A thorough study of the surface wax of apple fruits

The composition of the surface waxes of three apple ( Malus domestica L.) cultivars ("Florina", "Golden B" and "Ozark Gold") has been studied by means of spectroscopic and GC–MS analysis of the class-fractionated mixture of components. Odd n -alkanes, mainly C₂₇ and C₂₉ molecules, are prevalent in the saturated fraction. Small concentrations of alkenes were also found; the C_28:1 component is strongly (72%) in excess over the other 1-alkenes. Straight-chain esters (mainly of palmitic acid) of saturated primary alcohols (C₁₈–C₃₀) were also detected; whereas the acyl moiety is made up essentially of an even number of carbons, the alcohol counterpart does not exhibit this characteristic. Aldehydes are present (C₂₀–C₃₀) with the homologue patterns C₂₆–C₃₀ most strongly represented. Straight-chain free secondary alcohols characterize the waxes of "Florina" and "Ozark Gold"; the hydroxy function is located far from the extremity of the carbon framework. Outstanding is the presence of three alcohols with 29 carbon centres. These alcohols are accompanied by free straight-chain primary alcohols, mainly with even-numbered carbon chains in the range C₂₆–C₃₀. Free fatty acids are present; all of have a framework of even-numbered carbon chains mainly in the range C₁₆–C₂₀. C_18:1 (oleic acid) is well represented.     

Flow-injection chemiluminescence determination of epinephrine in pharmaceutical preparations using raw apple juice as enzyme source

Raw apple juice exhibits the activity of polyphenol oxidase which can be employed for the determination of mono-, di- and polyhydric phenols. The chemiluminescence detection in the two-channel manifold was used to develop the new procedure for determination of epinephrine. Epinephrine can be determined by this method in pharmaceutical preparations in concentration ranges 1.0–10.0 and 10.0–25.0 mg l⁻¹, with a detection limit of 0.2 mg l⁻¹. Good selectivity against typical antioxidants and other coexisting substances was achieved. Relatively slow loss of the enzyme activity was observed during 1 week. The proposed method is very simple. Fresh juice solution from one apple can be prepared in 10 min and used for at least 8 h with excellent precision. Consumption of luminol solution was 0.15 ml min⁻¹. The throughput was 20 samples per hour.     

Quantitative determination of formic acid in apple juices by H NMR spectrometry

A quantitative determination method of formic acid in apple juices is proposed by means of the proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) technique. Formic acid gives a singlet signal at the 8.2-8.4 ppm interval of the spectrum, and its area is used to determine the concentration of the acid. 1,3,5-Benzenetricarboxylic acid is added to the juice as an internal standard. Since the chemical shift of both species varies with the pH, ascorbic acid is also added to adjust it at 2.74 and to avoid the overlapping of the signals. Recoveries between 95 and 109% are obtained when the standard addition method is applied to the juices of five different cider apple varieties. The coefficient of variation obtained is 3.9% for intra-day repeatability (n = 5), and 4.6% for inter-day repeatability (n = 10). The limit of detection is 1.49 mg/l, calculated from “3S_y/x + intercept”. The described method is direct and no previous derivatization is needed.     

New compounds obtained by enzymatic oxidation of phloridzin

Oxidation of phloridzin was studied in a model system in the presence of apple polyphenol oxidase. In addition to 3-hydroxy phloridzin, two major oxidation products were purified by reversed phase HPLC at the semi-preparative scale. Their structures were elucidated by UV, ESI-MSⁿ and NMR spectroscopies. The first compound was a colourless product, whose novel structure strongly differs from its precursor showing a biphenyl moiety and a propionic acid chain. The second product was an oxidised form of the first one and corresponded to a stable yellow pigment with two isomeric forms. A mechanism of formation of these products, which implied successive oxidation and nucleophilic addition steps was proposed.     

Determination of the insecticide fenoxycarb in apple leaf samples by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used for the determination of fenoxycarb in apple leaf samples. Single step extraction procedures with phosphate-citrate buffered solution containing different amounts of methanol were tested showing that a solvent percentage of 20% (v/v) was the best condition, with recoveries between 85 and 100% in the working range of 25-500 μg kg⁻¹ and a negligible matrix effect. The low detection limit reached, 1 μg kg⁻¹ against 50 μg kg⁻¹ for the recommended liquid chromatographic method, makes the ELISA more suitable for determinations of the fenoxycarb residues in apple leaf samples. The reliability of the ELISA was evaluated by assaying the insecticide in spiked and contaminated samples by three different approaches: direct determination, standard addition method with a calibration graph, and the dilution test. The corresponding coefficients of variation were, respectively, 11, 22 and 27%. The direct determination on the (1+1) diluted apple leaf extract was used to measure the insecticide residues in samples collected in the north-eastern Italian regions of Veneto and Trentino-Alto Adige.     

新鲜苹果汁可溶性固形物含量的傅里叶变换近红外光谱检测

用傅里叶变换近红外(FTNIR)光谱透射方式对新鲜苹果汁溶性固形物含量(SSC)进行了快速定量分析。实验共测定了60个果汁样品的SSC,并采集了样品的近红外光谱数据。42个样品用来建模,剩下的18个用来验证模型的性能。对实验室测得的SSC与FTNIR光谱数据进行相关性分析,以TQ 6.2.1定量分析软件中集成的主成分回归法(PCR)和偏最小二乘回归法(PLS)建立了检测模型。该研究对比了不同光谱范围内建立的检测模型的性能。根据预测平方根误差(RMSEP)和相关系数(r2)进行不同模型的预测性能,最好的新鲜苹果汁SSC预测模型的RMSEP＝0.603 0Brix,r2＝0.997。结果表明FT-NIR可以作为一种可靠、准确、快速的无损检测方法来评价新鲜果汁的可溶性固形物含量。     

氨基酸植物组织传感器的研究

选择苹果及仙人球的组织切片作生物催化材料,同氨气敏电极组合,研制了2种对L-谷氨酰胺及L-天冬酰胺选择响应的新型的组织传感器。研究和讨论了传感器的最佳工作条件。用该组织传感器测定了L-天冬酰胺脱氨酶和L-谷氨酰胺脱氨酶的动力学参数K_m和V_m。     

固相微萃取GC-MS法测定苹果不同品种中主要芳香成分的研究

利用固相微萃取(solid phase nmicroelraction,SPME)和气质联用技术对目前果汁生产企业主要用于制汁的金帅、澳洲青苹、国光、新红星、富士及秦冠等品种的主要芳香成分进行定性和定量分析,比较不同品种之间芳香成分在种类和含量上的差异。在香气成分的定量分析中,以脱香果汁为基体加入混合标样,采用内标标准曲线法制作标准曲线,消除由SPME带来的系统误差,提高了实验结果的准确性和精确性。