydride species generated in situ served as the active catalyst.Global warming is arguably the biggest scientific challenge of the twenty-first century and its environmental consequences are already noticeable. To mitigate the emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly of CO2, there is an urgent need to design materials with improved adsorbent properties. Five different magnetic ionic liquids were impregnated into the metal-organic framework ZIF-8. The composites were produced by a direct-contact method, and their performance as sorbents for gas separation applications was studied. The impact of the ionic liquid anion on the sorption capacity and ideal CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 selectivities were studied, focusing on understanding the influence of metal atom and ligand on the adsorbent properties. Reproducible methodology, along with rigorous characterization, were established to assess the impact of the ionic liquid on the performance of the composite materials. Results show that the ionic liquid was well-impregnated, and the ZIF-8 structure was maintained after ionic liquid i capture application that can contribute to greenhouse gas mitigation.Reasonable design and development of a low-cost and high-efficiency bifunctional electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is essential for promoting the development of Zinc-air battery technology. Herein, we obtained an integrated catalytic electrode, NiFe nanoparticles supported on nitrogen-doped carbon (NC) directly grown on the carbon cloth (designated as Ni3Fe2@NC/CC), by pyrolysis of bimetallic NiFe metal-organic framework (MOF) precursor. learn more There is a synergistic effect between nickel and iron component, which enhances the bifunctional catalytic activity. In addition, the underlying carbon cloth is conducive to the efficient electron transfer and also benefits the uniform loading of catalytically active materials. Thus, the integrated electrode shows good OER/ORR dual-functional catalytic performance, and the OER overpotential is much lower than that of the traditional drop-coating electrode and precious metal catalyst (IrO2). Moreover, the Ni3Fe2@NC/CC integrated electrode used in zinc-air batteries shows good flexibility and cycle stability. Our findings provide a new avenue for the development of efficient and stable bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts.