Visible and near-infrared absorption spectroscopy by an integrating sphere and optical fibers for quantifying and discriminating the adulteration of extra virgin olive oil from Tuscany

Because of its high price, extra virgin olive oil is frequently targeted for adulteration with lower quality oils. This paper presents an innovative optical technique capable of quantifying and discriminating the adulteration of extra virgin olive oil caused by lower-grade olive oils. An original set-up for diffuse-light absorption spectroscopy in the wide 400–1,700 nm spectral range was experimented. It made use of an integrating sphere containing the oil sample and of optical fibers for illumination and detection; it provided intrinsically scattering-free absorption spectroscopy measurements. This set-up was used to collect spectroscopic fingerprints of authentic extra virgin olive oils from the Italian Tuscany region, adulterated by different concentrations of olive-pomace oil, refined olive oil, deodorized olive oil, and refined olive-pomace oil. Then, a straightforward multivariate processing of spectroscopic data based on principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis was applied which was successfully capable of predicting the fraction of adulterant in the mixture, and of discriminating its type. The results achieved by means of optical spectroscopy were compared with the analysis of fatty acids, which was carried out by standard gas chromatography.     

On almost periodic orbits and minimal sets

In this short note we solve in the negative the three problems recently posed by Jie-Hua Mai and Wei-Hua Sun regarding the behaviour of almost periodic orbits and minimal sets of dynamical systems whose phase space is not regular.     

Sulphur overlayers on the Au(1 1 0) surface: LEED and TPD study

The adsorption and desorption of sulphur on the clean reconstructed Au(1 1 0)-(1 × 2) surface has been studied by low energy electron diffraction, Auger electron spectroscopy and temperature programmed desorption. The results obtained show a complex behaviour of the S/Au(1 1 0) system during sulphur desorption at different temperatures. Two structures of the stable ordered sulphur overlayer on the Au(1 1 0) surface, p(4 × 2) and c(4 × 4), were found after annealing the S/Au(1 1 0) system at 630 K and 463 K, respectively. The corresponding sulphur coverage for these overlayers was estimated by AES signal intensity analysis of the Au NOO and S LMM Auger lines to be equal to 0.13 ML and 0.2 ML, respectively. Both sulphur structures appear after removing an excess of sulphur, which mainly desorbs at 358 K as determined from TPD spectra. Furthermore, it was not possible to produce the lower coverage p(4 × 2) sulphur structure by annealing the c(4 × 4) surface. In the case of the p(4 × 2) S overlayer on the Au(1 1 0)-(1 × 2) surface it is proposed that the sulphur is attached to “missing row” sites only. The c(4 × 4) S overlayer arises via desorption of S₂ molecules that are formed on the surface due to mobility of sulphur atoms after a prolonged anneal.     

Polar effects in free-radical reactions. A new type of homolytic aromatic alkylation by silver catalyzed oxidation of acetone by peroxydisulphate in the presence of olefins.

Silver catalyzed peroxydisulphate oxidation of acetone in the presence of olefins and protonated heteroaromatic bases leads to compound I via addition of acetonyl radical to the olefin and scavenging of the resulting radical adduct by the aromatic base.     

New examples of template catalysis based processes: glycerol-like units as efficient promoters for dehydrative nucleophilic substitutions of ferrocenylmethanol

The direct high-yield synthesis without solvent and catalyst, under mild conditions, of eleven novel mono substituted ferrocenylmethyl ethers and amine derivatives from ferrocenemethanol and vicinal oxygenated alcohols and amines is here reported. The peculiar ability of these classes of non acidic compounds to favor the dehydrative nucleophilic substitution is attributed to the presence of vicinal oxygen atoms to the reactive group able to build a hydrogen bonding network with the reactant. The role of carbon dioxide and hexafluoroisopropanol was investigated to support the hypothesis that a template catalysis effect is occurring. The in vitro anti-fungal activity of some of these derivatives was tested on two plant fungi, Botrytis cinerea and Penicillium species, with moderate activity.