Graphite/Nanocrystalline Zeolite Platform for Selective Electrochemical Determination of Hepatitis C Inhibitor Ledipasvir

Trio-Colored Appraisal of Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of Carbon Quantum Dots as a Fluorescence Turn Off Nanoprobe for Analyzing Ledipasvir in Tablets and Rat Feces: Study of Silymarin Impact on Excretion Recovery

The current work offers a rigorous way for the microwave-assisted synthesis of N and S doped carbon quantum dots (QDs). The latter are deemed highly sensitive and selective fluorescence sensors that were widely investigated in pharmaceutical analysis. Quenching of luminescence of the prepared QDs in lab fabricated sensor at λ emission = 418 nm after excitation at 370 nm was implemented to quantify the anti-HCV drug Ledipasvir (LDP). LDP showed a linear response within the dynamic range of 1-40 μM. The calculated LDP detection and quantification limits were 313.06 and 948.67 nM, respectively. Besides the analysis of LDP in bulk and commercial dosage form, the scope of application extended to evaluate the effect of the nutraceutical silymarin (liver support) on the excretion of LDP in rat feces. The compliance with the green and white analytical chemistry fundamentals is comprehensively investigated and compared with selected versatile reported procedures. Numerous prevalent metrics, namely, analytical eco-scale, AGREE, RGB12, RGB fast, BAGI, and complex GAPI, were employed. Our developed fluorometric procedure demonstrated great sensitivity, selectivity, and functionality that outperformed other sophisticated platforms. Thus, the utility of the depicted procedure in pharmaceutical analysis and studying pharmacokinetics aspects is profoundly proven.

A Review on Analytical Strategies for the Assessment of Recently Approved Direct Acting Antiviral Drugs

Human beings are in dire need of developing an efficient treatment against fierce viruses like hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Coronavirus (COVID-19). These viruses have already caused the death of over two million people all over the world. Therefore, over the last years, many direct-acting antiviral drugs (DAADs) were developed targeting nonstructural proteins of these two viruses. Among these DAADs, several drugs were found more effective and safer than the others as sofosbuvir, ledipasvir, grazoprevir, glecaprevir, voxilaprevir, velpatasvir, elbasvir, pibrentasvir and remdesivir. The last one is indicated for COVID-19, while the rest are indicated for HCV treatment. Due to the valuable impact of these DAADs, larger number of analytical methods were required to meet the needs of the clinical studies. Therefore, this review will highlight the current approaches, published in the period between 2017 to present, dealing with the determination of these drugs in two different matrices: pharmaceuticals and biological fluids with the challenges of analyzing these drugs either alone, with other drugs, in presence of interferences (pharmaceutical excipients or endogenous plasma components) or in presence of matrix impurities, degradation products and metabolites. These approaches include spectroscopic, chromatographic, capillary electrophoretic, voltametric and nuclear magnetic resonance methods that have been reported during this period. Moreover, the analytical instrumentation and methods used in determination of these DAADs will be illustrated in tabulated forms.

Electrochemical (bio) sensors go green

Electrochemical (bio) sensors are now widely acknowledged as a sensitive detection tool for disease diagnosis as well as the detection of numerous species of pharmaceutical, clinical, industrial, food, and environmental origin. The term 'green' demonstrates the development of electrochemical (bio) sensing platforms utilizing biodegradable and sustainable materials. Development of green sensing platforms is one of the most active areas of research minimizing the use of toxic/hazardous reagents and solvent systems, thereby further reducing the production of chemical wastes in sensor fabrication. The present review includes green electrochemical (bio) sensors which are based on firstly, green sensors comprising natural and non-hazardous materials (e.g., paper/clay/zeolites/biowastes), secondly sensors based on nanomaterials synthesized by green methods and lastly sensors constituting green solvents (e.g., ionic liquids/deep eutectic solvents). Electrochemical performances of such green sensors and their benefits such as biodegradability, non-toxicity, sustainability, low-cost, sensitive surfaces, etc. Have been discussed for quantification of various target analytes. Associated challenges, possible solutions, and opportunities towards fabricating green electrochemical sensors and biosensors have been provided in the conclusion section.

Electrochemical Sensors, a Bright Future in the Fabrication of Portable Kits in Analytical Systems

Analysis of food, pharmaceutical, and environmental compounds is an inevitable issue to evaluate quality of the compounds used in human life. Quality of drinking water, food products, and pharmaceutical compounds is directly associated with human health. Presence of forbidden additives in food products, toxic compounds in water samples and drugs with low quality lead to important problems for human health. Therefore, attention to analytical strategy for investigation of quality of food, pharmaceutical, and environmental compounds and monitoring presence of forbidden compounds in materials used by humans has increased in recent years. Analytical methods help to identify and quantify both permissible and unauthorized compounds present in the materials used in human daily life. Among analytical methods, electrochemical methods have been shown to have more advantages compared to other analytical methods due to their portability and low cost. Most of big companies have applied this type of analytical methods because of their fast and selective analysis. Due to simple operation and high diversity of electroanalytical sensors, these types of sensors are expected to be the future generation of analytical systems. Therefore, many scientists and researchers have focused on designing and fabrication of electroanalytical sensors with good selectivity and high sensitivity for different types of compounds such as drugs, food, and environmental pollutants. In this paper, we described the mechanism and different examples of DNA, enzymatic and electro-catalytic methods for electroanalytical determination of drug, food and environmental compounds.