Synthesis of Imidazole-Based Molecules under Ultrasonic Irradiation Approaches.

Imidazole-based compounds are a series of heterocyclic compounds that exhibit a wide range of biological and pharmaceutical activities. However, those extant syntheses using conventional protocols can be time-costly, require harsh conditions, and result in low yields. As a novel and green technique, sonochemistry has emerged as a promising method for organic synthesis with several advantages over conventional methods, including enhancing reaction rates, improving yields, and reducing the use of hazardous solvents. Contemporarily, a growing body of ultrasound-assisted reactions have been applied in the preparation of imidazole derivatives, which demonstrated greater benefits and provided a new strategy. Herein, we introduce the brief history of sonochemistry and focus on the discussion of the multifarious approaches for the synthesis of imidazole-based compounds under ultrasonic irradiation and its advantages in comparison with conventional protocols, including typical name-reactions and various sorts of catalysts in those reactions.

Effects of Steam and Water Blanching on Drying Characteristics, Water Distribution, Microstructure, and Bioactive Components of Gastrodia Elata.

In the current work, the effects of steam and boiling water blanching on the drying characteristics, water distribution, microstructure, and contents of bioactive substances of Gastrodia elata (G. elata) were explored. Results showed that the degree of steaming and blanching was related to the core temperature of G. elata. The steaming and blanching pretreatment increased the drying time of the samples by more than 50%. The low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) of treated samples showed that the relaxation time corresponded to water molecule states (bound, immobilized, and free) and G. elata became shorter, which indicated a reduction in free moisture and increased resistance of water diffusion in the solid structure during drying. Hydrolysis of polysaccharides and gelatinization of starch granules was observed in the microstructure of treated samples, which was consistent with changes in water status and drying rates. Steaming and blanching increased gastrodin and crude polysaccharide contents and decreased p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol content. These findings will contribute to a better understanding of the effect of steaming and blanching on the drying behavior and quality attributes of G. elata.

Effects of vacuum-steam pulsed blanching on drying kinetics, colour, phytochemical contents, antioxidant capacity of carrot and the mechanism of carrot quality changes revealed by texture, microstructure and ultrastructure.

An emerging blanching technology, namely vacuum-steam pulsed blanching (VSPB) was employed to blanch the carrots and its effects on blanching efficiency, microstructure and ultrastructure, drying kinetics, colour, texture, phytochemicals (phenolics and ß-carotene) and antioxidant capacity of carrot slices were explored and compared with the traditional hot water blanching. Results showed that both blanching treatments enhanced the drying velocity and shortened the drying time by 25.9% compared with untreated samples. VSPB yielded higher blanching efficiency, better colour (more red and yellow), greater antioxidant capacity and higher preservation of phytochemicals compared with hot water blanched samples. Especially, compared to hot water blanched carrots, the p-hydroxybenzoic acid, ferulic acid, and caffeic acid content of VSPB samples increased of 106.6%, 42.0%, and 19.0%, respectively. Interestingly, the chlorogenic acid content in the blanched carrot increased more than 220 times compared to fresh samples. Ultrastructure and microstructure observation clarify the mechanism of quality enhancement of VSPB.

[Calibration Transfer of Near Infrared Spectrometric Models for Crude Protein of Protein Feed Materials].

The near infrared spectrometric quantitative model of protein feed and its sharing in different instruments can greatly improve the utilization efficiency of the model and meet the needs of rapid development of feed industry. Considering the issue of applicability of near infrared spectrometric models for crude protein of protein feed materials, calibration transfer was explored among three types of instruments using spectral subtraction correction, direct standardization and piecewise directs standardization methods for the first time. Four kinds of protein feed raw materials were involved in the present study, corn protein powder, rapeseed meal, fish meal and distillers dried grains with soluble. The experimental instruments included MATRIX-I Fourier transform near infrared instrument (master instrument), Spectrum 400 Fourier transform near infrared instrument (slave 1 instrument), and SupNIR-2750 grating near infrared instrument (slave 2 instrument). Results showed that the spectral data difference for all the samples between the master and slave 2 instrument was relatively small, and the difference between the master and slave 1 instrument, and slave 1 and slave 2 instrument were relatively large. All the root mean square error of prediction and bias values after calibration transfer were lower than the values before calibration transfer, except that no improvement was found for the prediction of corn protein powder of slave 2 instrument corrected by piecewise direct standardization method. The relative prediction deviation (RPD) of corn protein powder, rapeseed meal and distillers dried grains with soluble transferred by all three methods were higher than 3, which indicated good predictions, while the RPD of fish meal were all higher than 2.5, which indicated relative good predictions. All three techniques used in the study were effective in the correction of the difference between different instruments for protein feed materials. This study is of important practical significance for the application of near infrared spectrometric models for crude protein of protein feed materials.