In this stability-indicating, reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic method for nicardipine (NIC), forced degradation has been employed and the formed degradants were separated on a C18 (150 mm · 3.9 mm, 5 lm) analytical column using a mobile phase consisted of 70% methanol: acetic acid containing 0.01 M triethylamine with pH 4. The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min and the photodiode array detection wavelength was 353 nm. Forced degradation of the drug was carried out under acidic, basic, photolytic, and oxidative stress conditions. Chromatographic peak purity data indicated no co-eluting peaks with the main peaks. This method resulted in the detection of seven degradation products. Among these, two major degradation products from basic hydrolysis, one from oxidation by H 2 O 2 and four from photolytic stress were identified by mass spectral data. A good linear response was achieved over the range of 0.5-40 lg/mL with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.011 lg/mL and limit of quantification (LOQ) of 0.036 lg/mL. The suggested method was successfully applied for the analysis of NIC in its commercial capsules, with mean% recovery value of 100.11 ± 2.26%. The method was extended to the in vitro determination on NIC in spiked human plasma samples with mean% recovery of 99.04 ± 5.67%. The suggested method was utilized to investigate the kinetics of photolytic induced degradation. ª 2014 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

A new innovative shear thickening (STF) has been developed based on silica nano particles. The new material has the ability to form highly viscous gel in high shear / high temperature conditions. This innovation has been inspired by the medical industry that simulates the dynamics of biological polymers in a chain of blood clotting. The concept is based on the introduction of short and long polymers grafted randomly on silica particles. Rheological properties of the new STF were tested by Anton Parr Rheometer at different particle concentrations, polymer molecular weight ratios and temperature. The data shows that shear thickening has a good behavior in high temperature and provides a significant increase in fluid viscosity. This is a highly potential material for different oilfield applications.

A new type of drilling fluid based on a cross-linker was developed using polymer chemistry to create a superior hole cleaning product that moves drill cuttings, metal, shaving and other debris out of the well bore. In addition, the new polymer is capable of transporting cuttings when drilling metallic junk or partial losses formation. The gel is generated by adding Crosslinker (Borax) to the drilling fluid and then spotting the second component (PVA) diluted with water at designed percentages. The gel is spotted in the wellbore and then washed out. The strong carrying capacity of the gel is expected to remove all cuttings and debris from the wellbore. The other conventional hole cleaning pills contain big solids and/or are expensive. The other method to clean excessive junk from wellbore is mechanically by running many hole cleaning trips that consumes a lot of rig time. This practice has saved time by reducing the clean out trips. Moreover, the product coined "POLYSWEEP" can provide a potential solution to hole cleaning when milling metallic junk or drilling at partial circulation. POLYSWEEP has been successfully trial tested in a deviated well (with partial losses). During the field trial it was observed thatPOLYSWEEP was effective in carrying all the shaving debris and cuttings out from the wellbore throughout drilling operation with no troubles. Also, POLYSWEEP has shown good compatibility for use in water based drilling fluid. POLYSWEEP brings value though both its cost effective, simple formaulation as well as its ability to reduce the number of wiper trips. Besides that, it is environmentally friendly as all the components of the fluid are not toxic. The new composition has potential of producing modified fluids for several different applications, including, hole cleaning sweeps, LCMs and fracturing fluids.