New 1,3,4-thiadiazole, 6, 7 and 1,2,4-triazole derivatives, 8, 9 containing a phenylalanine moiety have been synthesized by intramolecular cyclization of 1,4-disubstituted thiosemicarbazides, 4, 5, in acid and alkaline media, respectively; the thiosemicarbazides were obtained by reaction of hydrazide 3 with appropriate aromatic isothiocyanates. The toxicity of the synthesized compounds was evaluated and the anti-inflammatory study of the triazole compound 9 established an appreciable anti-inflammatory activity that is comparable with that of other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents.

Oligo(3‐OH butyrate)‐β‐cyclodextrin esters (PHB‐CD) were obtained through ring opening of β‐butyrolactone (β‐BL) in the presence of β‐cyclodextrin (CD) and (‐)‐sparteine (SP) as nucleophilic activator. The resulted reaction mixture was first separated in two fractions and then investigated through a deep mass spectrometry (MS) study performed on a liquid chromatography‐electrospray ionization‐quadrupole time of flight (LC‐ESI‐QTOF) instrument. LC MS and tandem MS structural assignment of the reaction products was completed by NMR. The performed analysis revealed that poly(3‐OH butyrate) homopolymers (PHB) are formed together with the PHB‐CD products. Secondary reactions resulting in the formation of crotonates were also proved to occur. A comparison between MS and NMR results demonstrated that more than one PHB oligomer is attached to the CD in the PHB‐CD product. The tandem MS fragmentation studies validated the proposed structure of CD derivatives. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010

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In order to investigate the effect of rotaxane formation on the photophysical and morphological properties of π‐conjugated materials, a new main chain polyrotaxane was synthesized through Suzuki coupling between the inclusion complex of 5,5'‐dibromo‐2,2'‐bithiophene with randomly methylated β‐cyclodextrin and 9,9‐dioctylfluorene‐2,7‐trimethylene diborate. Due to rotaxane formation, a blue shift in the absorption spectra as well as in the fluorescence spectra was observed, while the fluorescence quantum yields and fluorescence lifetimes remained unchanged. This study demonstrates that rotaxane formation can alter the electronic and morphological properties of the threaded copolymer, which is of great interest for electronic applications. magnified image

Uniformly dispersed iron oxide–cellulose ferromagnetic nanocomposites were successfully obtained by ultrasonication, as a clean and energy-saving method.

Cyclodextrins (CDs) were used in the present study for the ring-opening oligomerization (ROO) of l-lactide (LA) in order to synthesize biodegradable products with possible applications in pharmaceutical and medical fields. The practical importance of ROO reactions may reside in the possibility of synthesizing novel CD derivatives with high purity due to the dual role played by CDs, the role of the initiator through the hydroxylic groups, and the role of the catalyst by monomer inclusion in the CD cavity. The analyzed compounds were CDs modified with oligolactides obtained through ROO reactions of l-lactide in dimethylformamide. The resulting CD isomeric mixtures were investigated using classical characterization techniques such as gel permeation chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance. Moreover, advanced mass spectrometry (MS) techniques were employed for the determination of the average number of monomer units attached to the cyclodextrin and the architecture of the derivatives (if the monomer units were attached as a single chain or as multiple chains). Thus, fragmentation studies effectuated on two different instruments (ESI Q-TOF and MALDI TOF) allowed us to correlate the size of the oligolactide chains attached to the CD with the observed fragmentation patterns.

Biodegradable oligolactide derivatives based on α-, β- and γ-cyclodextrins (CDs) were synthesized by a green procedure in which CDs play the role of both the initiator and the catalyst. The synthetic procedure in which CDs and L-lactide (L-LA) are reacting in bulk at relatively high temperature of 110 °C was investigated considering the structural composition of the products. The obtained products were thoroughly characterized via mass spectrometry methods with soft ionization like matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (MALDI) and electrospray ionization (ESI). Liquid chromatography (LC) separation with evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD) and NMR analysis were employed in order to elucidate the structural profiles of the obtained mixtures. The results clearly demonstrate that the cyclodextrins were tethered with more than one short oligolactate chain per CD molecule, predominantly at the methylene group, through ring opening of L-LA initiated by primary OH groups.

The paper focuses on the advances in the field of pain treatment by transdermal delivery of specific drugs. Starting from a short description of the skin barrier, the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics including absorption, distribution, action mechanism, metabolism and toxicity, aspects related to the use of pain therapy drugs are further discussed. Most recent results on topical anesthetic agents as well as the methods proved to overcome the skin barrier and to provide efficient delivery of the drug are also discussed. The present review is proposing to summarize the recent literature on the pharmacotherapeutic principles of local anesthetics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, generally used to alleviate pain but also the drugs as nanoformulations with potential applications in transdermal delivery. A special attention is given to efficient formulations meant for transdermal penetration enhancement of anesthetics where the drug is encapsulated into macrocyclic molecules (cyclodextrins, cyclodextrin derivatives), liposomes or polymer nanoparticles and hydrogels.