The Relationship of Freeze Tolerance with Intracellular Compounds in Baker’s Yeasts

Freeze-tolerant baker’s yeasts are required for the processing of frozen doughs. The present study was carried out to investigate the cell survival rate after frozen storage and the change of fermentability in dough due to frozen storage, and to discuss quantitatively the relationship of freeze tolerance with intracellular trehalose, amino acids, and glycerol, using six types of baker’s yeasts as the test materials. The experimental results showed that the fermentability of yeast cells in frozen dough was strongly correlated with the cell survival rate. The baker’s yeast with a higher level of cell survival rate had a larger increase in the total intracellular compound content after frozen storage, and the cell survival rate increased linearly with increasing total intracellular compound content in frozen yeast cells. Trehalose was a primary compound affecting freeze tolerance, followed by glutamic acid, arginine, proline, asparagic acid, and glycerol. The basic information provided by the present study is useful for exploring the freeze-tolerance mechanisms of baker’s yeast cells, breeding better freeze-tolerant baker’s yeast strains, and developing more effective cryoprotectants.     

Facile fabrication of polymer-inorganic hybrid particles with various morphologies by combination of hydrolytic condensation process with radiation seeded emulsion polymerization

A novel approach was proposed to the synthesis of poly(styrene-divinyl benzene-acrylic acid)/poly [3-(methacryloxy)propyl trimethoxysilane-styrene] [P(St-DVB-AA)/P(MPS-St)] hybrid particles. The morphologies of the particles could be tuned from raspberry-like to snowman-like by simply changing the feeding amount of second monomer or inorganic precursor. The fabricated raspberry-like ones could be modified to obtain hydrophobic surface with a contact angle up to 146°. And the snowman-like ones could be used as solid surfactant to stabilize water/styrene (W/St) mixtures, thus hierarchical porous materials could be obtained after the polymerization of monomer phase. The preliminary application of such soap-free block materials in oil-polluted water treatment was also investigated.

Synthesis of binuclear palladium complexes with a rigid phenylene bridge linker

The complexes [PdX₂Py]₂(di-NHC) (X = Br or Cl) in which di-NHC represents a di-N-heterocyclic carbene, featuring a rigid phenylene spacer between the carbene units, have been prepared from reactions of the corresponding diimidazolium halide salts with PdCl₂ in pyridine. The molecular structures of three of the complexes were determined by X-ray diffraction studies. The influences of different substitutions and of the halide ligand (Br or Cl) on the structure and reactivity of the complexes have been studied. The catalytic activity of the binuclear palladium complexes was tested in the Mizoroki–Heck reaction of styrene with bromobenzene.     

Purification and Characterization of a Chymosin from Rhizopus microsporus var. rhizopodiformis

Purification and characterization of a chymosin from Rhizopus microsporus var. rhizopodiformis were investigated in the present study. A newly isolated R. microsporus var. rhizopodiformis F518 produced a high level of milk-clotting activity (1,001 SU/mL). A chymosin from the fungus was purified 3.66-fold with a recovery yield of 33.2 %. The enzyme appeared as a single protein band on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) with a molecular mass of 37.0 kDa. It was optimally active at 60 °C and was stable up to 40 °C. The purified enzyme was an acid protease with an optimum pH of 5.2 and retained 80 % of residual activity within pH 2.0–8.0. The inhibition of 96 and 100 % by pepstatin A at 0.01 and 0.02 mM, respectively, revealed that the enzyme is an aspartic protease. Thus, high milk-clotting activity of the chymosin with good stability will strengthen the potential use of the chymosin as a substitute for calf rennet in cheese manufacturing.     

Synthesis of poly(p-dioxanone)-based block copolymers in supercritical carbon dioxide

Poly(p-dioxanone)–poly(ethylene glycol)–poly(p-dioxanone) triblock copolymers (PPDO–PEG–PPDO) were first synthesized by suspension ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of p-dioxanone (PDO) in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) using different molecular weights (2–10 K) of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as macroinitiators. White and fine flow powders were successfully obtained when the molecular weight of PEG was below 6 K and its feed content below 20 wt.%. The ¹H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) result indicated the formation of PPDO–PEG–PPDO block structure even in a confined polymerized environment of particles. All the powderous samples contained irregular shaped particles that were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Except for the copolymer with 10 wt.% PEG10K feed content, the mean particle sizes of other powderous samples showed identical values close to 15 μm. This fact was in agreement with the crystallinity of PPDO in the copolymers measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The water absorption of these copolymers was also measured, and as compared with PPDO homopolymer, the introduction of PEG increased the water absorption of the copolymers. The green and environmentally friendly method disclosed in this work is attractive to directly synthesize biodegradable polymeric particles with potential biomedical applications.     

Landfill leachate treatment using the sequencing batch biofilm reactor method integrated with the electro-Fenton process

A study was conducted on the treatment of landfill leachate by combining the sequencing batch biofilm reactor (SBBR) method with the electro-Fenton method. The reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD₅), and ammonia nitrogen (NH ₄ ⁺ -N) from the leachate by the SBBR method was investigated. For the electro-Fenton experiment, the changes in COD and total organic carbon (TOC) with the increase in H₂O₂ dosage and electrolysis time under optimal conditions were also analysed. The results showed that the average efficiencies of reduction of COD, BOD₅, and NH ₄ ⁺ -N achieved using the SBBR method were 21.6 %, 54.7 %, and 56.1 %, respectively. The bio-effluent was degraded by the subsequent electro-Fenton process, which was rapid over the first 30 min then subsequently slowed. After 60 min of the electro-Fenton treatment, the efficiencies of reduction of TOC, COD, and BOD₅ were 40.5 %, 71.6 %, and 61.0 %, respectively. There is a good correlation between the absorbance of leachate at 254 nm (UV₂₅₄) and COD or TOC during the electro-Fenton treatment.     

Nephrotoxicity assessments of benzo(a)pyrene during zebrafish embryogenesis

Benzo(a)pyrene is a chemical produced during the process of making fried, roasted, and smoked foods. It remains unclear whether benzo(a)pyrene affects the early development of human organs. In this study, we used the transgenic zebrafish line Tg(wt1b:GFP) as a model to assess benzo(a)pyrene-induced kidney malformation. By soaking zebrafish embryos in benzo(a)pyrene at various doses (2, 20, and 200 ppb), only a minor effect on the survival rate was detected (0 ppb: 97.8 ± 1.9 %; 2–200 ppb: 89.1 ± 5.8–91.5 ± 8.3 %). However, benzo(a)pyrene significantly affected the development of the kidney (malformation rates ranges from 50.0 ± 3.5 to 77.4 ± 5.3 %). Various abnormalities, such as unusual curving of pronephric tubes, swollen glomerulus, and incomplete development of pronephric ducts, were observed. This study provides a rapid and effective protocol for the evaluation of the notable effects of benzo(a)pyrene on embryonic kidney development.     

The morphologies and optoelectronic properties of delafossite CuFeO2 thin films prepared by PEG assisted sol–gel method

Single phase delafossite CuFeO₂ thin films were synthesized by a simple sol–gel method. The influence of polyethylene glycol (PEG) on the morphology and optoelectronic properties of the films was studied by addition of 1.0 g PEG in 10 ml precursor solution. The crystal sizes of the derived CuFeO₂ films with and without addition of PEG were 49 nm, but the sample with addition of PEG (labeled as CFO-PEG) showed weaker c-axis orientation growth. The sample without addition of PEG (labeled as CFO) showed a compact surface without detectable pores and had a thickness around 50 nm. However, the sample CFO-PEG exhibited a porous surface with worm-like grains in nanometric scale and had a thickness around 310 nm. Enhanced absorbance in UV–vis region was observed for the sample CFO-PEG which might ascribe to both the thickness and porous surface. The optical direct bandgaps at near-UV were estimated to be ~3.0 and 3.38 eV for the sample CFO-PEG and CFO, respectively. Though the porous surface of CFO-PEG has improved the absorbance in UV–vis region, the resistivity has also been increased due to the homogeneous distribution of interspaces between the worm-like grains, which makes the incident photon to current efficiency of CFO-PEG lower than that of CFO.     

Preparation and characteristics of spinnable sol and continuous mullite fibers with nano silica addition

The spinning precursor sols for the continuous mullite-based fibers were prepared by adding nano-silica to substitute part of silica sol. The effect of SiO₂ nanoparticles on the particle evolution models, polymerization degree and solid content of the sol,and the spinning length and sintering behavior of the fibers was investigated. The results were shown that the addition of nano silica enhanced the polymerization degree and extended the spinnable range of the sol. The appropriate polymerization degree (B value) for this sol system was 1.885–2.145. The grain diameter decreased from 39.6 to 25.9 nm with increasing the nano-silica content to 20 %, and then, it increased to 41.2 nm with increasing the nano-silica content to 100 %. The appropriate content of nano-silica powders would reduce the grain diameter. However, it had no influence on the linear growth model, homogeneity and solid content of the precursor sol.     

α-Al_2O_3比表面积标准物质的研制

选择市售α-Al2O3粉体作为比表面积标准物质候选材料,采用交叉缩分方法对标准物质样品进行分装。检验结果表明α-Al2O3标准物质样品具有良好的均匀性和稳定性(18个月)。采用国际公认的氮气物理吸附BET方法,联合测量能力经过确认的8家实验室对α-Al2O3标准物质样品进行定值,标准值比表面积为5.47 m2/g,不确定度为0.22 m2/g(k=2)。