Imprinted Polymers on the Route to Plastibodies for Biomacromolecules (MIPs), Viruses (VIPs), and Cells (CIPs).

Around 30% of the scientific papers published on imprinted polymers describe the recognition of proteins, nucleic acids, viruses, and cells. The straightforward synthesis from only one up to six functional monomers and the simple integration into a sensor are significant advantages as compared with enzymes or antibodies. Furthermore, they can be synthesized against toxic substances and structures of low immunogenicity and allow multi-analyte measurements via multi-template synthesis. The affinity is sufficiently high for protein biomarkers, DNA, viruses, and cells. However, the cross-reactivity of highly abundant proteins is still a challenge.

A stability indicating RP-HPLC method for determination of the COVID-19 drug molnupiravir applied using nanoformulations in permeability studies.

Antiviral drugs have gained much more attention in recent years due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and many drug candidates are currently under investigation in order to end pandemic. Molnupiravir, a prodrug of the synthetic nucleoside derivative N4-hydroxycytidine, is one of the promising candidates for SARS-CoV-2 treatment. In this study, a RP-HPLC method was developed for the determination of Molnupiravir and applied for in vitro permeability studies of self-emulsifying drug delivery system (SEDDS) formulations using Caco-2 cell line. Discovery® HS C18 Column (75 ×4.6 mm, 3 µm) was used at 30 °C. Isocratic elution was performed with ACN:water (20:80 v/v) mixture. The flow rate was 0.5 mL/min and UV detection was at 240 nm. Molnupiravir eluted within 5 min. Molnupiravir was exposed to thermal, photolytic, hydrolytic, and oxidative stress conditions. Peak homogeneity data of Molnupiravir in the stressed samples peak obtained using photodiode array detector, in the stressed sample chromatograms, demonstrated the specificity of the method for their estimation in presence of degradants. The developed method was validated according to the International Council for Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines and found to be linear within the range 0.1-60.0 µg/mL. The method was simple, rapid, selective, sensitive, accurate, precise, robust and rugged. Thus, it was applied successfully for permeability quantitation of Molnupiravir in nanoformulations. The apparent permeability of Molnupiravir in SEDDS formulations, which have droplet size under 350 nm, was calculated as 3.20 ± 0.44 × 10-6 cm/s.