The impact of technical cashew nut shell liquid on thermally-induced trans isomers in edible oils.

The effects of technical cashew nut shell liquid (TCNSL) on the trans isomerization of edible oils during heating are investigated. Edible oils were subjected to thermal treatment at various heating times and temperatures. Our results show that the addition of TCNSL to edible oils at the appropriate concentration during heating suppresses trans fatty acid formation and induces formation of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) isomers. A concentration of 0.2 % TCNSL demonstrates the best ability to inhibit formation of trans-oleic acid, trans-linoleic acid, and trans-linolenic acid isomers as well as increase the formation of 9 t,11 t-CLA and 10 t,12 t-CLA isomers. Our analysis indicates that the presence of 0.2 % TCNSL in corn oil does not significantly reduce the acid value, but may significantly lower the peroxide value. TCNSL is also observed to have better function compared to Vitamin E (VE) and tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), indicating that it may be considered an effective additive in edible oils.

Complexation of synthetic CDM-AM copolymer with natamycin and carbendazim to improve solubility and fungicidal activity.

The ß-cyclodextrin-acrylamide (CDM-AM) copolymer was prepared from acrylamide and ß-CD maleate (CDM) using K2S2O8 as initiator. The effects of the CDM-AM copolymer on the solubility and fungicidal activity of natamycin (NM) and carbendazim (MBC) were investigated. The stability constant of NM·CDM-AM and MBC·CDM-AM complexes at 303 K were of 10,725.45 M(-1) and 3000.89 M(-1), respectively. The complexes were characterized using phase solubility diagrams, NMR spectra and FT-IR spectra. The analysis of the biological activities of these two complexes indicated that they possessed enhancing fungicidal activities compared to NM and MBC alone.

Synthesis of two ß-cyclodextrin derivatives containing a vinyl group.

ß-CD maleate (CDM) and ß-CD itaconate (CDI) were prepared by esterification of ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) with maleic acid and itaconic acid using phosphate as a catalyst in a semi-dry process. The esterification of ß-CD was carried out using [Itaconic acid ] or [Maleic acid ] 4 mol/mol of CD; M/L ratio 1:0.6; temperature 110 °C; [4-methoxyphenol] 2.5% amount of acid; reaction time 3.5h. The esterification rates of CDM and CDI are 70.38% and 21.02%, respectively. We found that CDM and CDI were both monoesters. Here, we also established a new evaluation method for the rate of esterification.

[Analysis of Spirulina powder by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and calculation of protein content].

Spirulina, Spirulina powder and dextrin standard were analyzed and identified by Infrared (IR) spectroscopy. The main components, protein (1 657 and 1 537 cm(-1)) and carbohydrate (1 069 and 1054 cm(-1)), had distinct fingerprint characteristics of IR spectra. By comparing the IR spectra of Spirulina, Spirulina powder and dextrin standard, the dominant nutrition in Spirulina powder was identified as protein and carbohydrate. The dominant accessory added in Spirulina powder was dextrin. Comparing the IR spectra of Spirulina powder from 28 different factories and figuring out the correlation provides the information about the amount of accessory. A standard curve of the ratio of absorption peak intensities to protein content was constructed to accurately determine the amount of protein in Spirulina powder.