Low field NMR for quality monitoring of 3D printed surimi from cod by-products: Effects of the pH-shift method compared with conventional washing

Implementation of three-dimensional (3D) food printing and novel analytics can reduce food waste and increase utilization of seafood by-products. Low field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and chemometrics were used to investigate the printability and characteristics of surimi pastes from cod by-products as affected by different processing methods (the pH-shift method vs. conventional washing), addition of salt (0, 1.5, and 3%), length of cold storage (0, 4, and 7 days) until 3D printing, and steam cooking. The analysis revealed two to three water populations in the 3D printed samples. Increasing the salt concentration induced myofibrillar swelling in the conventionally prepared surimi, whereas a more salt-induced gelling effect was observed in the pH-shift processed surimi. Cooking had a decreasing effect on the T₂₁ relaxation time and its corresponding apparent population (A₂₁), corresponding to protein denaturation and water loss during cooking. Increasing the salt concentration to 3% had a protective effect towards water exchange between the A₂₁ and A₂₃ populations in the conventionally washed samples but more subtly in the pH-shift samples. Similar trends in relaxation parameters were observed after 4 and 7 days of storage, although the intermediate population A₂₂ seemed to be most affected by the storage. Overall LF-NMR was an effective quality monitoring tool for the physicochemical changes occurring in the 3D printed surimi. The analysis showed both advantages and disadvantages of the two processing methods. However, it can clearly be concluded that increasing the salt content had a stabilizing effect on the surimi, and printing of fresh raw materials is recommended.     

Retention indices as identification tool in pyrolysis-capillary gas chromatography

Pyrolysis-capillary gas chromatography (Py-cGC) represents important method to identify the analytes in the mixture after thermal degradation. This combines high effective analyte separation on-line coupled with thermal degradation process that depends on analyte structure. System of retention indices has been used for identification of the analytes after on-line pyrolysis and chromatographic separation. The pyrolysate composition has been studied during thermal degradation of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) at different pyrolysis temperatures and chromatographic column conditions. Homologues series of n-alkanes have been used for calculation of pyrolysate Kováts retention indices (I) and compared with mass spectrometric (MS) data of pyrolysate model mixture. To identify PMMA thermal degradation products the high density polyethylene (HDPE) as additive standard producing triplets of the olefin homologous series during co-pyrolysis has been used. These homologous series enable to calculate programmed temperature retention indices (ITPGC) to identify the analytes present in the pyrolysate. Calculated I values were compared with published I values databases to identify analytes yielded at different pyrolysis temperatures.     

Minimally Nonassociative Commutative Moufang Loops

A commutative Moufang loop which is not associative has the property that all proper subloops are associative if and only if the loop can be generated by three elements.     

Application of pyrolysis-capillary gas chromatography with NPD detection in thermal degradation of polyphosphazenes study

Polyphosphazenes represent a unique class of polymers with a backbone composed of alternating phosphorous and nitrogen atoms. The thermal behaviour and decomposition of a variety of polyphosphazenes depends on the type of side groups present. Especially those that bear aryloxy side groups, possess a high temperature stability as well as excellent flame resistance. Pyrolysis-capillary gas chromatography has been used in a study of three polyphosphazene samples for thermal stability characterisation. Degradation products were detected with three single detectors for flame ionisation (FID), nitrogen-phosphorous sensitivity (NPD) and mass spectrometry (MSD) at different pyrolysis temperatures ranging from 300°C up to 800°C. The NPD responses for phosphorous or nitrogen fragments of polyphosphazenes have been used for the construction of degradation product schemes and the examination of the thermal stability of the polyphosphazene’s backbone. Partial identification of the degradation products present in the gaseous phase was achieved by MSD. The polyphosphazenes thermal degradation conversion rates were at a maximum at 450–500°C. At various pyrolysis temperatures, the calculated N/P peak area ratio is a function of the degree of polyphosphazene-N=P-chain degradation, and reflective of the nitrogen — phosphorous detector sensitivity. NPD proved to be suitable tool for characterization of polyphospazene thermal stability.     

Flow pattern and molecular visualization of DNA solutions through a 4:1 planar micro-contraction

The present work explores unusual flow behavior of entangled fluids in an abrupt contraction flow device. Fluorescent imaging was carried out on four different entangled DNA solutions with concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 1.0% (with a wide range of entanglements per chain Z = 7–55). For weakly entangled solutions (Z < 30), vortex flow was dominant at high flow rates. However, for well-entangled DNA solutions (Z ≥ 30), unusual time dependant shear banding was observed at the contraction entrance. Upon reducing the slip length by adding sucrose to the well-entangled DNA solution, vortex flow became dominant again. In vortex flow, most DNA chains remained coiled at the corner in regular recirculation. However, when jerky-shear-banding flow developed, significant stable stretching of DNA chains occurred at the center-line, with quasi-periodic switching between stretching and recoil at the corner.     

Single-Shot Gas-Phase Thermometry by Time-to-Frequency Mapping of Coherence Dephasing

We demonstrate a single-beam coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) technique for gas-phase thermometry that assesses the species-specific local gas temperature by single-shot time-to-frequency mapping of Raman-coherence dephasing. The proof-of-principle experiments are performed with air in a temperature-controlled gas cell. Impulsive excitation of molecular vibrations by an ultrashort pump/Stokes pulse is followed by multipulse probing of the 2330 cm(-1) Raman transition of N(2). This sequence of colored probe pulses, delayed in time with respect to each other and corresponding to three isolated spectral bands, imprints the coherence dephasing onto the measured CARS spectrum. For calibration purposes, the dephasing rates are recorded at various gas temperatures, and the relationship is fitted to a linear regression. The calibration data are then used to determine the gas temperature and are shown to provide better than 15 K accuracy. The described approach is insensitive to pulse energy fluctuations and can, in principle, gauge the temperature of multiple chemical species in a single laser shot, which is deemed particularly valuable for temperature profiling of reacting flows in gas-turbine combustors.     

Complexes of 2,6-bis[N-(2'-pyridylmethyl)carbamyl]pyridine: formation of mononuclear complexes, and self-assembly of double helical dinuclear and tetranuclear copper(II) and trinuclear nickel(II) complexes

The potentially pentadentate ligand 2,6-bis[N-(2'-pyridylmethyl)carbamyl]pyridine (H2L1), readily prepared from reaction of a diester of pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid (H2dipic) and 2-aminomethylpyridine (ampy), shows limited tendency to form 1:1 M:L complexes with labile metal ions, although [CuL1] and [NiL1] were observed as minor species, the latter characterized by a crystal structure analysis. A mononuclear complex formed with inert Co(III) was characterized by a crystal structure as the neutral 1:2 complex [Co(L1)(HL1)] with two ligands acting as tridentate ligands, one coordinated by the central pyridine and its two flanking deprotonated amido groups, and the other by the central pyridine, one amido and one terminal pyridine group, with the remaining poorly coordinating protonated amide remaining unbound along with other terminal pyridine groups. Fe(III) is known to form a symmetrical 1:2 complex, but that complex is anionic due to binding of all four deprotonated amido groups; the unsymmetrical neutral Co(III) complex converts into a symmetrical anionic species only on heating for hours in aqueous base in the presence of activated carbon. The most remarkable tendency of H2L1, however, is towards the formation of robust double helical complexes: a dinuclear Cu(II) complex [Cu2L1(2)] forms, as well as a trinuclear Ni(II) complex [Ni(3)(L1)2(OAc)2(MeOH)2]. Moreover, in the presence of added H2dipic, the tetranuclear complex [Cu4(L1)2(dipic)2(OH2)2] is obtained. All helical complexes have been characterized by X-ray crystal structure analyses, and all crystals feature a racemic mixture of left- and right-handed double helices stabilized by inter-ligand pi-stacking (inter-ring distances of 3.2-3.8 A) of ligands which each span several metal ions. Using the chelating ligand pentane-2,4-dione (acac), each of the two pairs of adjacent monodentate ligands in [Ni3(L1)2(OAc)2(OH2)2] have been shown to be available for substitution without destroying the helical structure, to form [Ni3(L1)2(acac)2], also characterized by a crystal structure.