Effect of sorghum pre-processing (roasting and germination) on the replacement level and quality of sorghum-wheat bread: bread characteristics, digestibility, consumer acceptability and microbiological analysis.

Abstract: The present study was focused on the replacement of refined wheat flour (RWF) by control (CS) and processed sorghum flour [germinated (GS) and roasted (RS)] on the properties of flour/batter/dough (particle size, XRD, pasting, dynamic rheology, farinograph) and bread (physical, textural, digestibility, microbiological and sensory). Prominent variations adhered with sorghum processing, but decreasing patterns occurred for flour-water absorption, dough stability times, storage modulus, peak/final/breakdown viscosities, bread-moisture content, specific volume, porosity, and lightness. Flour's pasting temperature, dough development time, breadbulk density, hardness, gumminess, and bitterness increased. Composite flours mainly had weak nature compared to RWF. The baking loss was lower for 10-30% CS and GS incorporation than RS. Composite bread had higher in-vitro protein and starch digestibility (CS > GS > RS) than RWF. Three days storage life with acceptable quality scores was obtained for bread with CS and GS up to 20% and RS up to 30% incorporation. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-023-05810-3.

Jicama (Pachyrhizus spp.) a nonconventional starch: A review on isolation, composition, structure, properties, modifications and its application.

Starch attracts food industries due to their availability in nature, cheapness, biodegradability and possibilities of endless applications. The starch properties and their modification affect food quality. Compared to other cereals, tuber and root starches, more systematic information is needed on the jicama starches (JS). This review article summarizes the isolation, composition, morphology, rheological, thermal and digestibility properties of JS. The modifications and its current and potential applications are also discussed. The chemical composition and structure of JS are different from other starches, influencing its properties. JS has been modified by physical and chemical methods to improve the properties of starch. However, there are very few studies on the modification of JS as compared with other commercial starch although it has been used in food formulation as a stabilizer and to improve the texture of food products. It is also applied as an edible coating to preserve the quality of food products and use as a raw material for making edible and bioplastic packaging. However, large-scale utilization of JS is unexplored compared to commercial starches. Therefore, this review would provide useful information and suggestions for more research on Jicama starch and its industrial applications.

Valorisation of fruit peel bioactive into green synthesized silver nanoparticles to modify cellulose wrapper for shelf-life extension of packaged bread.

Fruit peels are rich source of bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, flavonoids, and antioxidants but are often discarded as waste due to limited pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications. This study aimed to valorise pomegranate and citrus fruit peel into green synthesised silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in order to modify cellulose-based wrapping material for prospective food packaging applications and propose an alternate and sustainable approach to replace polyethene based food packaging material. Four different concentrations of AgNO3 (0.5 mM, 1 mM, 2 mM, and 3 mM) were used for green synthesis of AgNPs from fruit peel bioactive, which were characterised followed by phytochemical analysis. Ultraviolet-Visible spectroscopy showed surface plasmon resonance at 420 nm, XRD analysis showed 2θ peak at 27.8°, 32.16°, 38.5°, 44.31°, 46.09°, 54.76°, 57.47°, 64.61° and 77.50° corresponding to (210), (122), (111), (200), (231), (142), (241), (220) and (311) plane of face centred cubic crystal structure of AgNPs. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis of AgNPs green synthesised from pomegranate and kinnow peel extract showed a major peak at 3277, 1640 and 1250-1020 1/cm while a small peak at 2786 1/cm was observed in case of pomegranate peel extract which was negligible in AgNPs synthesized from kinnow peel extract. Particle sizes of AgNPs showed no statistically significant variance with p > 0.10 and thus, 2 mM was chosen for further experimentation and modification of cellulose based packaging material as it showed smallest average particle size. Zeta potential was observed to be nearly neutral with a partial negative strength due to presence of various phenolic compounds such as presence of gallic acid which was confirmed by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array(UHPLC-PDA) detector. Thermal stability analysis of green synthesised AgNPs qualified the sterilisation conditions up to 100 °C. AgNPs green synthesized from both the peel extracts had higher polyphenolic content, antioxidant and radical scavenging activity as compared to peel extracts without treatment (p < 0.05). The cellulose based food grade packaging material was enrobed by green synthesised AgNPs. The characterisation of modified cellulose wrappers showed no significant difference in thickness of modified cellulose wrappers as compared with untreated cellulose wrapper (p > 0.42) while weight and grammage increased significantly in modified cellulose wrapper (p < 0.05). The colour values on CIE scale (L*, a* and b*) showed statistically significant increase in yellow and green colour (p < 0.05) for modified cellulose wrappers as compared to control wrapper. The oxygen permeability coefficient, water vapour permeability coefficient, water absorption capacity and water behaviour characteristics (water content, swelling degree and solubility) showed significant decrease (p < 0.05) for modified cellulose wrapper as compared to control wrapper. A uniform distribution and density of green synthesised AgNPs across cellulose wrapper matrix was observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images with no significant aggregation, confirming successful enrobing and stable immobilisation of nanoparticles from cellulose matrix. A seven-day storage study of bread wrapped in modified and control cellulose wrappers showed delayed occurrence of microbial, yeast and mould count in bread packaged in modified cellulose wrappers and thus, resulting in shelf life extension of bread. The results are encouraging for the potential applications of modified cellulose wrappers to replace polyethene based food packaging.

Foam mat drying: Recent advances on foam dynamics, mechanistic modeling and hybrid drying approach.

Drying is one of the oldest and most widely used methods for food preservation. It reduces the availability of moisture and inhibits microbial and enzymatic spoilage in food products. Foam mat drying is a mild drying technique used for semiliquid and liquid foodstuff. It is useful for heat-sensitive and sticky liquid food products. In this process, liquid food is converted into foam using surfactant additives, which can be a foaming agent or foam stabilizer. These additives are surface-active compounds of vegetative and animal origins. The foamed material is then convectively dried using hot air. The foam mat drying is an efficient and economical technique. With the emergence of different hybrid techniques such as foam mat freeze drying, foamed spray drying, foamed vacuum drying, and microwave assisted foam mat drying, the powders' physical, chemical, and functional properties have enhanced many folds. These strategies have shown very promising results in terms of cost and time efficiency in almost all the cases barring a few exceptions. This review article attempts to comprehensively summarize the mechanisms dictating the foam mat drying process, novel technological tools for modeling, mathematical and computational modeling, effects of various foaming additives, and various hybrid techniques employed to foam mat drying.

The fate of phenothiazine-based redox shuttles in lithium-ion batteries.

The stability and reactivity of the multiple oxidation states of aromatic compounds are critical to the performance of these species as additives and electrolytes in energy-storage applications. Both for the overcharge mitigation in ion-intercalation batteries and as electroactive species in redox flow batteries, neutral, radical-cation, and radical-anion species may be present during charging and discharging processes. Despite the wide range of compounds evaluated for both applications, the progress identifying stable materials has been slow, limited perhaps by the overall lack of analysis of the failure mechanism when a material is utilized in an energy-storage device. In this study, we examined the reactivity of phenothiazine derivatives, which have found interest as redox shuttles in lithium-ion battery applications. We explored the products of the reactions of neutral compounds in battery electrolytes and the products of radical cation formation using bulk electrolysis and coin cell cycling. Following the failure of each cell, the electrolytes were characterized to identify redox shuttle decomposition products. Based on these results, a set of decomposition mechanisms is proposed and further explored using experimental and theoretical approaches. The results highlight the necessity to fully characterize and understand the chemical degradation mechanisms of the redox species in order to develop new generations of electroactive materials.

N-substituted phenothiazine derivatives: how the stability of the neutral and radical cation forms affects overcharge performance in lithium-ion batteries.

Phenothiazine and five N-substituted derivatives were evaluated as electrolyte additives for overcharge protection in LiFePO4 /synthetic graphite lithium-ion batteries. We report on the stability and reactivity of both the neutral and radical-cation forms of these six compounds. While three of the compounds show extensive overcharge protection, the remaining three last for only one to a few cycles. UV/Vis studies of redox shuttle stability in the radical cation form are consistent with the overcharge performance: redox shuttles with spectra that show little change over time exhibit extensive overcharge performance, whereas those with changing spectra have limited overcharge protection. In one case, we determined that a C-N bond cleaves upon oxidation, forming the phenothiazine radical cation and leading to premature overcharge protection failure; in another case, poor solubility appears to limit protection.

Effectiveness of desensitizing agents.

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of desensitizing agents for the treatment of dentin hypersensitivity. Seventy-five hypersensitive teeth in 10 patients were studied. These were divided into five groups of 15 hypersensitive teeth: group I, control (triple distilled water); group II, 10% strontium chloride; group III, 5% potassium nitrate; group IV, 2% sodium fluoride; and group V, 40% formalin. The stimulus used to test thermal sensitivity was cold water at 15 degrees C, 10 degrees C, 5 degrees C, and 0 degrees C applied on every alternate day for 10 days. Results showed that 10% strontium chloride solution, 2% sodium fluoride solution, and 40% formalin solution significantly reduced dentin hypersensitivity, whereas a 5% solution of potassium nitrate did not.