Solvent-dependent inversion of circular dichroism signal in naproxen: An unusual effect!

Close-Up Look at Electronic Spectroscopic Signatures of Common Pharmaceuticals in Solution

Simulating electronic properties and spectral signals requires robust computational approaches that need tuning with the system's peculiarities. In this paper, we test implicit and fully atomistic solvation models for the calculation of UV-vis and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra of two pharmaceutically relevant molecules, namely, (2S)-captopril and (S)-naproxen, dissolved in aqueous solution. Room temperature molecular dynamics simulations reveal that these two drugs establish strong contacts with the surrounding solvent molecules via hydrogen bonds. Such specific interactions, which play a major role in the spectral response and are neglected in implicit approaches, are further characterized and quantified with natural bond orbital methods. Our calculations show that simulated spectra, and especially ECD, are in good agreement with experiments solely when conformational and configurational dynamics, mutual polarization, and solute-solvent repulsion effects are considered.

Water Maintains the UV-Vis Spectral Features During the Insertion of Anionic Naproxen and Ibuprofen into Model Cell Membranes

UV-vis spectra of anionic ibuprofen and naproxen in a model lipid bilayer of the cell membrane are investigated using computational techniques in combination with a comparative analysis of drug spectra in purely aqueous environments. The simulations aim at elucidating the intricacies behind the negligible changes in the maximum absorption wavelength in the experimental spectra. A set of configurations of the systems constituted by lipid, water, and drugs or just water and drugs are obtained from classical Molecular Dynamics simulations. UV-vis spectra are computed in the framework of atomistic Quantum Mechanical/Molecular Mechanics (QM/MM) approaches together with Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT). Our results suggest that the molecular orbitals involved in the electronic transitions are the same, regardless of the chemical environment. A thorough analysis of the contacts between the drug and water molecules reveals that no significant changes in UV-vis spectra are a consequence of ibuprofen and naproxen molecules being permanently microsolvated by water molecules, despite the presence of lipid molecules. Water molecules microsolvate the charged carboxylate group as expected but also microsolvate the aromatic regions of the drugs.

Modelling the enantiorecognition of structurally diverse pharmaceuticals on O-substituted polysaccharide-based stationary phases

This study aims to develop models to predict the retention, separation and elution sequence of the enantiomers of structurally diverse pharmaceuticals. More specifically, Quantitative Structure Retention Relationships (QSRR) models are built that describe the relationship between molecular descriptors and retention. Eighteen structurally diverse chiral mixtures, each consisting of a pair of enantiomers, were analyzed on two polysaccharide chiral stationary phases, Chiralcel OD-RH (cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate)) and Lux amylose-2 (amylose tris(5-chloro-2-methylphenylcarbamate)), applying either a basic or an acidic mobile phase, and their retention factor and elution sequence were determined. Both achiral and, in-house defined, chiral descriptors were used as descriptive variables to build the models. Linear regression techniques, i.e. stepwise multiple linear regression (sMLR) and partial least squares (PLS) regression, were applied to model the retention or separation as a function of the descriptors. In a first step, models were built with only achiral descriptors to model the global retention of both enantiomers of a chiral molecule. Subsequently, models were built with only chiral descriptors to predict the enantioseparation and elution sequence, and finally, models were considered with both descriptor types to predict the retention, the separation and the elution sequence of the enantiomers. The global retention was predicted well by the sMLR models with only achiral descriptors. The models with only chiral descriptors were not found suitable to predict the enantioseparation and elution sequence. Finally, the models containing both chiral and achiral descriptors allowed predicting the retention well, but their ability to predict the elution sequence and separation of the enantiomers differed widely for the chromatographic systems considered.

Theoretical investigation of the cooperative effect of solvent: a case study

The effect of solvent was investigated at the DFT level, M06-2X/6-31++G(d,p), for the implicit, namely the universal solvent model based on solute electron density (SMD), and hybrid solvation models, and...

Theory and algorithms for chiroptical properties and spectroscopies of aqueous systems

Chiroptical properties and spectroscopies are valuable tools to study chiral molecules and assign absolute configurations. The spectra that result from chiroptical measurements may be very rich and complex, and hide much of their information content. For this reason, the interplay between experiments and calculations is especially useful, provided that all relevant physico-chemical interactions that are present in the experimental sample are accurately modelled. The inherent difficulty associated to the calculation of chiral signals of systems in aqueous solutions requires the development of specific tools, able to account for the peculiarities of water-solute interactions, and especially its ability to form hydrogen bonds. In this perspective we discuss a multiscale approach, which we have developed and challenged to model the most used chiroptical techniques.

Enantioselective in vitro metabolism and in vitro-in vivo correlation of the herbicide ethofumesate in a human model

Ethofumesate (ETO) is a chiral herbicide that is marketed as a racemic mixture in the European Union and the United States. The growing consumption of pesticides in the world, along with their presence in water and food, has increased human exposure to these chemicals. Another issue concerning these compounds is that each enantiomer of a chiral pesticide may interact with biomolecules differently. For this reason, this study aimed to investigate the in vitro metabolism of ethofumesate (the racemic mixture as well as the isolated enantiomers) by human liver microsomes (HLM) and to explore the in vitro-in vivo correlation. Before the kinetics was determined, the method was fully validated by evaluating its selectivity, linearity, precision, accuracy, carryover, and stability. All the evaluated parameters agreed with the European Medicines Agency guideline. The enzyme kinetic parameters and the in vitro-in vivo correlation demonstrated that there was no enantioselective difference for the metabolism and bioavailable fraction of each enantiomer. The enzyme kinetics was biphasic; the K_M1 values were 15, 5.8, and 5.6 for rac-ETO, (+)-ETO, and (-)-ETO, respectively. The total in vitro intrinsic clearance was 0.10 mg mL min^-1 mg^-1 for rac-ETO and its enantiomers. The enantiomer (-)-ETO was only metabolized by CYP2C19, while (+)-ETO was metabolized by both CYP2C19 and CYP3A4. CYP2C19 polymorphism and/or inhibition may represent a risk for humans exposed to this pesticide.

TDDFT-ECD and DFT-NMR studies of thaigranatins A–E and granatumin L isolated from Xylocarpus granatum

TDDFT-ECD calculations were utilized to explain the mirror image or different ECD spectra of thaigranatins A–E and granatumin L.