Mechanistic aspects of intumescent fire retardant systems

The mechanism of intumescence is studied in mixtures of ammonium polyphosphate (APP) with several polycondensates as a part of a systematic study of intumescent fire retardants. It is shown that APP reacts on heating with the polycondensate to form a precursor of the intumescent char which is obtained on further heating. The introduction of the intumescent system in polypropylene does not modify the structure of the char formed on heating. However, the polymer modifies the foaming behaviour of the system. The thermal decomposition of the char occurs with volatilisation of phosphorus moieties and formation of a relatively thermally stable residue. Effects of the thermal behaviour of the char, on fire retardance, are discussed.     

Chickpeas from a Chilean Region Affected by a Climate-Related Catastrophe: Effects of Water Stress on Grain Yield and Flavonoid Composition

The Valparaiso region in Chile was decreed a zone affected by catastrophe in 2019 as a consequence of one of the driest seasons of the last 50 years. In this study, three varieties (‘Alfa-INIA’, ‘California-INIA’, and one landrace, ‘Local Navidad’) of kabuli-type chickpea seeds produced in 2018 (control) and 2019 (climate-related catastrophe, hereafter named water stress) were evaluated for their grain yield. Furthermore, the flavonoid profile of both free and esterified phenolic extracts was determined using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, and the concentration of the main flavonoid, biochanin A, was determined using liquid chromatography with diode array detection. The grain yield was decreased by up to 25 times in 2019. The concentration of biochanin A was up to 3.2 times higher in samples from the second season (water stress). This study demonstrates that water stress induces biosynthesis of biochanin A. However, positive changes in the biochanin A concentration are overshadowed by negative changes in the grain yield. Therefore, water stress, which may be worsened by climate change in the upcoming years, may jeopardize both the production of chickpeas and the supply of biochanin A, a bioactive compound that can be used to produce dietary supplements and/or nutraceuticals.     

Vitamin C and Phenolic Antioxidants of Jua (Ziziphus joazeiro M.) Pulp: A Rich Underexplored Brazilian Source of Ellagic Acid Recovered by Aqueous Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction

Jua (juá in Portuguese) is an underexplored fruit from Brazil’s northeast. This fruit is rich in antioxidant substances. However, there is a dearth of information about jua’s bioactive potential. The present study evaluated two extraction methods (continuous agitation and ultrasound-assisted extraction—UAE) and employed three different solvents (water, ethanol, and acetone) to efficiently recover soluble phenolic compounds. Aqueous extracts obtained by UAE showed the highest total phenolic content (TPC) and antiradical activity. Besides being an eco-friendly procedure, extraction and/or solubility in an aqueous medium is also important for food application. Ellagic acids were the predominant phenolics (80%) found in aqueous jua pulp extract obtained by UAE, as determined by HPLC, while its TPC was 405.8 gallic acid equivalent per gram of fruit. This extract also exhibited a higher scavenging activity towards peroxyl radicals when compared to that of several other fruits from the literature, including grape, strawberry, cranberry, and walnuts, which are known references in terms of antioxidants. This is the first report that demonstrates jua pulp’s potential as an alternative source of ellagic acid and other phenolic acids and flavonoids. Therefore, the outcome of this study provides new information that can be useful for functional food and nutraceutical industries.     

DLSFEM–PML formulation for the steady-state response of a taut string on visco-elastic support under moving load

Meccanica - The numerical solution of the steady-state response of a uniform taut string on visco-elastic support under a concentrated transverse moving load is addressed. By recasting the...     

Production and Characterization of β-Glucanase Secreted by the Yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus

An extracellular β-glucanase secreted by Kluyveromyces marxianus was identified for the first time. The optimal conditions for the production of this enzyme were evaluated by response surface methodology. The optimal conditions to produce β-glucanase were a glucose concentration of 4 % (w/v), a pH of 5.5, and an incubation temperature of 35 °C. Response surface methodology was also used to determine the pH and temperature required for the optimal enzymatic activity. The highest enzyme activity was obtained at a pH of 5.5 and a temperature of 55 °C. Furthermore, the enzyme was partially purified and sequenced, and its specificity for different substrates was evaluated. The results suggest that the enzyme is an endo-β-1,3(4)-glucanase. After optimizing the conditions for β-glucanase production, the culture supernatant was found to be effective in digesting the cell wall of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, showing the great potential of β-glucanase in the biotechnological production of soluble β-glucan.     

Multi‐responses Methodology Applied in the Electroanalytical Determination of Hair Dye by Using Printed Carbon Electrode Modified with Graphene

This paper describes a rapid and sensitive method for determination of the hair dye Basic Blue 41 in wastewater samples using screen‐printed carbon electrodes modified with graphene (SPCE/Gr). The method is based on the reversible reduction of azo groups of the dye at potential of ?0.23 V/?0.26 V, where both the anodic and cathodic currents increased 1,300 % when compared to screen‐printed carbon (SPCE) and glassy carbon electrodes (GCE). The optimization of a square wave voltammetric method was performed by means of 2³ factorial design, Doehlert matrix and multi‐response assays, and the best parameters were: frequency (54.8 Hz), step potential (6 mV), pulse amplitude (43.7 mV) and pH 4.5. The analytical curve was constructed from 3.00×10^?8 to 2.01×10^?6 mol L^?1, with detection and quantification limits of 5.00×10^?9 and 1.70×10^?8 mol L^?1, respectively. The repeatability of the method evaluated for 10 consecutive measurements at concentrations of 1.70×10^?7 mol L^?1 and 1.70×10^?6 mol L^?1, showed relative standard deviation of 3.56 and 0.57 %, respectively. The sensor based in SPCE/Gr was successfully applied in wastewater samples collected from a drinking water treatment plant and validated by comparison with HPLC‐DAD method with good accuracy.     

Metal‐Free Synthesis of Functional 1‐Substituted‐1,2,3‐Triazoles from Ethenesulfonyl Fluoride and Organic Azides

The boom in growth of 1,4‐disubstituted triazole products, in particular, since the early 2000’s, can be largely attributed to the birth of click chemistry and the discovery of the Cu^I‐catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC). Yet the synthesis of relatively simple, albeit important, 1‐substituted‐1,2,3‐triazoles has been surprisingly more challenging. Reported here is a straightforward and scalable click‐inspired protocol for the synthesis of 1‐substituted‐1,2,3‐triazoles from organic azides and the bench stable acetylene surrogate ethenesulfonyl fluoride (ESF). The new transformation tolerates a wide selection of substrates and proceeds smoothly under metal‐free conditions to give the products in excellent yield. Under controlled acidic conditions, the 1‐substituted‐1,2,3‐triazole products undergo a Michael addition reaction with a second equivalent of ESF to give the unprecedented 1‐substituted triazolium sulfonyl fluoride salts.     

Proof compressions with circuit-structured substitutions

It is well known that the size of propositional classical proofs can be huge. Proof-theoretical studies discovered exponential gaps between cut-free (or normal) proofs and the corresponding (non-normal) proofs with cuts (or modus ponens). The task of automatic theorem proving is, on the other hand, usually based on the construction of cut-free or only atomic-cuts proofs, since this procedure produces less alternative choices. There are familiar tautologies whose cut-free proofs are huge while the non-cut-free ones are small. The aim of this paper is to discuss basic methods of weight and/or size reduction of deductions by switching from traditional tree-structured deductions to circuit-structured deductions. A desired efficiency is achieved by adding the standard weakening rule of inference upgraded by adding suitable (propositional) unifications modulo variable substitutions. We show examples where such a unification provides strong (in fact, exponential) compression of cut-free deductions. Bibliography: 10 titles. Published in Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov POMI, Vol. 358, 2008, pp. 77–99.     

Orthobromodiphenylmethane Derivatives as Starting Materials for the Total Synthesis of Anthraquinones

In this communication we describe the synthesis of four simple anthraquinones by a five-step sequence, using easily available bromobenzaldehydes and phenyllithium derivatives as starting materials.