An investigation of sugar extraction methods and the use of microwave power for date syrup processing: efficiency and color related considerations.

This study investigates the effect of extraction methods on the color of date syrup and the potential use of microwave power for syrup processing. Sugar solutions were extracted from dates by boiling, soaking and blending. Color and sugar content of the extracted solutions were measured, and the percentage of sugar extracted form the total fruit sugar determined. Boiling was found to be the most efficient method of extraction whereby 74% of total samples sugar was extracted. In contrast, only 54.2% of fruit sugar was extracted by blending and 42% by soaking. In addition, solutions extracted by soaking and blending had a foaming problem in the subsequent concentration process. The extraction method had no effect on the product final color. The extracted solution was concentrated using two heating methods: conventional and microwave heating at a 600 W capacity and a frequency of 2450 MHz applied at three power levels: 10, 7, and 6. In the heating process, 180 minutes were needed to achieve a 77% degrees Brix using convective heating, while it took 81, 138, and 166 minutes of microwave heating at power level 10, 7, and 6, respectively to achieve the same concentration. Water activity of the syrup was measured within a sugar content range of 50 to 80% degrees Brix and the sugar concentration at which the product is shelf stable was determined at 76%.     

Recovery of second-order optical nonlinearity in annealedproton-exchanged LiNbOx

The second-order nonlinear coefficients measured in proton-exchanged LiNbO₃ as a function of annealing time are discussed. Measurements of reflected second-harmonic power indicate that the second-order nonlinear coefficient d₃₃ is reduced to 60% of the bulk value as a result of proton exchange in pure benzoic acid. It is also shown that annealing restores the d-coefficients to almost the original value of the virgin crystal. For example, recovery to ~90% of the bulk value was obtained for a sample with a 0.3-μm-bulk proton-exchanged layer, annealed for 10 h at 350°C     

Moisture sorption, transport, and hydrolytic degradation in polylactide

Management of moisture penetration and hydrolytic degradation of polylactide (PLA) is extremely important during the manufacturing, shipping, storage, and end-use of PLA products. Moisture transport, crystallization, and degradation, in PLA have been measured through a variety of experimental techniques including size-exclusion chromatography, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction. Quartz crystal microbalance and dynamic vapor sorption experiments have also been used to measure moisture sorption isotherms in PLA films with varying crystallinity. A surprising result is that, within the accuracy of the experiments, crystalline and amorphous PLA films exhibit identical sorption isotherms.     

Molecular aggregation in the ternary system deca glycerol dioleate/heptane/water

The phase diagram for the ternary system deca glycerol dioleate(DGD)/heptane/water was established at 25 °C. In this phase diagram it was seen that the reverse micellar solution phase extends in its area until the water content reaches 35–45 wt%, at which a liquid crystalline phase begins to appear. On the basis of the experimental results of specific conductivity, viscosity, etc. for the samples containing a definite amount of DGD (0,1 M), and varying relative amounts of heptane and water, the mechanism of the transition of reverse micellar structures to liquid crystalline phase is discussed.     

Stabilization of p-block organoelement terminal hydroxides, thiols, and selenols requires newer synthetic strategies

Metal hydroxides represent a very interesting and highly useful class of compounds that have been known to chemists for a very long time. While alkali and alkaline earth metal hydroxides (s‐block) are commonplace chemicals in terms of their abundance and their use in a chemical laboratory as bases, the interest in Brønsted acidic molecular terminal hydroxides of p‐block elements, such as aluminum and silicon, has been of recent origin, with respect to the variety of applications these compounds can offer both in materials science and catalysis. Moreover, these systems are environmentally friendly, relative to the metal halides, owing to their ‐OH functionality (resembling that of water). Design and conceptualization of the corresponding terminal thiols, selenols, and tellurols (M? SH, M? SeH, and M? TeH) offer even more challenging problems to synthetic inorganic chemists. This concept summarizes some of the recent strategies developed to stabilize these otherwise very unstable species. The successful preparation of a number of silicon trihydroxides a few years back resulted in the generation of several model compounds for metal–silicates. The recent synthesis of unusual aluminum compounds such as RAl(OH)₂, RAl(SH)₂, and RAl(SeH)₂ with terminal EH (E=O, Se, or Se) groups is likely to change the ways in which some of the well‐known catalytic conversions are being carried out. The need for very flexible and innovative synthetic strategies to achieve these unusual compounds is emphasized in this concept.     

Designer ribozymes: programming the tRNA specificity into flexizyme

Fx3 is an artificial ribozyme with the ability to aminoacylate various tRNAs with phenylalanine and its nonnatural derivatives. Herein we report a simple strategy to build tRNA specificity into the generic Fx3, by appending to its 3'-end a tRNA-specific sequence (TSS), which is complementary to the acceptor stem of the cognate tRNA. This new designer ribozyme, referred to as Fx10, is able to recognize its cognate tRNA via a 10-base-pair interaction that is formed after the invasion of the tRNA acceptor stem by the TSS. We have demonstrated that Fx10 can aminoacylate its cognate tRNA with a high degree of specificity and also discriminate against the noncognate tRNAs. Because the tRNA specificity can be easily programmed into Fx10, it is a custom-made catalyst to generate nonnatural aminoacyl-tRNAs.