Response of Properties and Chemicals to Preparation Parameters in the Oxidation Processing of Refined Montan Wax.

Refined montan wax (RMW) is a lignite-based chemical product with wide application and high added value. However, research on its processing and performance is very limited. Currently, four parameters in the key preparation procedure for the oxidation bleaching of RMW, including the concentration of two oxidants (H2SO4 (P1) and CrO3 (P2)), oxidation time (P3), and the mass ratio of CrO3 used in two oxidation steps (P4), were systematically evaluated in regard to their impact on the properties and chemistry of RMW. The results showed that the four tested parameters visibly affected RMW, and each parameter had a different impact on the properties of RMW by range analysis, of which P1 showed a greater influence on its acid value; P2 influenced its friability, specific surface area, and aperture; P3 affected its color, initial melting point, and saponification value; and P4 had a higher impact on its final melting point, melting range, and hardness. Gas chromatography with flame ionization detection-mass spectrometry analysis revealed that the compounds found in RMW samples (RMWs) under different oxidation conditions differed significantly, with major differences in the content and amount of these components. Among the compounds in RMWs, 16 different compounds (variable importance of projection > 1) were found by the orthogonal projections to latent structures discriminant analysis method, nine of which have a strong relationship to the different performances of RMWs. This work provided a basis for the development of performance-oriented preparation processing technology for RMW.

The effect of microorganisms on the biomodification of montan resin from lignite.

Montan resin (MR) is an industrial by-product or solid waste generated during the production of refined montan wax and is not typically reused. In this paper, a bio-modification method using three strains of microorganisms, Acinetobacter venetianus (AV), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA), and Phanerochaete chrysosporium (PC), was studied to promote the performance and bio-function of MR so that MR could be recycled. MR can be degraded by these three microorganisms, and their weight loss rates were similar over the treatment period of 15 days. Compared with the original MR, the hydrophilicity of modified MRs was improved, which was related to the increase in apparent oil-water partition coefficients (Kows) and oxygen-containing and hydrophilic groups in modified MRs based on IR and GC-MS analysis. The bio-function of modified MRs by the three strains in terms of promoting maize seed germination and seedling growth was greater compared with untreated MR. Overall, these findings indicate that biomodified MRs might have useful agriculture applications.Implications: An environmentally-friendly method using microorganisms to achieve recycle of solid waste, montan resin (MR) was established in this study. Through this bio-treatment, the performance and bio-function of MR were both improved, that is the appearance and hydrophilicity of modified MRs were better than thoes in before, and the modified MRs treated by three strains showed the better promoting effects on maize seed germination and seedling growth than untreated MR, indicating the modified MRs have the certain potential of agricultural utilization in the future.

Rapid determination of antioxidant molecules in volatiles of rose tea by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with DPPH reaction.

Volatiles have been regarded as active substances in many foods, whose chemicals can be analyzed by GC-MS qualitatively and quantitatively. However, the activities of volatiles are often studied as a whole, and it has no an effective method to determine that which molecule is active in volatiles by far. In order to identify the antioxidant molecules in volatiles, a rapid determination method was developed by GC-FID/MS combined with DPPH radical reaction in this study. Three antioxidant molecules were identified and validated among 20 components in rose tea infusion. Their activity validation and the methodological evaluation indicated this method could be used for distinguishing antioxidant molecules in volatiles rapidly and effectively.

Biological Modification of Montan Resin from Lignite by Bacillus benzoevorans.

The montan resin (MR) is a solid waste produced during the industrial process of refined montan wax from lignite, and usually disposed by landfill and incineration, which easily cause environmental pollution and resource waste. Based its physicochemical properties, our study attempted to modify MR by Bacillus benzoevorans to achieve ecological utilization of MR. As results, the weight loss rate of MR, expressed as modification degree, was found to increase with the increase of B. benzoevorans-incubated time. The apparent oil-water partition coefficient (Kow), used to evaluate the improvement on hydrophilicity of MR, significantly increased (P < 0.01) after modification. IR analysis showed the functional groups of -OH and C=O in modified MR were more than those in MR. Meanwhile, comparison of the chemical changes between MR and modified MR by relatively quantitative analysis of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) revealed that the content of some chemical components in the latter decreased, and the newly appeared chemical components all had more oxygen-containing functional groups. The bioactivity of the modified MR in agricultural application was evaluated regarding germination and seedling growth of maize seed preliminarly. Compared with the original MR-treated group, the modified MR showed an obvious effect on promoting the growth and germination of maize.

Anti-inflammatory ent-kaurenoic acids and their glycosides from Gochnatia decora.

Nineteen ent-kaurane diterpenes were isolated and identified from the barks of Gochnatia decora (Kurz) A. L. Cabrera (Compositae), which has been used as an ethnic medicine for treating cough, asthma and wounds in southwestern China. Among them, six compounds are previously undescribed ent-kaurenoic acids, and a known compound, 7ß,15ß-dihydroxy-ent-kaur-16-en-19-oic acid, was obtained for the first time from nature. Based on its traditional effects in Chinese folk, the potential anti-inflammatory activities of its methanol extracts (ME) and isolated diterpenes were evaluated by the tests of the xylene-induced ear swelling in mice, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in mouse macrophage cellular RAW 264.7 and inhibition assay of neutrophil elastase, respectively, resulting that ME performed obvious effect against mouse ear swelling with a dose-dependent inhibition in vivo, and nine compounds showed significant inhibition of NO production in vitro, with IC50 values ranging from 0.042 to 8.22 µM, while they also exhibited inhibition of neutrophil elastase at 100 µM in vitro, speculating that those diterpenes may be the active substances correlated with their traditional efficacy.