Publications by authors named "Laura Escuder-Gilabert"

The selection of suitable combinations of chiral stationary phases (CSPs) and mobile phases (MPs) for the enantioresolution of chiral compounds is a complex issue that often requires considerable experimental effort and can lead to significant waste. Linking the structure of a chiral compound to a CSP/MP system suitable for its enantioseparation can be an effective solution to this problem. In this study, we evaluate algorithmic tools for this purpose.

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In this paper, the potential of micellar solutions of the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as eluents in dispersive micro-solid phase extraction (D-μSPE) using polydopamine-coated magnetite nanoparticles (FeO@PDA NPs) for the extraction and preconcentration of seven basic drugs (bupropion, citalopram, fluoxetine, mianserin, nomifensine, trimipramine, and viloxazine) is explored for the first time (to the best to our knowledge) and compared with conventional hydro-organic eluents. The impact of the sample solution pH, FeO@PDA NPs and PDA coating amounts and extraction time on the extraction efficiency (EE), as well as the composition of the eluent on the overall efficiency (OE) are studied. Under the selected experimental conditions (50 mg of FeO@PDA NPs, 100 μL of 1 M NH, 5 min of extraction time and 0.

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A comparative study on the retention behaviour and enantioresolution of 54 structurally unrelated neutral and basic compounds using five commercial cellulose-based chiral stationary phases (CSPs) and hydro-organic mobile phases compatible with MS detection is performed. Four phenylcarbamate-type cellulose CSPs (cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate), Cell1; cellulose tris(3-chloro-4-methylphenylcarbamate), Cell2; cellulose tris(4-chloro-3-methylphenylcarbamate), Cell4 and cellulose tris(3,5- dichlorophenylcarbamate), Cell5) and one benzoate-type cellulose CSP (cellulose tris(4-methylbenzoate), Cell3) are assayed. Mobile phases consist of binary mixtures of methanol (30-90% MeOH) or acetonitrile (10-98% ACN) with 5 mM ammonium bicarbonate (pH = 8.

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Artificial neural networks (ANN; feed-forward mode) are used to quantitatively estimate the enantioresolution (Rs) in cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) of chiral molecules from their structural information. To the best of our knowledge, for the first time, a dataset of structurally unrelated compounds is modelled using ANN, attempting to approach a model of general applicability. After setting a strategy compatible with the data complexity and their relatively limited size (56 molecules), by prefixing initial ANN inner weights and the validation and cross-validation subsets, the ANN optimisation based on a novel quality indicator calculated from 9 ANN outputs allows selecting a proper (predictive) ANN architecture (a single hidden layer of 7 neurons) and performing a forward-stepwise feature selection process (8 variables are selected).

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A comprehensive study on the chiral separation of bupivacaine, mepivacaine, prilocaine and propanocaine with eight commercial polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases (CSPs) in reversed phase conditions compatible with MS detection is performed. Methanol and acetonitrile are used as organic modifiers. Retention and resolution values obtained for each compound in the different CSPs and mobile phases are compared.

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Polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases (CSPs) are the most used chiral selectors in HPLC. These CSPs can be used in normal, polar organic and aqueous-organic mobile phases. However, normal and polar organic mobile phases are not adequate for chiral separation of polar compounds, for the analysis of aqueous samples and for MS detection.

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Biodegradation assays involve both biodegradation and analytical processes which can be affected by systematic errors, among others. These errors can affect all the environmentally relevant parameters related to biodegradability, enantioselectivity (in the case of chiral compounds), kinetic parameters and persistence of chemicals. However, such impacts have never been well-characterized.

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Accurate and reliable estimation of kinetic parameters of pollutant biodegradation processes is essential for environmental and health risk assessment. Common biodegradation models proposed in the literature, such as the nonlinear Monod equation and its simplified versions (e.g.

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The quantification of the enantiomeric fraction (EF) during the biodegradation process is essential for environmental risk assessment. In this paper the enantioselective biodegradation of ibuprofen, IBU, and ketoprofen, KET, two of the drugs most consumed, was evaluated. Biodegradation experiments were performed in batch mode using a minimal salts medium inoculated with an activated sludge (collected from a Valencian Waste Water Treatment Plant) and supplemented with the racemate of each compound.

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To the best of our knowledge, the prediction of the enantioresolution ability of polysaccharides-based stationary phases in liquid chromatography for structurally unrelated compounds has not been previously reported. In this study, structural information of neutral and basic compounds is used to model their enantioresolution levels obtained from an immobilised cellulose tris(3,5-dichlorophenylcarbamate) stationary phase in reversed phase conditions. Thirty-four structurally unrelated chiral drugs and pesticides, from seven families, are studied.

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A great number of available pharmaceuticals are chiral compounds. Although they are usually manufactured as racemic mixtures, they can be enantioselectively biodegraded as a result of microbial processes. In this paper, a biodegradability assay in similar conditions to those recommended in OECD tests of enantiomers of trimeprazine (a phenothiazine employed as a racemate) is carried out.

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Few papers have tried to predict the resolution ability of chiral selectors in capillary electrophoresis for the separation of the enantiomers of chiral compounds. In a previous work, we have used molecular information available on-line to establish enantioresolution levels of basic compounds using highly sulfated β-CD (HS-β-CD) as chiral selector in electrokinetic chromatography-complete filling technique (EKC-CFT). The present study is a continuation of this previous work, introducing some novelties.

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In this work, a methodology for the evaluation of enantioselective binding of imazalil (IMA) enantiomers to human serum albumin (HSA) that does not require the separation of free and bound to HSA fractions is developed. This methodology comprises the incubation of IMA-HSA designed mixtures for 30 min directly in the capillary electrophoresis system and the subsequent direct injection and chiral separation of IMA employing highly sulfated β-cyclodextrin as chiral selector and the complete filling technique. Two mathematical approaches were used to estimate apparent affinity constants (K1), protein binding and enantioselectivity (ES) for both enantiomers of IMA.

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Fermentation processes are often sensitive to even slight changes of conditions that may result in unacceptable end-product quality. Thus, close follow-up of this type of processes is critical for detecting unfavorable deviations as early as possible in order to save downtime, materials and resources. Nevertheless the use of traditional analytical techniques is often hindered by the need for expensive instrumentation and experienced operators and complex sample preparation.

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In this work, a capillary electrophoretic methodology for the enantioselective in vitro evaluation of drugs metabolism is applied to the evaluation of fluoxetine (FLX) metabolism by cytochrome 2D6 (CYP2D6). This methodology comprises the in-capillary enzymatic reaction and the chiral separation of FLX and its major metabolite, norfluoxetine enantiomers employing highly sulfated β-CD and the partial filling technique. The methodology employed in this work is a fast way to obtain a first approach of the enantioselective in vitro metabolism of racemic drugs, with the additional advantage of an extremely low consumption of enzymes, CDs and all the reagents involved in the process.

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The estimation of apparent binding constants and limit mobilities of the complexes of the enantiomers that characterize the interaction of enantiomers with chiral selectors, in this case highly sulfated β-cyclodextrin, was approached using a simple and economic electrophoretic modality, the complete filling technique (CFT) in counter-current mode. The enantiomers of eight psychoactive drugs, four antihistamines (dimethindene, promethazine, orphenadrine and terfenadine) and four antidepressants (bupropion, fluoxetine, nomifensine and viloxazine) were separated for the first time for this cyclodextrin (CD). Estimations of thermodynamic and electrophoretic enantioselectivies were also performed.

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Stereoselectivity in protein binding can have a significant effect on the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of chiral drugs. In this paper, the enantioselective binding of propanocaine (PRO) enantiomers to human serum albumin (HSA), the most relevant plasmatic protein in view of stereoselectivity, has been evaluated by incubation and ultrafiltration of racemic PRO-HSA mixtures and chiral analysis of the bound and unbound fractions by electrokinetic chromatography using HSA as chiral selector. Experimental conditions for the separation of PRO enantiomers using HSA as chiral selector and electrokinetic chromatography have been optimised.

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The stereoselective binding of the frequently ingested nutraceutical (±)-catechin, with demonstrated differential biological activity between enantiomers, to human serum albumin (HSA), with the largest complexation and enantioselectivity potential among the plasmatic proteins, is studied by combining simulations to optimize the experimental design, robust in vitro electrokinetic chromatographic data, and molecular docking-chiral recognition estimates. Methodological and mathematical drawbacks in previous reports on (±)-catechin-HSA are detected and eliminated. Recent and novel direct equations extracted from the classical interaction model allows advantageous univariate mathematical data treatment, providing the first evidence of quantitative (±)-catechin-HSA enantioselectivity.

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This paper examines the main features of modern electronic tongues (e-tongues) and their most important applications in food analysis in this new century. The components of an e-tongue (automatic sampler, array of chemical sensors, and data processing system) are described. Applications commented include process monitoring, freshness evaluation and shelf-life investigation, authenticity assessment, foodstuff recognition, quantitative analysis, and other quality control studies.

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At present, there is no single viewpoint that defines QA strategies in analytical chemistry. On the other hand, there are no unique protocols defining a set of analytical tasks and decision criteria to be performed during the method development phase (e.g.

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This work examines the main features of modern electronic noses (e-noses) and their most important applications in food control in this new century. The three components of an electronic nose (sample handling system, detection system, and data processing system) are described. Special attention is devoted to the promising mass spectrometry based e-noses, due to their advantages over the more classical gas sensors.

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Stereoselectivity in protein binding can have a significant effect on the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of chiral drugs. The investigation of enantioselectivity of drugs in their binding with human plasma proteins and the identification of the molecular mechanisms involved in the stereodiscrimination by the proteins represent a great challenge for clinical pharmacology. In this review, the separation techniques used for enantioselective protein binding experiments are described and compared.

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The present paper deals with the enantiomeric separation of nuarimol enantiomers by affinity EKC-partial filling technique using HSA as chiral selector. Firstly, a study of nuarimol interactions with HSA by CE-frontal analysis was performed. The binding parameters obtained for the first site of interaction were n(1) = 0.

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The interaction of ten natural polyphenolic compounds (chlorogenic acid, apigenin, catechin, epicatechin, flavanone, flavone, quercetin, rutin, vicenin-2 and vitexin) with human serum albumin and mixtures of human serum albumin and α(1)-acid glycoprotein under near physiological conditions is studied by capillary electrophoresis-frontal analysis. Furthermore, the binding of these polyphenolic compounds to total plasmatic proteins is evaluated using ultrafiltration and capillary electrophoresis. In spite of the relatively small differences in the chemical structures of the compounds studied, large differences were observed in their binding behaviours to plasmatic proteins.

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This paper points out the usefulness of biopartitioning micellar chromatography (BMC) using capillary columns as a high-throughput primary screening tool providing key information about the oral absorption, skin permeability, and brain-blood distribution coefficients of 15 polyphenols (6 flavones, 2 flavonols, a flavanone, 2 flavan-3-ols, 3 phenolic acids, and a phloroglucinol) in a simple and economical way. For the compounds studied, except vicenin-2, rutin, chlorogenic acid, p-hydroxycinnamic acid, and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, maximal oral absorption (>90%) can be expected, if there are not solubility problems or metabolic processes. On the other hand, the most retained compounds in BMC, that is, 5-hydroxyflavone, flavone, and flavanone, show the highest brain-blood distribution coefficients and skin permeability coefficients.

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