Investigation into the potential ability of Pickering emulsions (food-grade particles) to enhance the oxidative stability of oil-in-water emulsions

In this study the potential ability of food-grade particles (at the droplet interface) to enhance the oxidative stability was investigated. Sunflower oil-in-water emulsions (20%), stabilised solely by food-grade particles (Microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and modified starch (MS)), were produced under different processing conditions and their physicochemical properties were studied over time. Data on droplet size, surface charge, creaming index and oxidative stability were obtained. Increasing the food-grade particle concentration from 0.1% to 2.5% was found to decrease droplet size, enhance the physical stability of emulsions and reduce the lipid oxidation rate due to the formation of a thicker interfacial layer around the oil droplets. It was further shown that, MCC particles were able to reduce the lipid oxidation rate more effectively than MS particles. This was attributed to their ability to scavenge free radicals, through their negative charge, and form thicker interfacial layers around oil droplets due to the particles size differences. The present study demonstrates that the manipulation of emulsions' interfacial microstructure, based on the formation of a thick interface around the oil droplets by food-grade particles (Pickering emulsions), is an effective approach to slow down lipid oxidation.     

Approaches to the construction of substituted 4-amino-1H-pyrrol-2(5H)-ones

Fully substituted 4-aminopyrrolones are easily accessed via simple routes starting from imines, ketones, or α-bromophenyl acetonitriles. Imines were reacted with KCN/NH(4)Cl in aqueous ethanol to produce α-arylamino benzyl cyanides. On the other hand, ketones were transformed to the desired α-amino nitriles using a modified Strecker reaction. Then, α-amino nitrile precursors were allowed to react with a suitable acyl halide to produce the corresponding amides. Further treatment of these amides with ethanolic KOH converted them to highly substituted 4-amino-1H-pyrrol-2(5H)-one derivatives in moderate to excellent yields.     

A novel sensor for simultaneous determination of dopamine and uric acid using a new MFI-type zeolite prepared by microwave-assisted synthesis

Abstract  

This paper describes microwave-assisted synthesis of a new MFI-type zeolite, Zeolite Secony Mobile (ZSM-5), its characterization by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and its application for fabrication of a modified carbon paste electrode. This novel electrode was employed for sensitive and simultaneous determination of dopamine and uric acid at biological pH (pH 7.0). The results show that this zeolite-modified carbon paste electrode significantly improves the electron transfer rate and reduces the overpotential of dopamine and uric acid oxidation without any fouling effect due to deposition of their oxidized products. The linear analytical curves were obtained in the ranges of 9.0 × 10⁻⁶–4.9 × 10⁻⁴ and 8.0 × 10⁻⁶–9.0 × 10⁻⁴ M for dopamine and uric acid, respectively, by using differential pulse voltammetry based on oxidation of these biomolecules. The detection limits (2σ) were determined for dopamine and uric acid as 7.9 × 10⁻⁶ and 7.1 × 10⁻⁶ M, respectively. This method has been successfully employed for quantification of dopamine and uric acid in real samples.     

Antioxidant activity assay based on the inhibition of oxidation and photobleaching of l-cysteine-capped CdTe quantum dots

Quantum dots (QDs) have recently been the focus of attention of many investigators for development of diagnostic tools in many research areas. In this work, we established a new QD-based assay to evaluate the antioxidant/polyphenolic activity. This assay is based on measurement of the inhibitory effect of the antioxidant/polyphenolic compounds on the UV-induced bleaching of CdTe QDs with l-cysteine capping. QDs exhibited excellent photostability without any UV exposure, while they bleached rapidly under UV irradiation. Generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under UV irradiation is probably the main cause of the photobleaching of QDs. By comparing the photostability of QDs in buffer solution in the absence and presence of sodium azide, as a known (1)O(2) quencher, the involvement of (1)O(2) in photobleaching of QDs was confirmed. The photobleaching effect induced by ROS could be reduced in the presence of antioxidant/polyphenolic compounds. We tested several antioxidant/polyphenolic compounds as well as known antioxidants such as trolox and 4 different types of tea. The results obtained by the QD-based assay revealed a very good correlation with the data acquired by Folin-Ciocalteu assay. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of the mechanism and the solution for photobleaching of QDs under UV irradiation might be very meaningful in promoting their clinical applications.     

Aluminium Nitrate Nonahydrate (Al(NO3)3⋅9 H2O): An Efficient Oxidant Catalyst for the One‐Pot Synthesis of Biginelli Compounds from Benzyl Alcohols

A clean and efficient tandem oxidative cyclocondensation process is reported for the synthesis of 3,4‐dihydropyrimidin‐2(1H)‐one or ‐thione derivatives from primary aryl alcohols, β‐keto esters, and urea or thiourea in the presence of Al(NO₃)₃?9 H₂O as oxidant catalyst (Scheme, Table 5).     

Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of the essential oil of aerial parts of Petasites albus from Iran: a good natural source of euparin

The chemical composition of the essential oil of Petasites albus (known as 'Baba Adam' in Iran) was investigated by capillary gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for the first time. Twenty components were identified, accounting for 99.7% of the oil composition. The major compounds were euparin (73%), α-eudesmol (13.2%) and β-selinene (4.5%). Euparin, the main component of the essential oil, was isolated and characterised by spectroscopic techniques. The antioxidant activities of the essential oil and euparin were evaluated by using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assay and are shown to exhibit a moderate antioxidant activity.     

Comparative study on the antioxidant activities of the different extracts and the composition of the oil extracted by n-hexane from Iranian Vitex pseudo-negundo

Antioxidant activities of different extracts obtained from the aerial parts of Vitex pseudo-negundo from Kashan, central Iran, were evaluated for the first time in this study using β-carotene/linoleic acid and scavenging of free-radical (DPPH) assays. Water extract showed the highest activity in both assays. GC-MS analysis of the oil extracted by n-hexane revealed 46 compounds with trans-β-farnesene being the main component. Several new compounds, not reported in the previous literature, were identified in the essential oil of this chemo-type.     

Insights on cytochrome p450 enzymes and inhibitors obtained through QSAR studies

The cytochrome P450 (CYP) superfamily of heme enzymes play an important role in the metabolism of a large number of endogenous and exogenous compounds, including most of the drugs currently on the market. Inhibitors of CYP enzymes have important roles in the treatment of several disease conditions such as numerous cancers and fungal infections in addition to their critical role in drug-drug interactions. Structure activity relationships (SAR), and three-dimensional quantitative structure activity relationships (3D-QSAR) represent important tools in understanding the interactions of the inhibitors with the active sites of the CYP enzymes. A comprehensive account of the QSAR studies on the major human CYPs 1A1, 1A2, 1B1, 2A6, 2B6, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, 2E1, 3A4 and a few other CYPs are detailed in this review which will provide us with an insight into the individual/common characteristics of the active sites of these enzymes and the enzyme-inhibitor interactions.     

Incoherent interaction between bright–bright photovoltaic soliton in an unbiased series two-photon photorefractive crystal circuit

We have investigated incoherent interaction between photovoltaic bright–bright soliton pairs in photorefractive crystals under steady-state condition in an unbiased series two-photon photorefractive crystal circuit in one dimension. The numerical scheme according to the Crank-Nicholson and Runge-kutta methods are applied to simulate the propagation of incoherent interaction for different normalized separation distances and different E₀. Results show that in the case of one-dimensional interaction between these photovoltaic solitons, attraction occurs and width of beams decreases with increasing biased field E₀ and two soliton interact in longer distance for smaller E₀. The result can be used for design optical switches that controlled by biased field.     

Stability results of properties related to the Bishop-Phelps-Bollobás property for operators

We prove that the class of Banach spaces Y such that the pair(?_1, Y) has the Bishop-Phelps-Bollobás property for operators is stable under finite products when the norm of the product is given by an absolute norm. We also provide examples showing that the previous stability results obtained for that property are optimal.