Influence of Plant Extract Addition to Marinades on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Formation in Grilled Pork Meat

Marinating is one of the most common methods of pre-processing meat. Appropriate selection of marinade ingredients can influence the physicochemical properties of the meat and can reduce the level of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the final product. The effects of the inclusion of natural plant extracts such as bay leaf (BL), black pepper (BP), turmeric (TU), jalapeno pepper (JP) and tamarind paste (TA) in marinades on the physicochemical properties of grilled pork neck were studied. The addition of spice extracts to marinades increased the proportion of colour components L* and b*. The use of TU, TA, JP, MX and C marinades lowered the hardness and pH of the meat. The highest phenolic compound levels were observed in the case of the mixture of all extracts (MX) and JP marinades, and the highest total antioxidant capacity was exhibited by the BL and MX marinades. The highest PAH content was recorded in the CON marinade (Σ12PAH 98.48 ± 0.81 µg/kg) and the lowest in the JP marinade (4.76 ± 0.08 µg/kg), which had the strongest, statistically significant reducing effect (95% reduction) on PAH levels. Analysis of correlation coefficients showed a relationship between the total antioxidant capacity of the marinades and the PAH content in grilled pork.     

Stereochemistry of the reaction of ribonucleoside cyclic 3′,5′-phosphorothioates with oxiranes

The stereochemical course of the epoxide-induced oxidative rearrangement of ribonucleoside cyclic 3′,5′-phosphorothioates into the corresponding 2′,3′-phosphates has been determined using styrene [¹⁸O] oxide and (S_p)-uridine cyclic 3′,5′-phosphorothioate. The evidence of full stereoselectivity of this reaction is presented and mechanistic implications of the presence of the nucleoside 2′-hydroxyl group are discussed in terms of a classical Hamer Mechanism.     

Substituent effect in anionic polymerization of β-lactones initiated by alkali metal alkoxides

The influence of methyl substituent on the mechanism of the ring-opening polymerization of β-lactones initiated by alkali metal alkoxides is discussed. Attention has been paid to the effect of the substituent position in the monomer molecule on the ring-opening mechanism, the 3,3-dimethyl-2-oxetanone (pivalolactone), 4-methyl-2-oxetanone (β-butyrolactone) and 2-oxetanone (β-propiolactone) being chosen as model monomers. Moreover, it was found unexpectedly that in the case of pivalolactone polymerization, besides open-chain polymers, cyclic oligomers are produced.     

Photoconducting composite,polyester polymer-cds powder

The relation between electrical, photoelectrical and electrophotographical properties of polyester polymer–CdS composites as a function of component weight ratio, electric field strength and light intensity were investigated. Cl and Cu activated CdS_a powder as well as unactivated CdS powder were added to polyester polymer. It has been shown that the composite containing from 60 to 70 wt-% of CdS_a has the best photoelectric properties. The electrophotographical layers of this composite exhibited a photosensitivity as high as 1.25 (Lx · s)⁻¹. The results have been explained in terms of the reduction in interparticle barrier height assisted by the localized trapping of photoexcited or field-excited holes.     

Polyphosphate chains by addition of oxiranes to phosphoric acid

Addition of diepoxides to the acids of phosphorus provides a new, attractive route to polyphosphates. In order to understand better the mechanism of this reaction and the structure of the products, the model reactions, namely additions of simple oxiranes to the acids of phosphorus, have been studied. It was shown that this reaction is catalysed by the P-OH groups of the acids. Activation of the oxirane molecule occurs predominantly by formation of the hydrogen bonded species while ionized form of acid plays only a minor role at the studied conditions (1,4-dioxane solution, 25°C). Reactivity of subsequent P-OH groups in phosphoric acid increases with increasing degree of substitution by -OCH₂CH₂OH groups. The ratio of the rate constants of formation of mono-, di-, and triesters of phosphoric acid is equal to 1/2/4. This has been attributed to the formation of internal hydrogen bonds, involving substituents and the P-OH groups. The observed order of the rate constants shows that reaction can not be stopped at the diester stage (linear units) and triester species (branched units) are formed fast. However, due to the large difference in the rate of hydrolysis, especially pronounced at basic conditions, triesters of phosphoric acid can easily be converted into the corresponding diesters by simple hydrolysis. Thus, the addition of diepoxides to phosphoric acid, followed by hydrolysis, leads to essentially linear polyphosphate chains.     

Behavior of a nickel electrode in the presence of carbon monoxide

The electrochemical behavior of a nickel electrode with limited volume (LVE) electrodeposited as a thin layer on gold has been studied. The influence of the gold matrix on the electrochemical Ni electrode behavior has been considered. The electrosorption and oxidation of carbon monoxide on the Ni surface and its influence on hydrogen sorption has also been demonstrated. Received: 21 May 1997 / Accepted: 9 June 1997     

Algorithms with high order convergence speed for blind source extraction

A rigorous convergence analysis for the fixed point ICA algorithm of Hyvärinen and Oja is provided and a generalization of it involving cumulants of an arbitrary order is presented. We consider a specific optimization problem OP(p), p>3, integer, arising from a Blind Source Extraction problem (BSE) and prove that every local maximum of OP(p) is a solution of (BSE) in sense that it extracts one source signal from a linear mixture of unknown statistically independent signals. An algorithm for solving OP(p) is constructed, which has a rate of convergence p?1.     

Biological and Cheminformatics Studies of Newly Designed Triazole Based Derivatives as Potent Inhibitors against Mushroom Tyrosinase

A series of nine novel 1,2,4-triazole based compounds were synthesized through a multistep reaction pathway and their structures were scrutinized by using spectral methods such as FTIR, LC-MS, 1H NMR, and 13C NMR. The synthesized derivatives were screened for inhibitory activity against the mushroom tyrosinase and we found that all the synthesized compounds demonstrated decent inhibitory activity against tyrosinase. However, among the series of compounds, N-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(5-(2-fluorophenyl)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-ylthio) acetamide exhibited more prominent activity when accompanied with the standard drug kojic acid. Furthermore, the molecular docking studies identified the interaction profile of all synthesized derivatives at the active site of tyrosinase. Based on these results, N-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(5-(2-fluorophenyl)-4-(4-fluorophenyl)-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-ylthio) acetamide could be used as a novel scaffold to design some new drugs against melanogenesis.     

First Experimental Quantitative Charge Density Studies of Advanced Intermediate of Vitamin D Analogues

Vitamins D are a group of fat-soluble secosteroids which play a regulatory role in the functioning of most cells. Rational design of new vitamin D analogs, of increased therapeutic potency and lowered calcemic side effects, requires high-resolution initial structures and a deep understanding of interactions with the molecular targets. In this paper, using quantum crystallography, we present the first determination of the experimental quantitative charge density of an advanced intermediate of vitamin D analogues as well as a reconstruction of the theoretical electron density of final vitamin D analogues. Application of these methods allows for topological and electrostatic interaction energy analysis. We showed that the A-ring chair conformation has a significant influence on the topological properties of vitamin D compounds. Moreover, the interactions between the CD-ring and side-chain additionally stabilize the crystal structure. These results are supported by our theoretical calculations and previous biological studies.