Dynamics of Phloridzin and Related Compounds in Four Cultivars of Apple Trees during the Vegetation Period

Apple trees (Malus domestica Borgh) are a rich source of dihydrochalcones, phenolic acids and flavonoids. Considering the increasing demand for these phytochemicals with health-benefitting properties, the objective of this study was to evaluate the profile of the main bioactive compounds—phloridzin, phloretin, chlorogenic acid and rutin—in apple tree bark, leaves, flower buds and twigs. The variety in the phenolic profiles of four apple tree cultivars was monitored during the vegetation period from March to September using chromatography analysis. Phloridzin, the major glycoside of interest, reached the highest values in the bark of all the tested cultivars in May (up to 91.7 ± 4.4 mg g⁻¹ of the dried weight (DW), cv. ‘Opal’). In the leaves, the highest levels of phloridzin were found in cv. ‘Opal’ in May (82.5 ± 22.0 mg g⁻¹ of DW); in twigs, the highest levels were found in cv. ‘Rozela’ in September (52.4 ± 12.1 mg g⁻¹ of DW). In the flower buds, the content of phloridzin was similar to that in the twigs. Aglycone phloretin was found only in the leaves in relatively low concentrations (max. value 2.8 ± 1.4 mg g⁻¹ of DW). The highest values of rutin were found in the leaves of all the tested cultivars (10.5 ± 2.9 mg g⁻¹ of DW, cv. ‘Opal’ in September); the concentrations in the bark and twigs were much lower. The highest content of chlorogenic acid was found in flower buds (3.3 ± 1.0 mg g⁻¹ of DW, cv. ‘Rozela’). Whole apple fruits harvested in September were rich in chlorogenic acid and phloridzin. The statistical evaluation by Scheffe’s test confirmed the significant difference of cv. ‘Rozela’ from the other tested cultivars. In conclusion, apple tree bark, twigs, and leaves were found to be important renewable resources of bioactive phenolics, especially phloridzin and rutin. The simple availability of waste plant material can therefore be used as a rich source of phenolic compounds for cosmetics, nutraceuticals, and food supplement preparation.     

trans-2-Aminocyclohexanol as a pH-sensitive conformational switch in lipid amphiphiles

Protonation-induced conformational change of lipid tails is reported as a novel strategy to render pH-sensitive lipid amphiphiles and lipid colloids.     

Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry of oils and oil binders in paintings

A GC/MS procedure has been developed, optimized, and applied to characterization of oil binders in paintings. The procedure involves hydrolysis of lipids to fatty acids (FAs) and derivatization of FAs to fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) by a solution of sodium methanolate in methanol at an elevated temperature. FAMEs are analyzed by temperature-programed GC followed by full-scan MS. Old and dried samples are subjected to extraction of nonpolymerized FAMEs into dichloromethane prior to hydrolysis. The method provides a good repeatability of results and has been applied to the characterization of common plant oils used in paintings, to commercial oil and tempera paints, to model painting samples, and to samples taken from real paintings. The fresh oils and binders can readily be identified and characterized. The ratio of the methyl esters of palmitic and stearic acids can be used to characterize oil binders in old works of art.     

Bioaffinity magnetic reactor for peptide digestion followed by analysis using bottom-up shotgun proteomics strategy

We report an efficient and streamlined way to improve the analysis and identification of peptides and proteins in complex mixtures of soluble proteins, cell lysates, etc. By using the shotgun proteomics methodology combined with bioaffinity purification we can remove or minimize the interference contamination of a complex tryptic digest and so avoid the time-consuming separation steps before the final MS analysis. We have proved that by means of enzymatic fragmentation (endoproteinases with Arg-C or/and Lys-C specificity) connected with the isolation of specific peptides we can obtain a simplified peptide mixture for easier identification of the entire protein. A new bioaffinity sorbent was developed for this purpose. Anhydrotrypsin (AHT), an inactive form of trypsin with an affinity for peptides with arginine (Arg) or lysine (Lys) at the C-terminus, was immobilized onto micro/nanoparticles with superparamagnetic properties (silica magnetite particles (SiMAG)-Carboxyl, Chemicell, Germany). This AHT carrier with a determined binding capacity (26.8 nmol/mg of carrier) was tested with a model peptide, human neurotensin, and the resulting MS spectra confirmed the validity of this approach.     

LC with Fluorimetric Detection for Sensitive Analysis of Reduced Flubendazole in Biological Samples

A validated LC method is proposed for analysis of flubendazole and its metabolites in biological samples of Haemonchus contortus. Two detectors were used—photodiode-array and spectrofluorimetric. The native fluorescence of reduced flubendazole, the key substance investigated during biological experiments, was used for its fluorimetric detection with a very low limit of quantification (0.63 nmol L^?1).     

Global optimization numerical strategies for rate-independent processes

This paper presents an approach to numerical solution of problems posed in the framework of quasi-static rate-independent processes. As soon as a problem allows for an energetic formulation there are known methods of its time discretization by time incremental minimization problems, which demand for global optimization of a non-convex functional. Moreover the two-sided energy inequality, a necessary condition for optimization, can be formulated. Here we present an algorithm for finding solutions of rate-independent processes that verifies this condition and uses the strategy of backtracking if it is violated. We present the selectivity of the mentioned necessary condition in general and give numerical examples of the efficiency of such an algorithm, but also of situations that are beyond its limits. For those we propose a second strategy relying on wisely chosen combinations of spatial discretizations.     

Antioxidant activity of grape skin aqueous extracts from pressurized hot water extraction combined with electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy

Pressurized hot water extraction (PHWE) was employed to prepare extracts from dried grape skin of two wine grape varieties (St. Laurent and Alibernet) at various temperatures (from 40 up to 120 °C) and amounts of sample (0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 g). To assess the antioxidant activity of the extracts, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy was applied involving DPPH and ABTS⁺ assays. Other extract characteristics including HPLC profile of anthocyanins and total phenolic compound content were obtained as well. PHWE has also been compared with earlier results of extractions of the same grape skin samples with compressed methanol and compressed ethanol under the conditions of pressurized fluid extraction (PFE). From this comparison, PHWE emerges as the more benign and efficient extraction method to recover valuable phenolic antioxidants from grape skins for the prospective use in functional food supplements.     

A novel composite Nafion membrane for direct alcohol fuel cells

Trifluoromethanesulfonic acid or triflate acid, chemical formula CF₃SO₃H, is regarded as one of the strongest acids and resembles Nafion^® in structure. Erbium triflate, a lanthanum salt of triflate, is thermally stable. This paper reports data on the formation of membranes by the fixation of erbium triflate salts (ErTfO) into the Nafion structure. Five different loadings of ErTfO were used to fabricate ErTfO/Nafion composite membranes and these were characterized, extensively for possible use in direct alcohol fuel cells. The membranes were characterized using XRD, TGA, FTIR, and for mechanical strength, water uptake, ion exchange capacity, alcohol uptake, swelling, proton conductivity, alcohol permeability and oxygen stability. The ErTfO/Nafion composite membranes reduced alcohol permeability by 77–80%. The proton conductivity of 3% ErTfO/Nafion composite membranes was 38% higher than that of a pure cast Nafion membrane. The oxygen stability of the ErTfO/Nafion composite membranes was higher than pure cast Nafion. However, the mechanical strength of 7% and 9% ErTfO/Nafion was lower than that of pure cast Nafion. The composite membrane was chemically stable and has potential for use in direct alcohol fuel cells.