Background: A series of new zerumbone hydrazones 5a-f and 9a-f have been synthesized via an in situ procedure in high yields. The structure of synthesized compounds has been confirmed using 1H, 13C NMR and HR-MS. The bioassay result showed that several compounds exhibited cytotoxic effects against three human cancer cell lines including HepG-2, SK-LU-1 and MCF-7. Compound 9a showed the best cytotoxic effect against HepG-2, SK-LU-1 and MCF-7 with IC50 values of 8.20, 6.66 and 9.35 µM, respectively. Objective: This study aims at developing new zerumbone hydrazones as anticancer agents based on zerumbone, a natural compound wildly growing in Vietnam. Method: A series of new zerumbone hydrazones was designed, synthesized and evaluated for cytotoxicity against three human cancer cell lines, including HepG-2, MCF-7 and SKLu-1 using MTT method. Results: The bioassay result showed that several compounds exhibited cytotoxic effects against three human cancer cell lines including HepG-2, SK-LU-1 and MCF-7. Especially, compound 9a displayed the best cytotoxic effect against HepG-2, SK-LU-1 and MCF-7 with IC50 values of 8.20, 6.66 and 9.35 µM, respectively. Results: The bioassay result showed that several compounds exhibited cytotoxic effects against three human cancer cell lines including HepG-2, SK-LU-1 and MCF-7. Especially, compound 9a displayed the best cytotoxic effect against HepG-2, SK-LU-1 and MCF-7 with IC50 values of 8.20, 6.66 and 9.35 µM, respectively. Conclusion: The research results suggest that some compounds could be considered as a lead for future design of zerumbone hydrazones in which bio-isosteric replacements in ortho position of the phenyl ring could be performed to improve the cytotoxic activity.

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Background: Linagliptin (LNG) is an oral hypoglycemic agent that acts by inhibiting the enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase - 4 (DPP-4) and reduces blood sugar levels in type-II diabetic patients. To date, the literature presents few analytical methods for the determination of LNG. However, no reversed phase-high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) method has been reported for the determination of LNG in nanotransfersomes and in vitro skin permeation samples.Objective: The present study involves the development and validation of RP-HPLCmethod to quantify LNG in both nanotransfersomes and in vitro skin permeation and deposition samples. Methods: The chromatographic analysis was performed on Luna C18 (2) column (250 x 4.6 mm, 5µm particle size) with a mobile phase consisting of a mixture of methanol: 0.2% orthophosphoric acid (50:50, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, detection wave length of 227 nm, and column temperature of 40 °C. Results: The method was found to be specific, linear (r2 ≥ 0.999; 2-12 µg/mL), precise at both intra and inter day levels (percentage relative standard deviation; % RSD < 2.00), accurate (percentage recovery 100.21 – 103.83%), and robust. The detection and quantification limits were 0.27 and 0.82 µg/mL, respectively. The mean % entrapment efficiency and cumulative amount of LNG permeated across the rat skin from different transfersomal formulations ranged between 40.78 ± 2.54 % to 52.26 ± 2.15 % and 79.54 ± 16.67 to 200.74 ± 35.13 µg/cm2 respectively. Conclusion: The method was successfully applied to determine the entrapment efficiency, in vitro skin permeation and deposition behavior of LNG-nanotransfersomes.