Highly Specific Voltammetric Detection of Cephalexin in Tablet Formulations and Human Urine Samples Using a Poly(2,4,6-2',4',6'-hexanitrodiphenylamine)-Modified Glassy Carbon Electrode

β-Lactam antibiotics are employed to treat bacterial illnesses. Despite a high level of clinical success, they have encountered serious resistance that demands a high-dose regimen and a new pharmacokinetic combination. This requires continuous monitoring of their levels in pharmaceutical and biological samples. In this study, an electrochemical sensor was developed for the determination of cephalexin (CLN) in pharmaceutical formulations and biological fluid samples. The sensors were developed by modifying a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) using a conducting polymer (dipicrylamine) by potentiodynamic electropolymerization. Characterization (using cyclic voltammetry and electron impedance spectroscopy) results revealed modification of the electrode surface, leading to an enhanced effective electrode surface area and their conductivity. The appearance of an irreversible oxidative peak at much-reduced potential with 5-fold current enhancement at a poly(dipicrylamine)-modified glassy carbon electrode (poly(DPA)/GCE) verified the electrocatalytic role toward CLN. Under optimized conditions, a wider linear concentration range (5 × 10-8 to 3.0 × 10-4 M), lowest limit of detection (LoD) (2.5 nM), detected amount of each tablet brand above 97.00% of the labeled value (showing excellent agreement between the detected amount and company label), and excellent % recovery results in pharmaceutical and biological samples were obtained with an excellent interference recovery error of less than 4.05%. Its excellent accuracy, selectivity, reproducibility, and stabilities and only requiring a simple electrode modification step combined with its readily available and nontoxic modifier, which sets it apart from most previously reported methods, have validated the present method's potential applicability for determining CLN in biological and pharmaceutical samples.

Topography and motion of acid-sensing ion channel intracellular domains

Acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) are trimeric cation-selective channels activated by decreases in extracellular pH. The intracellular N and C terminal tails of ASIC1 influence channel gating, trafficking, and signaling in ischemic cell death. Despite several X-ray and cryo-EM structures of the extracellular and transmembrane segments of ASIC1, these important intracellular tails remain unresolved. Here, we describe the coarse topography of the chicken ASIC1 intracellular domains determined by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), measured using either fluorescent lifetime imaging or patch clamp fluorometry. We find the C terminal tail projects into the cytosol by approximately 35 Å and that the N and C tails from the same subunits are closer than adjacent subunits. Using pH-insensitive fluorescent proteins, we fail to detect any relative movement between the N and C tails upon extracellular acidification but do observe axial motions of the membrane proximal segments toward the plasma membrane. Taken together, our study furnishes a coarse topographic map of the ASIC intracellular domains while providing directionality and context to intracellular conformational changes induced by extracellular acidification.

Spectral and DFT studies of anion bound organic receptors: Time dependent studies and logic gate applications

New colorimetric receptors R1 and R2 with varied positional substitution of a cyano and nitro signaling unit having a hydroxy functionality as the hydrogen bond donor site have been designed, synthesized and characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The receptors R1 and R2 exhibit prominent visual response for F⁻ and AcO^– ions allowing the real time analysis of these ions in aqueous media. The formation of the receptor–anion complexes has been supported by UV–vis titration studies and confirmed through binding constant calculations. The anion binding process follows a first order rate equation and the calculated rate constants reveal a higher order of reactivity for AcO⁻ ions. The ¹H NMR titration and TDDFT studies provide full support of the binding mechanism. The Hg²⁺ and F⁻ ion sensing property of receptor R1 has been utilized to arrive at “AND” and “INHIBIT” molecular logic gate applications.

Insights into the electrooptical anion sensing properties of a new organic receptor: solvent dependent chromogenic response and DFT studies

AcO⁻ ion mediated color transition properties of an organic receptor in solvents of varying polarity highlighting the influence of dipole moment in stabilizing the excited state.