Isolation of eriocitrin (eriodictyol 7‐O‐rutinoside) as an arachidonate lipoxygenase inhibitor from Lumie fruit (Citrus lumia) and its distribution in Citrus species

An inhibitory compound acting against rat platelet 12‐lipoxygenase was isolated from the peel of Lumie fruit (Citrus lumia) by activity‐guided separation. It was identified as eriocitrin (eriodictyol 7‐O‐rutinoside) by spectroscopic analyses. Eriocitrin inhibited 5‐lipoxygenase (IC₅₀29.1 µmol L^?1) from rat peritoneal polymorphonuclear leukocytes in addition to 12‐lipoxygenase (IC₅₀22.3 µmol L^?1). Its aglycone, eriodictyol (5,7,3′, 4′‐tetrahydroxyflavanone), was a much more potent inhibitor of both 12‐lipoxygenase (IC₅₀0.07 µmol L^?1) and 5‐lipoxygenase (IC₅₀0.20 µmol L^?1). It also inhibited the production of leukotriene B₄ in intact peritoneal polymorphonuclear leukocytes stimulated with calcium ionophore A23187 (IC₅₀12.7 µmol L^?1). The distribution of eriocitrin in 39 citrus fruits was investigated by high‐performance liquid chromatography analysis. Lumie, eureka lemon (Citrus limon), Sambokan (Citrus sulcata), Sudachi (Citrus sudachi) and Koji (Citrus leiocarpa) fruits were found to contain high levels of eriocitrin in both peel and juice vesicles. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

A novel common single primer multiplex polymerase chain reaction (CSP‐M‐PCR) method for the identification of animal species in minced meat

BACKGROUND: Minced meat species adulteration is a severe problem. In this study a common single primer multiplex polymerase chain reaction (CSP‐M‐PCR) method was applied to the identification of five species (chicken, cattle, sheep, pig and horse) in minced meat products. CSP was designed as a common adapter at the 5′‐end of species‐specific reverse primers and employed in giving different length fragments from the respective meat species. RESULTS: Species‐specific DNA fragments could be identified in a single PCR reaction by mixing CSP, Chicken‐R, Cattle‐R, Sheep‐R, Pig‐R and Horse‐R primers in the ratio 1:0.01:0.01:0.01:0.01:0.10 (where ‘1’ represents 0.5 mmol L^?1). The specific DNA fragments could be efficiently amplified by CSP‐M‐PCR with > 5 µmol L^?1 species‐specific primers, except for 50 µmol L^?1 Horse‐R. A detection limit of 0.5 g kg^?1 was determined for both single species of minced meat and all species of five kinds of minced meat. CONCLUSION: The CSP‐M‐PCR method simplified the PCR reaction system and removed the inconsistent amplification efficiency from different primers. This highly sensitive, reproducible and rapid method could potentially be used as a screening or identifying assay to test for the presence of species or ingredients in minced meat and other meat products. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Antioxidant activity of hydrolysates derived from porcine plasma

BACKGROUND: In China alone, more than 400 million pigs are slaughtered each year to provide meat. Porcine blood is rich in proteins but is usually discarded, which can cause environmental contamination. Recovering porcine blood and converting it to high‐value products is therefore economically and environmentally desirable. However, very little information on antioxidant peptides from porcine blood by‐products is currently available. In this study the antioxidant properties of porcine plasma hydrolysates PPE and PPA prepared with pepsin and papain respectively were investigated. RESULTS: Both PPE and PPA showed excellent antioxidant activity in a linoleic acid system (AL) compared with α‐tocopherol (VE) at the same concentration (P < 0.01). Their activities were respectively 3.33 and 1.83 times stronger than that of VE at a concentration of 10 µg mL^?1 and 5.4 and 5.6 times stronger at 100 µg mL^?1. The 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical‐scavenging activity (DRSA) reached 48.4 and 43.1% for PPE and PPA respectively at 500 µg mL^?1. The ferrous ion‐chelating power (FICP) of PPE at 100 µg mL^?1 was about 1.5 times stronger than that of 10 µmol L^?1 ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) in a 50 µmol L^?1 Fe²⁺ system, whereas the FICP of PPA at 100 µg mL^?1 was 61% that of 10 µmol L^?1 EDTA. Furthermore, PPE was separated on Resource 15RPC and Superdex peptide 10/300GL columns, and the antioxidant activity of the peptides and its relationship to their polarity and molecular weight (MW) were analysed. The hydrolysate was divided into four groups (R1–R4) with hydrophobicities ranging from weak to strong by Resource 15RPC, while it was divided into three groups (S1, MW 7–12 kDa; S2, MW 3–7 kDa; S3, MW 1–3 kDa) by Superdex peptide 10/300GL. CONCLUSION: The results showed that AL was significantly and positively correlated with the relative amounts of R1, S2 and S3 and that DRSA was dependent on R3 and S1. The fractions of PPE were not responsible for FICP. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Multitoxin extraction and detection of trichothecenes in cereals: an improved LC‐MS/MS approach

BACKGROUND: Many multiresidual methods to evaluate natural occurrence of Fusarium toxins are already reported in the scientific literature but a new rapid, reliable, cost‐efficient and high‐sensitivity method for the simultaneous determination of several fusariotoxins is always welcome. Nivalenol (NIV), deoxynivalenol, fusarenon‐X (FUS‐X), 3‐acetyldeoxynivalenol, diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS), HT‐2 toxin, T‐2 toxin, neosolaniol (NEO), zearalanone and zearalenone (ZON) belong to the most common mycotoxins in food matrix grains, e.g., wheat and maize. The proposed method is a multitoxin analytical method that combines high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI), triple‐quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) under the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode, and it is focused on the optimization of the sample preparation without the need for any cleanup. RESULTS: Three different methods for sample preparation and for the simultaneous extractions of the above‐mentioned fusariotoxins were tested: two of these were followed by a different cleanup step for comparison, while the extraction method proposed in this work, which uses an 84% (v/v) acetonitrile aqueous solution, sample homogenization and subsequent filtration, was validated without any further cleanup step. CONCLUSION: Calibration curves for all analytes are linear, except DAS, HT‐2 and ZON, over the working range of 10–1000 µg kg^?1. The calibration curve of DAS was linear between 10 and 500 µg kg^?1, although the curves of HT‐2 and ZON were linear in the range 10–250 µg kg^?1. Squared correlation coefficients (R²) were in the range 0.995–0.998 for the all point calibration curves. The lowest limits of detection (LOD) were found for DON and ZAN with 0.5 and 0.2 µg kg^?1, respectively, while the highest LODs were obtained for NIV, FUS‐X and NEO, with 3.3 µg kg^?1 for each toxin. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

Natural deep eutectic solvent-based ultrasound-assisted-microextraction for extraction,pre-concentration and analysis of methylmercury and total mercury in fish and environmental waters by spectrophotometry

ABSTRACT

In this study, a simple, pH-controlled, and natural deep eutectic solvent-based microextraction (NADES-ME) procedure is proposed before the spectrophotometric analysis of methylmercury (MeHg) and total mercury in fish and environmental waters. The method is based on charge-transfer sensitive ion-pair formation between MeHg and 3-(dimethylamino)-7-(methylamino)phenothiazin-5-ium chloride (Azure B – AzB) in the presence of chelating citrate-phosphate buffer at pH 6.0, and then extraction of the formed ion-pair complex with the NADES. The important variables affecting extraction efficiency were evaluated and optimised. At optimal conditions (300 µL of 1.0 × 10^?3 mol L^?1 AzB, 600 µL NADES (betaine-sorbitol, 1:3) containing 10% water (v/v) as extractant, 375 µL acetonitrile as aprotic solvent for sonication of 7 min at power of 300 W/40 kHz, and centrifugation at 4000 rpm for 3 min, respectively), the figures of merit for MeHg include a good linearity in the concentration range of 0.7–340 µg L^?1, limits of detection and quantification of 0.25 and 0.83 µg L^?1, and pre-concentration and sensitivity enhancement factors of 120 and 95, respectively. Figures of merit for total Hg (iHg, where Hg₂²⁺ ions are predominantly present in natural oxygen-rich waters such as freshwaters and seawater as well as elemental Hg and Hg²⁺ ions at very low amounts) after pre-oxidation at pH 5.0 include linearity range of 3–270 µg L^?1 with limits of detection and quantification of 0.92 and 3.10 µg L^?1, and pre-concentration and sensitivity enhancement factors of 120 and 35, respectively. The reliability (with recovery of 92–98.7% and RSD of 1.9–5.5%) was statistically validated by analysis of two standard reference materials (SRMs) with and without spiking. The method was successfully applied to the speciation analysis of total Hg, iHg and MeHg in fish and environmental waters.     

Effects of exogenous nitric oxide on contents of soluble sugars and related enzyme activities in 'Feicheng' peach fruit

BACKGROUND: Sugar content is one of the main characteristics related to the quality of fruit. Research confirms that nitric oxide (NO) involves a physiological process and prolongs the storage life of fruit. However, little attention has been paid to the effects of NO on sugar metabolism in fruit during storage. In this study, the effect of different concentrations (0, 10, 30 µmol L^?1) of exogenous NO treatment on sugar content and related enzyme activities in ‘Feicheng’ peach fruit was investigated during storage (0–12 days after harvest) at room temperature (25 °C). RESULTS: Results showed that the decrease of firmness and accumulation of sugar and acid:sugar ratio in peach fruit during storage were significantly inhibited by treatment with 10 µmol L^?1 NO. Treatment with 10 µmol L^?1 NO could promote fructose and glucose metabolism during the first 4 days of storage, and increase the content of sucrose and the activities of sorbitol dehydrogenase, sorbitol oxidase and sucrose phosphate synthase in peach fruit during storage. However, acid invertase activity from 8 to 12 days of storage and neutral invertase activity during the first 4 days of storage were inhibited by treatment with 10 µmol L^?1 NO. At the same time, treatment with 10 µmol L^?1 NO inhibited sucrose synthase (SS) activity in decomposition during storage and SS activity in synthesis from 8 to 12 days of storage. CONCLUSION: Treatment with 10 µmol L^?1 NO had a significant impact on content of soluble sugars and related enzyme activities in ‘Feicheng’ peach fruit during storage (0–12 days) at room temperature (25 °C). Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

In‐house validation of a high‐performance liquid chromatography analytical method for quantification of ochratoxin A in unfermented grape juice

A validated high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with fluorescence detection for the quantitative analysis of ochratoxin A (OTA) in unfermented grape juice is described. Five millilitres of unfermented grape juice was mixed with 45 mL of PBS, and the pH was adjusted to 7.2. Then the mixture was filtered under vacuum through a glass microfibre filter and cleaned up with immunoaffinity columns prior to analysis by HPLC. Validation of the analytical method was based on the following criteria: selectivity, linearity, limit of detection and quantification, precision (within‐day and between‐day variability) and recovery and uncertainty estimation. Detection and quantification limits obtained were 0.02 µg L^?1 and 0.05 µg L^?1 respectively. The percentage recovery was 91.5% (RSD = 3.9). This method was applied to the measurement of 30 veraison stage unfermented grape juice samples. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Development of a chemiluminescent enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay for five sulfonamide residues in chicken muscle and pig muscle

BACKGROUND: An enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on polyclonal antibodies with enhanced chemiluminescent (ECL) detection of sulfonamides in food samples has been optimised and characterised. The specificity of the assay was assessed by determining cross‐reactivities with a set of 16 sulfonamides. The aim of this study was to develop a method for determining sulfonamides with high sensitivity. RESULTS: The sensitivity of the developed ECL‐ELISA was higher than that of colorimetric ELISA. The sensitivities of five of the sulfonamides (sulfisozole, sulfathiazole, sulfameter, sulfamethoxypyridazine and sulfapyridine) ranged from 0.73 to 2.92 µg L^?1, with limits of detection of 0.10–0.43 µg L^?1. The coefficients of variation of intra‐assay and inter‐assay studies carried out over 5 days were mostly less than 10%. Recovery studies of chicken muscle and pig muscle were performed with simple and rapid extraction. Good recoveries (62.1–110.3%) were achieved and the results correlated well with those obtained using high‐performance liquid chromatography analysis. CONCLUSION: This study has provided an effective analytical technique for the rapid and reliable determination of residues of sulfisozole, sulfathiazole, sulfameter, sulfamethoxypyridazine and sulfapyridine in food samples with high sensitivity. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report on chemiluminescent ELISA for sulfonamide analysis. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Multi-element determination in some foods and beverages using silica gel modified with 1-phenylthiosemicarbazide

ABSTRACT

1-Phenylthiosemicarbazide bonded modified silica gel (PTC-SG) was synthesised and characterised by FTIR, SEM and elemental analysis for a novel separation/preconcentration of multiple elements based on solid phase extraction. The analytical parameters including pH of solutions, amounts of PTC-SG, flow rates of sample, eluent type and sample volume were optimised. The adsorption capacities of PTC-SG were found to be 7.9, 6.4, 6.3, 8.3, 7.2, 8.9 and 6.6 mg/g for Cu(II), Cd(II), Pb(II), Co(II), Cr(III), Ni(II) and Mn(II), respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) was calculated as 3x the standard deviation(s) of the reagent blank (k = 3, N = 21) and the LOD values were obtained to be 0.98 µg L^?1 (Cu), 0.65 µg L^?1 (Cd), 0.57 µg L^?1 (Pb), 1.12 µg L^?1 (Co), 1.82 µL^?1 (Cr), 1.67 µg L^?1 (Ni) and 0.55 µg L^?1 (Mn). Certified reference materials were used to test the validation of the present method. The new solid phase extraction method was successfully applied to determination of the amount of multiple elements in food and beverage samples.     

Improvement of L(+)‐lactic acid production from cassava wastewater by Lactobacillus rhamnosus B 103

BACKGROUND: L (+)‐Lactic acid is used in the pharmaceutical, textile and food industries as well as in the synthesis of biodegradable plastics. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different medium components added in cassava wastewater for the production of L (+)‐lactic acid by Lactobacillus rhamnosus B 103. RESULTS: The use of cassava wastewater (50 g L^?1 of reducing sugar) with Tween 80 and corn steep liquor, at concentrations (v/v) of 1.27 mL L^?1 and 65.4 mL L^?1 respectively led to a lactic acid concentration of 41.65 g L^?1 after 48 h of fermentation. The maximum lactic acid concentration produced in the reactor after 36 h of fermentation was 39.00 g L^?1 using the same medium, but the pH was controlled by addition of 10 mol L^?1 NaOH. CONCLUSION: The use of cassava wastewater for cultivation of L. rhamnosus is feasible, with a considerable production of lactic acid. Furthermore, it is an innovative proposal, as no references were found in the scientific literature on the use of this substrate for lactic acid production. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

A proposed mechanism for the inhibition of soybean lipoxygenase by β‐carotene

The inhibition mechanism of soybean lipoxygenase (LOX) by β‐carotene was studied. Addition of β‐carotene into the reaction mixture decreased the rate of conjugated diene formation. Increasing the concentration of β‐carotene in the reaction mixture resulted in a decrease in the rate of conjugated diene formation. Although the rate of conjugated diene formation was lower in the presence of β‐carotene, the same amounts of linoleic acid hydroperoxides were formed by the enzyme at the end of the reaction, both with and without β‐carotene in the reaction medium. The rates of conjugated diene formation for 40, 20, 10 and 4 U mL^?1 LOX enzyme were almost equal to zero when the concentrations of β‐carotene were 20, 17.5, 15 and 10 µmol L^?1 in model reaction systems, respectively. β‐Carotene directly influences the amount of enzyme in the reaction medium available for the catalytic conversion of linoleic acid into corresponding hydroperoxides. The results obtained here suggest that β‐carotene reacts with linoleyl radical (L^?) at the beginning of the chain reaction, preventing the accumulation of conjugated diene forms (LOO^?, LOO^? and LOOH). Since L^? transforms back to its original form of LH, the enzyme cannot complete the chain reaction and thus remains at inactive Fe(II) form. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Scirpusin A,a hydroxystilbene dimer from Xinjiang wine grape,acts as an effective singlet oxygen quencher and DNA damage protector

BACKGROUND: Grapes and red wines are rich sources of phenolic compounds such as anthocyanins, catechins, flavonols and stilbenes, most of which are potent antioxidants showing cardioprotective properties. We first isolated scirpusin A, a hydroxystilbene dimer, from a wine grape of Xinjiang, and studied its antioxidant activity. RESULTS: Reactive oxygen species scavenging effects and the protection against reactive singlet oxygen‐induced DNA damage of scirpusin A have been investigated in our experiments. The concentration of scirpusin A required to inhibit 50% of ¹O₂ generation was 17 µmol L^?1, while addition of scirpusin A at 140 µmol L^?1 caused complete inhibition. Further kinetic study revealed that the reaction of Scirpusin A with singlet oxygen has an extremely high rate constant (k_a = 4.68 × 10⁹ L mol^?1 s^?1). Scirpusin A (140 µmol L^?1) exhibited significant inhibition effects on pBR322 DNA breakage. However, scavenging effects of scirpusin A on superoxide anion O₂^?? and hydroxyl radical ·OH were not potent as the inhibitor rates at a concentration of 1400 µmol L^?1 were 28.83% and 19.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The present study shows that scirpusin A is a selective quencher of singlet oxygen and a protector against reactive singlet oxygen‐induced pBR322 DNA damage at very low concentrations. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Switchable hydrophilicity solvent based and solidification-assisted liquid-phase microextraction combined with GFAAS for quantification of trace soluble lead in raw bovine and derivative milk products

ABSTRACT

A novel microextraction method was developed by combining CO₂-controlled switchable hydrophilicity solvent (SHS) with solidification of the aqueous phase (SAP), referred to as CSHS-SAP. It was applied for pre-concentration/extraction of the complexes of Pb-ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC) prior to GFAAS detection in raw bovine milk and milk products (whole-fat, half-skimmed and skimmed milks). In the CSHS-SAP microextraction, a clear interface was easily formed, and convenient and complete collection was achieved by directly transferring the SHS phase into a vial, which overcame the shortcomings of blurred interface and difficult collection of SHS phase using CSHS-based microextraction. SAP led to the increase of extraction recoveries for Pb²⁺ by 8–11%. Some important factors were optimised using a one-factor-at-a-time approach: 800 µL of N,N-dimethylbutylamine and water at a ratio of 1:1 as SHS, 1.0 g L^?1 APDC as chelating agent, sample pH = 6.0, 0.6 mL of 1.0 mol L^?1 NaOH, solidification time of 70 min and 300 µL of 0.5 mol L^?1 HNO₃ for back extraction. Under optimised conditions, limits of detection were as low as 0.01–0.02 µg kg^?1 and enrichment factors reached more than 23-fold. Inter- and intra-day precisions had relative standard deviations of 3.6–6.4%. With the CSHS-SAP/GFAAS method Pb²⁺ was detected at 0.5–1.8 µg kg^?1 in four bovine raw milk samples, which were collected from Hubei and Henan Provincial oil-producing area, China. However, Pb²⁺ was below the LOD in all of the local milk products. Overall, the newly developed CSHS-SAP/GFAAS method is convenient, efficient and robust, giving it great potential for rapid and accurate analysis of trace Pb²⁺ in liquid milks.     

Fate of aflatoxin B(1) in contaminated corn gluten during acid hydrolysis

BACKGROUND: Aflatoxins are a group of mycotoxins that cause serious chronic disease outbreaks and contaminate several food products such as corn and its by‐product, corn gluten. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of hydrochloric acid (HCl) on aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) degradation in contaminated corn gluten under different HCl concentrations, hydrolysis temperatures and hydrolysis times. RESULTS: During the wet milling process the highest AFB₁ level (45.68 µg kg^?1) (37.86%) was found in corn gluten fraction. Treatment with 1 mol L^?1 HCL at 110 °C resulted in degradation of AFB₁ by 27.6% (33.07 µg kg^?1) after 4 h and reached 42.5% (26.26 µg kg^?1) after 8 h. Increasing HCl concentration from 1 to 3 mol L^?1 HCl resulted in increased degradation of AFB₁, while complete degradation occurred in the presence of 5 mol L^?1 HCl after 4 h at 110 °C. Meanwhile, half‐life time of AFB₁ was recorded after 2 h at 100 °C and was < 2 h at 110 °C in the presence of 3 mol L^?1 HCl. CONCLUSION: It could be demonstrated that the manufacture of hydrolyzed vegetable protein is a suitable method for decontamination of aflatoxin in highly contaminated grains, especially gluten fractions. The hydrolysis reaction could be considered in terms of first‐order reaction kinetics of AFB₁ degradation. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

α‐Glucosidase and α‐amylase inhibitory activities of phloroglucinal derivatives from edible marine brown alga,Ecklonia cava

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by defects in insulin secretion and action, which can lead to damaged blood vessels and nerves. With respect to effective therapeutic approaches to treatment of DM, much effort has being made to investigate potential inhibitors against α‐glucosidase and α‐amylase from natural products. The edible marine brown alga Ecklonia cava has been reported to possess various interesting bioactivities, which are studied here. RESULTS: In this study, five phloroglucinal derivatives were isolated from Ecklonia cava: fucodiphloroethol G ( 1 ), dieckol ( 2 ), 6,6′‐bieckol ( 3 ), 7‐phloroeckol ( 4 ) and phlorofucofuroeckol A ( 5 ); compounds 1, 3 and 4 were obtained from this genus for the first time and with higher yield. The structural elucidation of these derivatives was completely assigned by comprehensive analysis of nuclear magnetic spectral data. The anti‐diabetic activities of these derivatives were also assessed using an enzymatic inhibitory assay against rat intestinal α‐glucosidase and porcine pancreatic α‐amylase. Most of these phlorotannins showed significant inhibitory activities in a dose‐dependent manner, responding to both enzymes, especially compound 2 , with the lowest IC₅₀ values at 10.8 µmol L^?1 (α‐glucosidase) and 124.9 µmol L^?1 (α‐amylase), respectively. Further study of compound 2 revealed a non‐competitive inhibitory activity against α‐glucosidase using Lineweaver‐Burk plots. CONCLUSION: These results suggested that Ecklonia cava can be used for nutritious, nutraceutical and functional foods in diabetes as well as for related symptoms. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

A sensitivity-improved enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for fenvalerate: a new approach for hapten synthesis and application to tea samples

BACKGROUND: Fenvalerate has been widely used for the control of many common pests, but residues of this pesticide have been found in some agricultural crops. China is a large exporter of tea products; thus monitoring of pesticide residues in tea products has become increasingly important. In this study, a method of competitive direct enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (CD‐ELISA) for the rapid detection of fenvalerate in tea sample was developed. RESULTS: A polyclonal antibody against fenvalerate (FEN) was produced by the hapten with the characteristic moiety of fenvalerate. After acidification, the hapten was synthesized from 2‐(4‐chloro‐phenyl)‐3‐methyl‐butyric acid and aminocaproic acid methyl ester. The CD‐ELISA method developed has a high sensitivity of detection: 9 µg L^?1 for IC₅₀ and 0.5 µg L^?1 for IC₁₅. Fenvalerate was treated with 0.5 mmol L^?1 NaOH–methanol solution to improve its solubility by isomerization. In the tea sample, the detection limit of fenvalerate was 0.16 mg L^?1. A recovery rate of 76.67–91.43% was obtained from spiked tea. The reliability of the CD‐ELISA method is better in comparison with the gas chromatographic method (R² = 0.9968). CONCLUSION: In this study, a simple and efficient immunoassay method was developed. It is preferable for the rapid determination of fenvalerate residues in tea samples. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry     

Ochratoxin A in wines,musts and grape juices from Spain

A survey on the occurrence of ochratoxin A (OTA) in 240 grape‐based beverages was carried out. Red and white wines from four different Spanish Designations of Origin (n = 160), musts (n = 20), grape juices (n = 10), ordinary wines (n = 20), special wines (Malaga, muscatel, sherry, vermouth, etc) (n = 20) and sparkling wines (n = 10) were assayed for OTA content using immunoaffinity column clean‐up and high‐performance liquid chromatography with fluorimetric detection (detection limit 0.05 µg l^?1). Forty‐three (17.9%) of the samples tested contained detectable levels of OTA. The overall mean OTA concentration in red and white wines of Designations of Origin was 0.30 and 0.18 µg l^?1 respectively (ranges 0.05–3.19 and 0.05–1.13 µg l^?1 respectively). The percentage of wine samples with detectable amounts of OTA was higher for red (18.3%) than for white (10%) wines. OTA was also found in two of 10 red ordinary wines (0.68 and 4.24 µg l^?1), whereas none of 10 white ordinary wines contained OTA. The mean OTA amount detected in sparkling wines was 0.44 µg l^?1 (range 0.14–0.71 µg l^?1). Two of 20 must samples contained OTA at low levels (0.08 and 0.18 µg l^?1), while none of 10 grape juice samples contained OTA. Highest amounts of OTA were found in special wines (45%), with a maximum of 15.25 µg l^?1 in a muscatel sample. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Chemical characteristics of Śliwowica Łącka and other plum brandies

BACKGROUND: ?liwowica ??cka is a strong, distilled, home‐made plum brandy produced in a submontane region of Poland. The aim of the present study was to determine the chemical composition of this alcoholic beverage (samples from the years 2001–2004) and compare it with that of other plum brandies. Gas chromatography and spectrophotometry methods were used to detect major volatile components. RESULTS: Home‐made Polish plum brandies generally contained more ethanol (64.7–72.5% v/v), methanol (5.59–8.74 g L^?1100°) and butanol (32–335 mg L^?1100°) and less isobutanol (406–491 mg L^?1100°), pentanol (4.3–14.9 mg L^?1100°) and 2‐phenylethanol (61–68 mg L^?1100°) than other samples. The amyl alcohols/1‐propanol and isobutanol/1‐propanol ratios might be used as indices to distinguish spontaneously fermented plum brandies from those produced by monoculture. Statistically significant differences (P < 0.01) were found in the plum brandy sensory characteristics examined. Total sensory scores of Polish plum brandies ranged between 12.0 and 14.3, while Slovakian Slivovica received the highest score (16.7). CONCLUSION: The results showed that plum brandies produced in the ??cko area are characterised by a similar and original chemical composition that results mainly from spontaneous fermentation as well as traditional production technology. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Polyphenol oxidase activity of two olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivars as an early criterion of Mn toxicity

BACKGROUND: The time course of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity in the leaves of two olive cultivars (Picual and FS‐17) irrigated with nutrient solutions differing in Mn concentration (0, 2 and 1280 µmol L^?1) was studied under hydroponic conditions to determine whether PPO activity could be used as an early criterion of Mn status of olive plants, and to elucidate whether genotypic differences exist between the two olive cultivars studied, concerning the effect of Mn concentration on PPO activity. RESULTS: In all the Mn treatments, PPO activity was greater in Picual than in FS‐17. Under excess Mn (1280 µmol L^?1), PPO activity gradually increased with time, starting from day 30 of the experiment in both cultivars, and this increase preceded the appearance of Mn toxicity symptoms. In contrast, in the other two Mn treatments (0 and 2 µmol L^?1) PPO activity increased and afterwards decreased during the experiment, but the trend was not clear. In the 1280 µmol L^?1 treatment, PPO activity linearly increased (R = 0.8836 for Picual and 0.943 for FS‐17) with the increase of Mn concentration in the leaves of both cultivars. In the 1280 µmol L^?1 Mn treatment, PPO activity was negatively related with Fe and Zn concentrations in the leaves, and positively in the 0 and 2 µmol L^?1 Mn treatments with the Ca, Mg and K concentrations. CONCLUSION: From the differential time course of PPO activity in the three Mn treatments (0, 2 and 1280 µmol L^?1), it is concluded that periodic measurements of PPO activity in the leaves of the olive cultivars Picual and FS‐17 can be used for the early detection of Mn toxicity (before the appearance of symptoms). Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

1,3‐Dimethoxybenzene,a newly identified component of port wine

1,3‐Dimethoxybenzene was identified by GC–O, GC–MS and Kovats indices (polar Supelcowax, 1709; non‐polar Rtx‐5MS, 1158) as a new volatile component of port wine. Sensory evaluation described this compound as having a sweet medicinal odour with hazelnut, resinous and woody notes. Respective threshold limits in model wine and port wine were 21 and 47 µg l^?1. Quantitative analysis by GC–MS, using a selected characteristic ion (m/z 138), indicated that young port wines from the 1998 vintage contained up to 3 µg l^?1 whereas ports from the 1999 vintage contained up to 20 µg l^?1. © 2002 Society of Chemical Industry