Supercritical CO2 Extraction of Triterpenoids from Chaga Sterile Conk of Inonotus obliquus

Triterpenoids are among the bioactive components of Chaga, the sterile conk of the medicinal fungus Inonotus obliquus. Supercritical fluid extraction of Chaga triterpenoids was carried out with supercritical CO₂, while a modified Folch method was used as a comparison. Three temperature-pressure combinations were tested varying between 314–324 K (40–50 °C) and 281–350 bars, using time- and volume-limited extractions. Six triterpenoids were identified with GC-MS and quantified with GC-FID: ergosterol, lanosterol, β-sitosterol, stigmastanol, betulin, and inotodiol. The Folch extraction resulted in recovery of trametenolic acid, which was not extracted by supercritical CO₂. Inotodiol was the major triterpenoid of all the extracts, with a yield of 87–101 mg/100 g and 139 mg/100 g, for SFEs and the Folch method, respectively. The contents of other major triterpenoids, lanosterol and ergosterol, varied in the ranges 59–63 mg/100 g and 17–18 mg/100 g by SFE, respectively. With the Folch method, the yields were 81 mg/100 g and 40 mg/100 g, respectively. The highest recovery of triterpenoids with SFE in relation to Folch was 56% and it was obtained at 324 K (50 °C) and 350 bar, regardless of extraction time or volume of CO₂. The recoveries of lanosterol and stigmastanol were unaffected by SFE conditions. Despite the lower yield, SFE showed several advantages including shorter extraction time and less impact on the environment. This work could be a starting point for further studies on green extraction methods of bioactive triterpenoids from Chaga.     

Evidence of formation of radicals in the polystyrene thermodegradation

The formation of radicals in the thermal degradation of polystyrene (PS) in tubes sealed under vacuum has been evidenced by using ESR spectroscopy. The radicals were found to be stable for weeks at room temperature. The rate coefficients of the formation of radicals have been evaluated in the temperature range 350–420°C. The reaction kinetically followed has been related to the initiation step of the multi-step degradation process of PS. The activation energy of this reaction resulted 185 kJ/mol.     

The (3,4) Mode Interaction in the GeoFlow Framework

The problem of convection in a self‐gravitating spherical shell of fluid is commonly encountered in sciences like astrophysics and geophysics (earth's liquid core). The GEOFLOW‐experiment is a project of the European Space Agency in order to perform the spherical Rayleigh‐Bénard convection problem on the International Space Station in a micro‐gravity environment: the central force field is simulated by a dielectrophoretic one. Beyond a critical Rayleigh number Ra_c, generically an unique spherical ℓ mode becomes unstable and only stationary or travelling waves solutions are expected near the onset. But, for a critical aspect ratio η_c two consecutive modes (ℓ, ℓ + 1) are unstable. The (1,2) and (2,3) interactions have showed a rich bifurcation diagram, in particular, we have found heteroclinic cycles predicted by the theoretical study. Because of the experiment requirements, only the (3,4) one is possible. So, this paper purposes to analyse this bifurcation in non‐rotating case in the GEOFLOWframework using the theory of bifurcation with the spherical symmetry.     

Catalytic degradation of polyolefins

Silica, alumina, silica-aluminas and zeolites were screened as catalysts for polyolefins degradation. The degradations were carried out at temperatures from 200°C till to 600°C under vacuum. The degradation products were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The comparison between these products and those obtained by thermal degradation in the absence of catalyst gives us many informations about the different mechanisms of the two degradation reactions. Kinetic measurements and thermogravimetry provided further useful data for screening the catalysts, finding the best operating conditions.     

Kinetic solvent isotope effect for aromatic nucleophilic substitution in mixtures of EtOH and EtOD

Rate coefficients for the ethoxydechlorination of 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene were measured in mixtures of EtOH and EtOD of different deuterium atom fraction n (n = 0., 0.259, 0.377, 0.581, 0.767, 0.958), at 25°C. The extreme solvent isotope effect, obtained by different extrapolation procedures, is (k_D/k_H) = 1.90 ± 0.02. The curved variation of k_n/k_H with n is interpreted by fractionation factor theory in terms of hydrogen-bonding solvation of ethoxide ion and transition state.     

Interaction potential between two 16O nuclei derived from the Skyrme interaction

The energy functional for the Skyrme density-dependent force is used to calculate the interaction potential between two ¹⁶O nuclei. A two-centre harmonic oscillator potential is employed to construct the density and kinetic energy density of the ground state of the combined system and of the separated nuclei. The antisymmetrization effects are investigated. The relative motion of the nuclei is taken approximately into account and the energy dependence of the potential derived from the Skyrme force is presented.     

1,3-cycloaddition of substituted benzonitrile oxides to aliphatic nitriles. The kinetic effect of substituents

A previous study of the reaction of aromatic nitrile oxides with simple aliphatic nitriles, with the formation of 3,5-disubstituted 1,2,4-oxadiazoles, has been extended to a larger number of nitrile oxides. Sixteen new oxadiazole derivatives have been prepared and characterized. Cycloaddition rates have been measured in the temperature range from 50 to 80°. When considering the effect of substituents on the aromatic ring, roughly V-shaped Hammett plots have been obtained, as already observed for other concerted 1,3-cycloadditions.     

Gas-phase basicities of serine and dipeptides of serine and glycine

The gas-phase basicities of serine and dipeptides containing amino acid residues of serine and glycine were determined by proton transfer reactions in a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer. The gas-phase basicity (GB) of L-serine was found to be 205.9 kcal/mol, with addition of a hydroxymethyl group (?CH₂OH) increasing the basicity by 4.5 kcal/mol relative to the simplest amino acid glycine (GB = 201.4 kcal/mol). This is attributed to a combination of intramolecular hydrogen bonding, induction, and symmetry effects. For the dipeptides, addition of a hydroxymethyl group does not result in a large increase in basicity relative to the basicity of glycylglycine (GB = 208.0 kcal/mol). The gas-phase basicities determined for glycyl-l-serine, l-serylglycine, and l-sery-l-serine are 209.3,210.6, and 210.9 kcal/mol, respectively. In comparison to glycylglycine, addition of the hydroxymethyl group at the N terminus has a greater impact on basicity than its placement at the C terminus. These data suggest that the protonation site for these dipeptides is the N-terminal amino nitrogen.     

15N and 13C NMR study of protonated monoaminopyridines in CDCl3-DMSO

The 2-, 3- and 4-amino-pyridine and their protonated forms, obtained by reaction with pyridinium chloride, were investigated by 15N NMR spectroscopy. Exhaustive evidence has been found that the protonation occurs mainly on the annular nitrogen. Protonation of 4-aminopyridine by dehydrohalogenation of 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane (TCE) was also studied by 13C NMR spectroscopy, which indicated that the protonation occurs via the formation of adducts.     

532—Re-evaluation of Feulgen stain for image cytometry: Part II. Application to electrochemically induced chromatin reactivation

Automated cytometry has been proposed by us as an extremely sensitive probe of the electrochemical reactivation of quiescent cells, provided that quantitative and specific staining techniques are available for absorption or fluorescence measurements.A complete re-evaluation is given of cell staining by means of the Feulgen reaction for absorption image cytometry, in order to obtain quantitative specificity for DNA amount and chromatin conformation.The possibility of computing from image cytometry the number of chromatin sites accessible to intercalation of small molecules, which should be related to template activity, was previously anticipated by us on an experimental basis, and is now assessed on a theoretical basis, linking together fluorescence flow cytometry and absorption image cytometry.The Feulgen staining technique has been applied to measure the amount of DNA during reactivation of frog erythrocytes and human lymphocytes induced by exposure to electromagnetic (e.m.) fields and by chemical changes of cell environment.Static automated absorption image analysis of Feulgen stained nuclei allows us to evaluate the onset of DNA synthesis and the effectiveness of the electrochemical stimulus on chromatin conformation.