First derivative spectrofluorimetric determination of zopiclone and its degradation product, 2-amino-5-chloropyridine, in pharmaceutical formulations with preliminary tool in biological fluids for clinical evidence of zopiclone intake.

A simple, fast, sensitive and stability-indicating derivative spectrofluorimetric method is presented for the assay of zopiclone (ZOP), a drug with hypnotic effect, and its main degradation product and major contaminant, 2-amino-5-chloropyridine (ACP). The method is based on measuring the inherent fluorescence intensity of both drugs at λex=300nm in methanol, then differentiation using D1 (first derivative technique). The developed method was found to be rectilinear over a range of 0.2-4µg/mL of ZOP and 4-100ng/mL of ACP. The limits of detection were 0.05µg/mL of ZOP and 0.2ng/mL of ACP with the limit of quantitation of 0.17µg/mL of ZOP and 0.7ng/mL of ACP. The outcoming results of the proposed method were compared to those obtained by a reference method showing no significant statistical difference between them concerning precision and accuracy. Additionally, the developed method was applied for detecting ACP in spiked human urine and plasma specimens as a tool of clinical evidence of zopiclone intake that can be easily implemented in forensic laboratories. The proposed method was validated as per ICH guidelines.

Spectroscopic studies and molecular orbital calculations of charge transfer complexation between 3,5-dimethylpyrazole with DDQ in acetonitrile.

Charge transfer (CT) interaction between 3,5-dimethylpyrazole (DMP) with the π-acceptor 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-p-benzoquinon (DDQ) has been investigated spectrophotometrically in acetonitrile (AN). Simultaneous reddish brown color has been observed upon mixing donor with acceptor solutions attributing to CT complex formation. The electronic spectra of the formed complex exhibited multi-charge transfer bands at 429, 447, 506, 542 and 589nm, respectively. Job(')s method of continuous variations and spectrophotometric titration methods confirmed the formation of the studied complex in 1:2 ratio between DMP and DDQ. Benesi-Hildebrand equation has been applied to calculate the stability constant of the formed complex where it recorded high value supporting formation of stable complex. Molecular orbital calculations using MM2 method and GAMESS (General Atomic and Molecular Electronic Structure System) interface computations as a package of ChemBio3D Ultra12 software were carried out for more analysis of the formed complex in the gas phase. The computational analysis included energy minimisation, stabilisation energy, molecular geometry, Mullikan charges, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) surfaces of reactants and complex as well as characterization of the higher occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO) and lower unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMO) surfaces of the complex. A good consistency between experimental and theoretical results has been recorded.