Bacterial polymers as materials for the development of micro/nanoparticles

Bacterial polysaccharides and polyhydroxyalkanoates present physical and chemical characteristics that impart them diverse functional properties, including the ability to produce structures from nano- to macroscale (e.g., spheres, capsules, beads). Such structures may be specially designed to fulfill the requirements of specific applications in different areas, either alone or conjugated with other polymers by means of ionic interactions, hydrogen bonding, or chemical reactions. The interest on using such biomaterials has been increasing due to their unique functional properties, nontoxicity, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. The fields of application of bacterial polymers-based structures include drug delivery, biomedicine, food products, environment, and agriculture, among others.     

红薯淀粉烷基多糖苷的制备及性能

以红薯淀粉、异丙醇、十二醇为主要原料,丙三醇为两相溶剂,利用转糖苷化法合成了红薯淀粉烷基多糖苷表面活性剂,考察了反应温度、反应时间、催化剂用量、原料配比等对烷基多糖苷性能的影响。结果表明:当n(红薯淀粉)∶n(异丙醇)∶n(十二醇)=1∶5∶1,反应温度为110~120℃,反应时间为6h,催化剂用量0.9%时,所得产品的表面张力为24.74~28.12mN/m,临界胶束浓度约为0.202g/L,接触角测试结果显示其润湿性良好,红外和核磁表征结果显示所得产物为目标产物。     

水热法主要提取因素对光皮木瓜多糖结构的影响

目的 优化水热法提取光皮木瓜（Chaenomeles sinensis）多糖的提取工艺条件，对光皮木瓜不溶性多糖的组成和结构进行分析。方法 预处理后的光皮木瓜样品经水热法提取、抽滤、冲洗，浓缩等操作，分别得到不溶性多糖、醇沉多糖和醇溶多糖，通过傅里叶变换红外光谱、扫描电子显微镜及X射线衍射分析不溶性多糖的组成和结构。 结果 多糖提取的较优条件为150 ℃/45 min，料液比1∶10 (W/V)；温度对水热法提取效果影响显著，适当升高温度、延长提取时间和减少料液比有利于多糖提取；高温虽能促进半纤维素溶解，但无法使木质素和木聚糖降解；即使提取温度不同，光皮木不溶性多糖的结构差异也极小；水热法提取光皮木瓜多糖不会导致多糖的功能性基团变化，只改变多糖的化学组成。结论 该研究可为光皮木瓜多糖的结构与功能研究提供实验依据，也为陕西白河光皮木瓜资源的综合利用提供研究参考。     

Influences of superheated steaming and roasting on the quality and antioxidant activity of cooked sweet potatoes

Roasted sweet potato is a popular food because of the attractive aroma produced by the Maillard reaction. However, the roasting process may lead to charred skin. Cooking with superheated (saturated) steam provides a solution to this problem. As the results show, when comparing sweet potatoes cooked by superheated steam, and those roasted for 40 min, respectively, the degree of gelatinisation could reach as high as 95% with only 140 °C superheated steam, while roasting required temperatures up to 240 °C. Moreover, in appearance, the skins of the sweet potatoes cooked using superheated steam were not charred like the roasted ones. However, sweet potatoes roasted at 240 °C for 60 min had the highest overall sensory score. When comparing the antioxidant activity, the sweet potatoes cooked by superheated steam had the highest content of total phenol and flavonoids, the best scavenging ability of 1,1‐diphenyl‐2‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and the highest ferric‐reducing ability of plasma (FRAP).     

Maintenance of postharvest quality and bioactive compounds of fresh‐cut sweet leaf bush (Sauropus androgynus L. Merr.) through hot CaCl2 dips

The effects of hot CaCl₂ dips on postharvest quality and bioactive compounds of fresh‐cut sweet leaf bush were investigated. The vegetable was dipped in 0.5% or 1.0% (w/v) of CaCl₂ solutions at 40 °C for 30 s and the control was the untreated sample. Hot CaCl₂ dips significantly delayed the weight loss, maintained the overall quality and inhibited the wiltness (P < 0.05). Both hot CaCl₂ dips had no effect on the changes in lightness (L*) and delayed the decrease in greenness (‐a*) and total chlorophyll content and the increase in both yellowness (b*) and carotenoid content. Hot CaCl₂ dips enhanced total antioxidants, total phenolics content and both AsA‐POD and G‐POD activities from 38.6, 0.44, 15.2 and 22.4 at day 0 to 55.3, 0.55, 50.5 and 362.4 at day 8, respectively. Moreover, hot CaCl₂ dips also delayed the loss of DPPH free radical scavenging activity, total flavonoid, ascorbic acid and CAT activity when compared to other treatments during storage. This study showed that hot CaCl₂ dip maintains postharvest quality and enhanced bioactive compounds of fresh‐cut sweet leaf bush during storage.     

小芒森甜白葡萄酒质量指标分析

以龙眼、贵人香、雷司令和玫瑰香甜白葡萄酒为参照对象,采用气相色谱、液相色谱及感官品评等技术分析小芒森甜白葡萄酒质量指标的特点。结果表明,小芒森葡萄酒中的2-甲基-1-丁醇、3-甲基-1-丁醇、乙酸乙酯、丁二酸二乙酯、咖啡酰酒石酸含量高于其他类型的甜白葡萄酒;咖啡酸、酒石酸、苹果酸、对位香豆酸和对羟基苯甲酸在小芒森甜白葡萄酒中的含量也相对偏高,上述成分是影响小芒森甜白葡萄酒风味的关键性指标。感官品评结果表明,在色泽和香气方面,小芒森甜白葡萄酒明显优于其他几种类型的甜白葡萄酒,很可能与其含量较高的酸类、醇类和酯类等成分有关。     

Efficiency of removal of whey protein from sweet whey using polymeric microfiltration membranes

Our objective was to measure whey protein removal percentage from separated sweet whey using spiral-wound (SW) polymeric microfiltration (MF) membranes using a 3-stage, 3× process at 50°C and to compare the performance of polymeric membranes with ceramic membranes. Pasteurized, separated Cheddar cheese whey (1,080 kg) was microfiltered using a polymeric 0.3-μm polyvinylidene (PVDF) fluoride SW membrane and a 3×, 3-stage MF process. Cheese making and whey processing were replicated 3 times. There was no detectable level of lactoferrin and no intact α- or β-casein detected in the MF permeate from the 0.3-μm SW PVDF membranes used in this study. We found BSA and IgG in both the retentate and permeate. The β-lactoglobulin (β-LG) and α-lactalbumin (α-LA) partitioned between retentate and permeate, but β-LG passage through the membrane was retarded more than α-LA because the ratio of β-LG to α-LA was higher in the MF retentate than either in the sweet whey feed or the MF permeate. About 69% of the crude protein present in the pasteurized separated sweet whey was removed using a 3×, 3-stage, 0.3-μm SW PVDF MF process at 50°C compared with 0.1-μm ceramic graded permeability MF that removed about 85% of crude protein from sweet whey. The polymeric SW membranes used in this study achieve approximately 20% lower yield of whey protein isolate (WPI) and a 50% higher yield of whey protein phospholipid concentrate (WPPC) under the same MF processing conditions as ceramic MF membranes used in the comparison study. Total gross revenue from the sale of WPI plus WPPC produced with polymeric versus ceramic membranes is influenced by both the absolute market price for each product and the ratio of market price of these 2 products. The combination of the market price of WPPC versus WPI and the influence of difference in yield of WPPC and WPI produced with polymeric versus ceramic membranes yielded a price ratio of WPPC versus WPI of 0.556 as the cross over point that determined which membrane type achieves higher total gross revenue return from production of these 2 products from separated sweet whey. A complete economic engineering study comparison of the WPI and WPPC manufacturing costs for polymeric versus ceramic MF membranes is needed to determine the effect of membrane material selection on long-term processing costs, which will affect net revenue and profit when the same quantity of sweet whey is processed under various market price conditions.     

Stability and antioxidant activity of anthocyanins from purple sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L. cultivar Eshu No. 8) subjected to simulated in vitro gastrointestinal digestion

The study was aimed to investigate the stability and antioxidant activities of anthocyanins obtained from purple sweet potato via an in vitro digestion system. Three fractions of anthocyanin-rich extracts were obtained via ODS packing column. Anthocyanins and copigment (primary phenolic acids) of fraction 2 were investigated during simulated an in vitro gastrointestinal digestion. Anthocyanins and copigment were recognised by UPLC-LTQ-MS/MS. Besides, anthocyanins were found effectively stable under the acidic gastric digestion conditions. However, the anthocyanins recovery was greatly decreased at around 10% after intestinal digestion. An association between the type, number of acylated group and stability to intestinal digestion was found. Di-acylated anthocyanins possessed higher stability compared with mono-acylated anthocyanins and the stability of acylated group in digestion process followed the order of p-hydroxybenzoyl > feruloyl > caffeoyl. However, there was no much difference in copigment content which was found during digestion process. Moreover, the radical scavenging ability and xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibition showed that the digestion products possessed good biological activities mainly due to its anthocyanin composition.     

Isolation and identification of two major acylated anthocyanins from purple sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L. cultivar Eshu No. 8) by UPLC‐QTOF‐MS/MS and NMR

In recent years, researches on the isolation and preparation of monomeric anthocyanins have intensified because of the requirements of quantitative and structure–bioactivity relationship analyses. However, simple and effective methods about the scale of monomeric anthocyanins from the natural purple sweet potato powder are rarely reported. In this study, high molecular weight acylated monomeric anthocyanins were isolated from purple sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L. cultivar Eshu No. 8) via the combination of column chromatography and semi‐preparative HPLC technology and identified mainly by ultra‐high‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (UPLC‐QTOF‐MS/MS) and ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Two major acylated anthocyanins were unambiguously determined as peonidin 3‐O‐(6‐O‐(E)‐caffeoyl‐(2‐O‐(6‐O‐p‐hydroxybenzoyl)‐β‐D‐glucopyranosyl)‐β‐D‐glucopyranoside)‐5‐O‐(β‐D‐glucopyranoside) and peonidin 3‐O‐(6‐O‐(E)‐caffeoyl‐(2‐O‐(6‐O‐(E)‐feruloyl)‐β‐D‐ glucopyranosyl)‐β‐D‐glucopyranoside)‐5‐O‐(β‐D‐glucopyranoside). The results of this study may help promote the purification of high molecular weight acylated anthocyanins from purple sweet potato as well as from other plant materials in nature.