Composition of quince (Cydonia oblonga Miller) seeds: phenolics, organic acids and free amino acids

Phenolic compounds, organic acids and free amino acids of quince seeds were determined by HPLC/DAD, HPLC/UV and GC/FID, respectively. Quince seeds presented a phenolic profile composed of 3-O-caffeoylquinic, 4-O-caffeoylquinic, 5-O-caffeoylquinic and 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acids, lucenin-2, vicenin-2, stellarin-2, isoschaftoside, schaftoside, 6-C-pentosyl-8-C-glucosyl chrysoeriol and 6-C-glucosyl-8-C-pentosyl chrysoeriol. Six identified organic acids constituted the organic acid profile of quince seeds: citric, ascorbic, malic, quinic, shikimic and fumaric acids. The free amino acid profile was composed of 21 identified free amino acids and the three most abundant were glutamic and aspartic acids and asparagine.     

What controls the thickness of wetting layers near bulk criticality?

We study the thickness of wetting layers in the binary-liquid mixture cyclohexane methanol. Far from the bulk critical point, the wetting layer thickness is independent of temperature, resulting from the competition between van der Waals and gravitational forces. Upon approaching the bulk critical temperature [t=(T(c)-T)/T(c)-->0], we observe that the wetting layer thickness diverges as t(-beta) with effective critical exponent beta=0.23+/-0.06. This is characteristic of a broad, intermediate scaling regime for the crossover from van der Waals wetting to critical scaling. We predict beta=beta/3 approximately 0.11, with beta the usual bulk-order parameter critical exponent, showing a small but significant difference with experiment.     

Solid-phase synthesis of 3-alkylamino-1,2,4-triazoles

[reaction: see text] A solid-phase synthesis of trisubstituted 3-alkylamino-1,2,4-triazoles has been developed. The synthesis utilizes immobilized N-acyl-1H-benzotriazole-1-carboximidamides as key intermediates. Cyclization with hydrazines under mild conditions furnishes the title compounds with regioselectivity and high purity.     

The Bicanonical Map of Surfaces with pg = 0 and K2 >= 7

A minimal surface of general type with p_g(S) = 0 satisfies 1 K² 9, and it is known that the image of the bicanonical map is a surface for , whilst for , the bicanonical map is always a morphism. In this paper it is shown that is birationalif , and that the degree of is at most 2 if or By presenting two examples of surfaces S with and 8 and bicanonical map of degree 2, it is alsoshown that this result is sharp. The example with is, to our knowledge, a new example of a surfaceof general type with p_g = 0. The degree of is also calculated for two other known surfacesof general type with p_g = 0 and . In both cases, the bicanonical map turns out to be birational.     

Synthesis,characterization and assessment of the cytotoxic activity of Cu(II), Fe(III) and Mn(III) complexes of camphoric acid‐derived salen ligands

Novel Cu(II), Fe(III) and Mn(III) salen‐type metal complexes from (1R,3S)‐N,N′‐bis[salicylidene]‐1,3‐diamino‐1,2,2‐trimethylcyclopentane were synthesized and screened for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against three human cancer cell lines: melanoma, colorectal and breast. In vitro experiments carried out with the three metal complexes show that the copper complex exhibits the highest cytotoxic activity towards all cell lines studied, presenting IC₅₀ values of 3.32–6.71 μM. A significant improvement in the anti‐proliferative effect, by 20‐fold, is observed with this complex when compared with conventional chemotherapy. The relationship between structure, redox characteristics and biological activity in human cancer cell lines was evaluated for the most efficient Cu(II) complex and associated with theoretical calculations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Direct enzymatic esterification of cotton and Avicel with wild-type and engineered cutinases

In this work, the surface of cellulose, either Avicel or cotton fabric, was modified using cutinases without any previous treatment to swell or to solubilise the polymer. Aiming further improvement of cutinase ester synthase activity on cellulose, an engineered cutinase was investigated. Wild-type cutinase from Fusarium solani and its fusion with the carbohydrate-binding module N1 from Cellulomonas fimi were able to esterify the hydroxyl groups of cellulose with distinct efficiencies depending on the acid substrate/solvent system used, as shown by titration and by ATR-FTIR. The carbonyl stretching peak area increased significantly after enzymatic treatment during 72 h at 30 °C. Cutinase treatment resulted in relative increases of 31 and 9 % when octanoic acid and vegetable oil were used as substrates, respectively. Cutinase-N1 treatment resulted in relative increases of 11 and 29 % in the peak area when octanoic acid and vegetable oil were used as substrates, respectively. The production and application of cutinase fused with the domain N1 as a cellulose ester synthase, here reported for the first time, is therefore an interesting strategy to pursuit.     

On-line preconcentration and determination of Zn in natural water samples employing a styrene-divinylbenzene functionalized resin and flame atomic absorption spectrometry.

In this work, flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) was used as a detector for the determination of zinc in natural water samples with a flow-injection system coupled to solid-phase extraction (SPE). In order to promote the on-line preconcentration of zinc from samples a minicolumn packed with 35 mg of a styrene-divinylbenzene resin functionalized with (S)-2-[hydroxy-bis(4-vinylphenyl)methyl]pyrrolidine-1-carboxylic acid ethyl esther was utilized. The system operation was based on Zn(II) ion retention at pH 9.5 +/- 0.5 in such a minicolumn with analyte elution, at the back flush mode, with 1 mol L(-1) HCl directly to the FAAS nebulizer. The influence of the chemical (sample pH, buffer concentration, HCl eluent concentration and effect of the ionic strength) and flow (sample and eluent flow rates and preconcentration time) parameters that could affect the performance of the system were investigated as well as the possible interferents. At the optimum conditions, for 2 min of preconcentration time (9.9 ml of sample volume), the developed methodology presented a detection limit of 1.1 microg L(-1), a RSD of 3.5% at 10 microg L(-1) and an analytical throughput of 24 h(-1). Whereas, for 4 min of the preconcentration time (19.8 ml of sample volume) a detection limit of 0.98 microg L(-1), a RSD of 6.5% at 5 microg L(-1) and a sampling frequency of 13 h(-1) are reported.     

Calorimetric and computational study of indanones

Condensed phase standard (p degrees = 0.1 MPa) molar enthalpies of formation for 1-indanone, 2-indanone, and 1,3-indandione were derived from the standard molar enthalpies of combustion, in oxygen, at T = 298.15 K, measured by static bomb combustion calorimetry. The standard molar enthalpies of sublimation for 1-indanone and 2-indanone, at T = 298.15 K, were measured both by correlation-gas chromatography and by Calvet microcalorimetry leading to a mean value for each compound. For 1,3-indandione, the standard molar enthalpy of sublimation was derived from the vapor pressure dependence on temperature. The following enthalpies of formation in gas phase, at T = 298.15 K, were then derived: 1-indanone, -64.0 +/- 3.8 kJ mol(-1); 2-indanone, -56.6 +/- 4.8 kJ mol(-1); 1,3-indandione, -165.0 +/- 2.6 kJ mol(-1). The vaporization and fusion enthalpies of the indanones studied are also reported. In addition, theoretical calculations using the density functional theory with the B3LYP and MPW1B95 energy functionals and the 6-311G** and cc-pVTZ basis sets have been performed for these molecules and the corresponding one-ring species to obtain the most stable geometries and to access their energetic stabilities.