Kinetics and thermodynamics of bromophenol blue adsorption by a mesoporous hybrid gel derived from tetraethoxysilane and bis(trimethoxysilyl)hexane.

A mesoporous hybrid gel is prepared with tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and bis(trimethoxysilyl)hexane (TSH) as precursors without using any templating agent. Nitrogen sorption, TG-DTA, FTIR, and point of zero charge (PZC) measurement are used to characterize the gel. The gel has a specific surface area of 695 m(2) g(-1) with a pore size of 3.5 nm, a pore volume of 0.564 cm(3) g(-1), and a point of zero charge (PZC) of 6.2. The kinetics and thermodynamics of bromophenol blue (BPB) adsorption by the gel in aqueous solution are investigated comprehensively. The effects of initial BPB concentration, pH, ionic strength, and temperature on the adsorption are investigated. Kinetic studies show that the kinetic data are well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. Initial adsorption rate increases with the increase in initial BPB concentration and temperature. Adsorption activation energy is found to be 62.5-67.5 kJ mol(-1) depending on the initial BPB concentration. Internal diffusion appears to be the rate-limiting step for the adsorption process. The equilibrium adsorption amount increases with the increase in the initial BPB concentration, solution acidity, and ionic strength, but decreases with the increase in temperature. The thermodynamic analysis indicates that the adsorption is spontaneous and exothermic. The adsorption isotherms can be well described with Freundlich equation indicating the heterogeneity of the hybrid gel surface. Electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions are suggested to be the dominant mechanism for adsorption.

A simple spectrophotometric method for the determination of beta-blockers in dosage forms.

A simple, extraction-free spectrophotometric method is proposed for the analysis of some beta-blockers, namely atenolol, timolol and nadolol. The method is based on the interaction of the drugs in chloroform with 0.1% chloroformic solutions of acidic sulphophthalein dyes to form stable, yellow-coloured, ion-pair complexes peaking at 415 nm. The dyes used were bromophenol blue (BPB), bromothymol blue (BTB) and bromocresol purple (BCP). Under the optimum conditions, the three drugs could be assayed in the concentration range 1-10 microg ml(-1) with correlation coefficient (n = 5) more than 0.999 in all cases. The stoichiometry of the reaction was found to be 1:1 in all cases and the conditional stability constant (K(F)) of the complexes have been calculated. The free energy changes (DeltaG) were determined for all complexes formed. The interference likely to be introduced from co-formulated drugs was studied and their tolerance limits were determined. The proposed method was then applied to dosage-forms the percentage recoveries ranges from 99.12-100.95, and the results obtained were compared favorably with those given with the official methods.

Characterization of Rose Bengal binding to sinusoidal and bile canalicular plasma membrane from rat liver.

The binding of Rose bengal, a model organic anion, to sinusoidal and bile canalicular membrane fractions isolated from rat liver was compared. The fluorescence change of Rose bengal after being bound to liver plasma membranes was utilized for measuring the binding. The dissociation constants (Kd = 0.1-0.12 microM) and the binding capacities (n = 11-15 nmol/mg protein) for Rose bengal are comparable between the two membrane fractions, although the n value for sinusoidal membrane is somewhat larger than that for bile canalicular membrane. The Rose bengal binding to both membrane fractions was inhibited by various organic anions at relatively low concentrations, i.e., the half-inhibition concentrations (IC50) for Indocyanine green, sulfobromophthalein, Bromophenol blue and 1-anilino-8-naphthalene sulfonate were 0.1, 100, 1.5-2.5 and 100 microM, respectively, while taurocholate did not inhibit the Rose bengal binding to either membrane fraction at these low concentration ranges. The type of inhibition of sulfobromophthalein and Indocyanine green for Rose bengal binding is different between the two membrane domains. That is, in sinusoidal and bile canalicular membrane fractions, these organic anions exhibit mixed-type and competitive-type inhibition, respectively. It was suggested that the fluorescence method using Rose bengal may provide a simple method for detecting the specific organic anion binding protein(s) in the liver plasma membrane.

Phenolsulfophthalein dyes as probes in the study of lysozyme activity towards cell wall substrates.

Difference spectra have shown that the dissociation constant associated with the dominant species, formed by the binding of bromophenol blue or bromocresol purple to lysozyme, is not sensitive to pH in the range 6-9.5. This was confirmed from temperature-jump studies. However, the inhibition of lysozyme catalysed cell lysis by these dyes is dependent on pH and ionic strength. In the reaction scheme, which takes note of both these observations, we have to consider the formation of an enzyme-dye substrate complex (EDS) which has the same kcat as does the enzyme-substrate complex (ES). The formation of EDS from ES and free dye (D) is controlled by an ionisable group. Analysis of the data using an equation similar to that of Maurel and Douzou gives a pK of approx. 5.6 for this group and this pK is close to that of histidine-15. The inhibition mainly comes from the difference in the formation constants of EDS and ES. The initial binding site of the substrate (S) in ES is not in the cleft region A-F. The cell lysis takes place after S binds in the cleft, in a subsequent step. The rate constants of this step are included in kcat. (kcat is obtained by analysing activity using the simple Michaelis-Menten kinetics). Inhibition by chitotriose also supports this conclusion. The dye binding site is also suggested to be close to histidine-15. Experimental results support the contention that the electrostatic potential due to the negatively charged cell wall substrate could alter the effective pK of ionisable groups on the enzyme in ES.

Kinetics studies on the renal transport of probenecid in vitro.

1. The kinetic parameters of renal transport of probenecid have been assessed by studying the uptake of the drug in rabbit kidney tubules incubated in an electrolyte medium under various conditions. 2. The added compounds inhibited the uptake of probenecid both by kidney cortical slices and separated renal tubule preparations in the following order: p-aminohippurate less than phenol red less than bromophenol blue less than bromocresol green. A reversible competitive inhibitory effect of these organic anions on the renal accumulation of the drug was observed. 3. The Km for renal uptake of probenecid in separated tubules (0.04 mM) and the KI values calculated in this system for p-aminohippurate (0.5 mM), phenol red (0.09 mM), bromophenol blue (0.02 mM) and bromocresol green (0.015 mM) were found to be in good agreement with the corresponding KI value of probenecid and Km values of these compounds previously observed in various kidney tissue preparations. 4. On the basis of above mentioned findings, it is concluded that probenecid, p-aminohippurate and various phenolsulphonphthalein dyes are transported by the common renal organic anion transport system.

Enhancement of pulmonary drug absorption in the rat by bromphenol blue and related dyes.

1. Pulmonary absorption studies in the rat showed that intratracheally administered 5-10 mM bromphenol blue, bromcresol green and bromthymol blue markedly increased the absorption rate of 0.1 mM phenol red. 2. Similarly, 1-10 mM bromphenol blue increased the absorption rate of 0.1 mP p-,minohippuric acid, tetraethylammonium and mannitol by 2- to 18-fold in a concentration-dependnet manner. 3. Mannitol absorption was enhanced more by bromthymol blue, sulphobromophthalein, bromcresol purple, thymol blue and bromcresol green than by bromphenol blue or m-cresol purple. Chlorphenol red and phenol red had no effect on mannitol absorption. 4. The results indicated that certain sulphonic acid dyes increase the permeability of the respiratory tract epithelium, perhaps by increasing its porosity.