Flow-injection methylene blue-based spectrophotometric method for the determination of peroxide values in edible oils

A flow-injection method for measuring the peroxide value (PV, mequiv. O₂ kg⁻¹) in edible oils is described. The technique is based on spectrophotometric monitoring at 660 nm of methylene blue (MB), generated from leucomethylene blue (LMB) oxidation with peroxides present in oil samples. After being optimized, the method was validated in terms of linearity, precision sensitivity and recovery.Linear calibration graph was obtained in the range 0.1-5 mequiv. O₂ kg⁻¹, with a detection limit (S/N  =  3) of 0.014 mequiv. O₂ kg⁻¹. The precision of the method (R.S.D., n = 9) for within and between-days is better than 1.5% and 2.2%, respectively at 0.4 mequiv. O₂ kg⁻¹. The method was applied successfully to the determination of PV in six edible oil samples, and compared to the classical official method. Using the linear regression test, Student's t-test and variance ratio F-test, there was no significant difference between the compared methods. The proposed method is accurate, simple, cheap and could be used to control edible oil rancidity with a high sample throughputs (30 samples h⁻¹).     

Reaction kinetics investigation of Malononitrile with substituted benzaldehydes in aqueous solutions of ethaline as deep eutectic solvent

Due to increasing demands for ecofriendly processes within the framework of green chemistry, and having shown substantial properties, especially in terms of toxicity, biodegradability, cost, and ease of preparation under ambient conditions, deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have become a suitable candidate as green solvents for reaction media in the past decade. In this work, condensation reaction of some para- and meta-substituted benzaldehydes and Malononitrile was kinetically investigated in ethylene glycol-choline chloride (ethaline) as a DES mixed with water, in the whole range of mole fractions, at room temperature. The correlation of second-order rate coefficients based on Hammett's substituent constants yield a linear straight line with positive slope in different mole fractions of ethaline–water mixtures. The measured second-order rate coefficients of the reaction showed a dramatic variation in ethaline–water mixtures with the increasing mole fraction of water.     

Inhibition of Fungi and Gram-Negative Bacteria by Bacteriocin BacTN635 Produced by Lactobacillus plantarum sp. TN635

The aim of this study was to evaluate 54 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains isolated from meat, fermented vegetables and dairy products for their capacity to produce antimicrobial activities against several bacteria and fungi. The strain designed TN635 has been selected for advanced studies. The supernatant culture of this strain inhibits the growth of all tested pathogenic including the four Gram-negative bacteria (Salmonella enterica ATCC43972, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 49189, Hafnia sp. and Serratia sp.) and the pathogenic fungus Candida tropicalis R2 CIP203. Based on the nucleotide sequence of the 16S rRNA gene of the strain TN635 (1,540 pb accession no FN252881) and the phylogenetic analysis, we propose the assignment of our new isolate bacterium as Lactobacillus plantarum sp. TN635 strain. Its antimicrobial compound was determined as a proteinaceous substance, stable to heat and to treatment with surfactants and organic solvents. Highest antimicrobial activity was found between pH 3 and 11 with an optimum at pH?=?7. The BacTN635 was purified to homogeneity by a four-step protocol involving ammonium sulfate precipitation, centrifugal microconcentrators with a 10-kDa membrane cutoff, gel filtration Sephadex G-25, and C18 reverse-phase HPLC. SDS-PAGE analysis of the purified BacTN635, revealed a single band with an estimated molecular mass of approximately 4 kDa. The maximum bacteriocin production (5,000 AU/ml) was recorded after a 16-h incubation in Man, Rogosa, and Sharpe (MRS) medium at 30?°C. The mode of action of the partial purified BacTN635 was identified as bactericidal against Listeria ivanovii BUG 496 and as fungistatic against C. tropicalis R2 CIP203.     

Assessment of various kinetic models for the pyrolysis of a microgranular cellulose

The kinetics of pyrolysis of a micro-crystalline cellulose in nitrogen were studied from TGA and DTG data, obtained with two different modes of heating: a dynamic mode at constant heating rates between 1 and 11 °C/min and an isothermal mode at various temperatures, kept constant between 280 and 320 °C. In isothermal mode, it appeared very clearly that the mass depletion shows a sigmoid profile characteristic of an auto-accelerated reaction process. This behaviour is consistent with kinetics of nuclei-growth, well represented by the models of Avrami-Erofeev (A-E) and of Prout-Tompkins (P-T) type. All the other kinetic models commonly applied to the thermal decomposition of solids revealed unsatisfactory. The TGA and DTG data were, thus, found ideally simulated from a reaction scheme consisting in two parallel reactions, termed 1 and 2, each one described by the kinetic law: dx/dt=−A^−E/RTxⁿ(1−0.99x)^m. Reaction 1 is related to the bulk decomposition of cellulose and is characterised by the set of parameters: E₁=202 kJ/mol; n₁=1; m₁=0.48. Reaction 2 is related to the slower residual decomposition, which takes place over approximately 350 °C and affects only 16% by weight of the raw cellulose. With m₂ constrained to 1, the optimised parameters of this reaction were: E₂=255 kJ/mol; n₂=22. Finally, the proposed model allowed to correctly fit not less than to 10 sets of ATG-DTG data, isothermal and dynamic.     

Reactivite Des α -Phosphonylketones Dans la Reaction de Gewald: Synthese de Nouveaux Derives de L′aminophosphonothiophene

The reaction of α -phosphonylketones 1 with active methylenenitriles 2 leads to phosphonoalkylidenes 3 . The reaction of compounds 3 with sulfur under basic conditions leads to the new 2-amino-4-phosphonothiophenes 4 . The structure of all obtained products was confirmed by NMR (¹H, ³¹P, ¹³C) and IR spectroscopy, and in some cases by mass spectrometry.     

Association of metal cations with alkanes: Na(CH4)+ versus Cu(CH4)+ as molecular models

Summary Ab initio molecular orbital calculations give small stabilization energies for the various Na(CH₄)⁺ adducts (less than 4 kcal mol^–1), but predict a stronger binding for the copper compounds (about 13 kcal mol^–1). The different behaviour of Na⁺ and Cu⁺, already present at the SCF level, is reinforced by electron correlation. This can be attributed to an important contribution of the dispersion energy to the binding energy of the copper ion: about 40% of the total, including basis set superposition corrections.Dedicated to Mrs A. Pullman     

Conformation and tautomerism of methoxy‐substituted 4‐phenyl‐4‐thiazoline‐2‐thiones: a combined crystallographic and ab initio investigation

4‐Phenyl‐4‐thiazoline‐2‐thiol is an active pharmaceutical compound, one of whose activities is as a human indolenamine dioxygenase inhibitor. It has been shown recently that in both the solid state and the gas phase, the thiazolinethione tautomer should be preferred. As part of both research on this lead compound and a medicinal chemistry program, a series of substituted arylthiazolinethiones have been synthesized. The molecular conformations and tautomerism of 4‐(2‐methoxyphenyl)‐4‐thiazoline‐2‐thione and 4‐(4‐methoxyphenyl)‐4‐thiazoline‐2‐thione, both C₁₀H₉NOS₂, are reported and compared with the geometry deduced from ab initio calculations [PBE/6‐311G(d,p)]. Both the crystal structure analyses and the calculations establish the thione tautomer for the two substituted arylthiazolinethiones. In the crystal structure of the 2‐methoxyphenyl regioisomer, the thiazolinethione unit was disordered over two conformations. Both isomers exhibit similar hydrogen‐bond patterns [R₂²(8) motif] and form dimers. The crystal packing is further reinforced by short S…S interactions in the 2‐methoxyphenyl isomer. The conformations of the two regioisomers correspond to stable geometries calculated from an ab initio energy‐relaxed scan.     

Stability aspect of magnetized hybrid nanofluid with suction and injection phenomenon: Modified thermal model

Nanoparticles with ultra-high thermal efficiency and stability have dynamic applications in numerous eras of thermal sciences, including energy production, heat transmission devices, cooling and heating systems, manufacturing applications, aircraft, and solar energy, among others. This study's primary objective is to investigate the mathematical modeling using a Tiwari and Das nanofluid model, taking into account the effects of magnetic, suction/injection, and thermal radiation, as well as the stability analysis of a hybrid nanofluid containing copper ($Cu$) and alumina ($A{l}_2{O}_3$) nanoparticles in a water-based liquid. Using similarity transformations, self-similarity solutions of the system of governing ordinary differential equations (ODEs) were obtained, and the resulting ODEs were simulated using implementations of the three-stage Lobatto IIIa technique. The numerical results indicate that the energy characteristics such as thermal conductivity increase rapidly when copper nanomaterials are used. It is also noticed that the combination of both nano-materials results in an excellent energy enhancement. For the solution validation, novel stability performances for the obtained simulations are determined.     

Synthesis of trans-(3S,4S)-dibenzyloxycyclopentanone

The 1-cyano-1-thiophenylcyclopentone derivative $\text{1}$, obtained from (R,R)-(+)-tartaric acid, has been converted into a number of derivatives including the important $\text{trans}$-(3S,4S)-dibenzyloxycyclopentanone $\text{2}$ in 45% overall yield.