Monitoring the in Vitro Thiazolidine Ring Formation of Antioxidant Drug N-Acetyl-l-cysteine at Basic pH and Detection of Reaction Intermediates: A Raman Spectroscopic and Ab Initio Study

The important cyclization reaction of antioxidant drug N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC) has been monitored in vitro at basic pH with the help of time series Raman spectroscopy. The thiazoline ring formation of NAC at acidic pH is a well-known reaction and has been studied extensively. However, the formation of a thiazolidine ring from NAC at basic pH has not been investigated precisely till date. The effect of basicity of the medium on the rate of cyclization has been investigated by studying the reaction at five different basic pH values. Raman signatures of cyclization have been observed with the passage of time and are found to appear faster as the basicity of the medium increases. Ab initio calculations have been done to understand the plausible mechanism of the reaction at basic pH. It is observed that formation of a thiazolidine ring from NAC occurs primarily in four steps, which involve proton abstraction from the thiol (SH) group of NAC and subsequent formation of an S–C bond by a nucleophilic attack of the C–S group on the protonated C–O–H group in NAC. Correlation of the theoretically calculated results with experimental Raman spectral analysis has led to a detailed and proper understanding of this important biochemical reaction.