The influence of additives on beer stability investigated by EPR spectroscopy

In thermally-accelerated aging followed by EPR spectroscopy of beer samples of various stabilities, free radical 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-1-piperidinyloxy (TEMPOL) was shown to be an effective indicator of the breakdown of a sample's stability, comparable to the commonly used spin trapping agent alpha-phenyl-N-tert-butylnitrone (PBN). Both indicators were then employed to investigate the influence of additives on beer stability. The addition of L-ascorbic acid (ASC) to the beer samples accelerated the radical processes and a lower stability was found. DL-alpha-tocopherol (alpha-TOC) did not influence beer stability significantly (probably due to its limited solubility). Na2SO3, described as a very effective stabilizer in experiments with the PBN spin trap, was found not to be effective using the TEMPOL indicator. This is probably due to inhibition in the formation of spin adducts or their degradation by Na2SO3.     

Tuning cluster reactivity by charge state and composition: experimental and theoretical investigation of CO binding energies to Ag(n)Au(m)(+/-) (n + m = 3)

Temperature-dependent gas-phase reaction kinetics measurements and equilibrium thermodynamics under multicollision conditions in conjunction with ab initio DFT calculations were employed to determine the binding energies of carbon monoxide to triatomic silver-gold binary cluster cations and anions. The binding energies of the first CO molecule to the trimer clusters increase with increasing gold content and with changing charge from negative to positive. Thus, the reactivity of the binary clusters can be sensitively tuned by varying charge state and composition. Also, multiple CO adsorption on the clusters was investigated. The maximum number of adsorbed CO molecules was found to strongly depend on cluster charge and composition as well. Most interestingly, the cationic carbonyl complex Au(3)(CO)(4)(+) is formed at cryogenic temperature, whereas for the anion, only two CO molecules are adsorbed, leading to Au(3)(CO)(2)(-). All other trimer clusters adsorb three CO molecules in the case of the cations and are completely inert to CO in our experiment in the case of the anions.     

New vegetable and fruit–vegetable juices treated by high pressure

The aim of this work was to find sensory suitable combinations of not commonly used vegetables, that is, cabbage, celeriac and parsnip, into mixed fruit–vegetable juices, two-species vegetable juices and vegetable juices with whey. These juices might have the potential to offer consumers new, interesting, tasty and nutritional products. Another interesting variation could be preparation of vegetable juices in combination with sweet whey. Nutritional and sensory evaluations were carried out using juices prepared in the laboratory. The total phenolic content, in addition to ascorbic acid and antioxidant activity, was determined. The developed juices with high nutritional value should increase very low fruit and vegetable consumption in the Czech population. The prepared juices were high pressure pasteurized (410 MPa). This technique retains the desired levels of important nutritional substances, while being destructive to live microbial cell structure. The germination of spores is suppressed by low pH value.     

Quantitative wave–particle duality and sensitivity of phase measurements

We approach the quantification theory of the wave–particle duality restricting ourselves to a qubit entangled with its environment. We use the notion of the conditional expectation value and conditional variance to provide an alternative derivation of the well-known “strong” inequality for the which-way knowledge and quantum-erasure visibility.     

Prediction of structural and environmental effects on the S1S0 energy gap and jump probability in double-bond cis—trans photoisomeriz

Upon a twist of 180°, the ground and an excited state of a double bond undergo an avoided touching. The degree to which the touching is avoided is of     

A classification and construction of entirely circular cubics in the hyperbolic plane

If each intersection point of a third order curve with the absolute conic of the hyperbolic plane is a tangential point, this curve will be called an entirely circular cubic. According to this definition a rough classification of such curves is given into four main types and nine sub-types. Some of them are constructed by a (1,2) or (1,1) mapping and the others are constructed by the generalized quadratic hyperbolic inversion. Thus we extend and complete Palman's paper [5] in a synthetic way. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Structure of the Ligated Ag60 Nanoparticle [{Cl@Ag12}@Ag48(dppm)12] (where dppm=bis(diphenylphosphino)methane)

A novel bisphosphine ligated Ag₆₀ nanocluster, [{Cl@Ag₁₂}@Ag₄₈(dppm)₁₂], has been dis-covered and characterized by X-ray crystallography. It consists of a central chloride located inside an icosahedral silver core layer, which is further encased by a second shell of 48 silver atoms/ions, which are capped with 12 bis(diphenylphosphino)methane (dppm) ligands. Due to lack of sufficient material the cluster could not be further characterized by other methods. DFT calculations were carried out on the cation [{Cl@Ag₁₂}@Ag₄₈(dppm)₁₂]⁺ to determine if it corresponds to a superatom with a core count of n=58. The DFT optimized structure is in agreement with X-ray ndings, but the low value of the HOMO-LUMO gap does not support superatom stability.     

Thermal and structural properties of surfactant–picrate compounds

The novel surfactant?Cpicrate compounds were synthesized and characterized by thermal and XRD analysis. The synthesis, based on the electrostatic interactions of components in polar solvents, was carried out using picric acid and cationic surfactants (dodecyltrimethylammonium, didodecyldimethylammonium, and tridodecylmethylammonium halide). The idea was to investigate the dependence of physico-chemical properties and thermal transitions of picrate?Csurfactant compounds with raising number of dodecyl chains sited on the same ammoniumm head group. The equimolar mixed aqueous solutions are characterized as lyotropic, strongly promoted by picrate anion. The main crystal structure feature of investigated picrates is layered structure with stacked aromatic rings of one picrate molecule on the top of the other one via strong ?С??? interactions and connection to the alkylammonium molecules with their nitro groups by C?CH??O hydrogen bonds. Surfactant?Cpicrate bilayer-like structures are interrupted with layers of polar heads and picrate counterions and the observed width of such a bilayers are functions of more complex structural behaviors which ensures alternation in space of equal numbers of positive and negative charges. Although some of the surfactants used posses thermotropic porperties, like examined tridodecylmethylammonium chloride, no thermotropic mesomorphism is detected in solid state of investigated surfactant?Cpicrate compounds. The thermodynamic parameters of solid?Cliquid thermal transitions depend linear on the number of dodecyl chains, and for double- and triple-tailed picrate compounds the marked temporal hysteresis of the melt crystallization is registered.