Emulsifying and foaming properties of native and chemically modified peptides from the 2S and 12S proteins of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

The 2S and 12S proteins of rapeseed were isolated and subsequently hydrolyzed by pepsin or a combination of pepsin plus trypsin. The resulting hydrolysates had a 15% degree of hydrolysis and were purified by gel filtration chromatography in order to obtain homogeneous peptide fractions. Three major fractions, having an average peptide chain length of 7.5–11 amino acids, were recovered. Purified peptide fractions were acylated with butyric anhydride and sulfamidated with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride. The degree of modification was always higher than 90%. Emulsifying and foaming properties of native and chemically modified peptides were studied and compared to those of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as standard. A peptide fraction from the 15% hydrolysis of the 12S protein exhibited the best foaming properties. After sulfamidation, this peptide fraction showed a foam formation similar to that of SDS. Whereas the attachment of toluene groups generally improved the surface properties, the incorporation of an aliphatic chain of four atoms of carbon was detrimental in most of the cases. On the other hand, none of the native or hydrophobized peptide fractions was able to form a stable emulsion.     

A reaction kinetic study of CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> gasification of petroleum coke,coals and mixture

Characteristics of Char-CO₂ gasification were compared in the temperature range of 1,100–1,400 °C using a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) for petroleum coke, coal chars and mixed fuels (Petroleum coke/coal ratios: 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1). The results showed that reaction time decreased with increasing gasification temperature, BET surface area and alkali index of coal. Mixed fuels composed of petroleum coke/coal exhibited reduced activation energies. Modified volumetric reaction model and shrinking core model might be suitably matched with experimental data depending on coal type and petroleum coke/coal ratio. Rate equations were suggested by selecting gas-solid reaction rate models for each sample that could simulate CO₂ gasification behavior.     

Electrical conductivity of vapor‐grown carbon nanofiber/polyester textile‐based composites

Polyamide 6/ethylene–propylene–diene metallocene terpolymer/(ethylene–propylene–diene copolymer)‐graft‐(maleic anhydride) blends with clay (3 and 5 wt % depending on the formulation), different clays (montmorillonite and sepiolite) and different surface functionalization (ammonium salts and silanes) were studied to analyze the effect of the shape of clay and type of modifier on their properties. The results have shown that sepiolite has higher influence on the morphology and on the mechanical properties than montmorillonite. In that sense, blends with 3 wt % of sepiolite have reached the best balanced properties, i.e., tensile modulus and impact strength, than their homologous with montmorillonite. Furthermore, the blends with 3 wt % of sepiolite have reached the highest mechanical properties compared with blends with higher montmorillonite content. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Preparation of polypropylene‐based nanocomposites using nanosized MCM‐41 as support and in situ polymerization

MCM‐41 nanoparticles were used for preparing nanocomposites through the in situ polymerization of propylene. The performance of the catalytic system and the final properties of the materials obtained are highly dependent on the methodology used for impregnation of the catalyst onto the support particles, and therefore an optimization study for the impregnation methodology of the catalyst (Me₂Si(Ind)₂ZrCl₂) was carried out. Two different methodologies were used; the results in terms of catalytic activity and polymer molecular masses indicated that the most promising one involved the pre‐activation of the catalyst with the cocatalyst, methylaluminoxane, followed by impregnation onto the MCM‐41 nanoparticles. Thus, an optimized route for the preparation of polypropylene nanocomposites achieving significant improvements in catalyst activity was developed. The nanocomposite materials were characterized by GPC, TGA and DSC. The dispersion state and the size of the nanoparticles incorporated in the polypropylene matrix were investigated by transmission electron microcopy. Additionally, this methodology allows simultaneous control of the desired amount of support and the concentration of catalyst to be used in the in situ polymerization. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry     

N‐Arylsulfonyl Indolines as Retinoic Acid Receptor‐Related Orphan Receptor γ (RORγ) Agonists

The nuclear retinoic acid receptor‐related orphan receptor γ (RORγ; NR1F3) is a key regulator of inflammatory gene programs involved in T helper 17 (T_H17) cell proliferation. As such, synthetic small‐molecule repressors (inverse agonists) targeting RORγ have been extensively studied for their potential as therapeutic agents for various autoimmune diseases. Alternatively, enhancing T_H17 cell proliferation through activation (agonism) of RORγ may boost an immune response, thereby offering a potentially new approach in cancer immunotherapy. Herein we describe the development of N‐arylsulfonyl indolines as RORγ agonists. Structure–activity studies reveal a critical linker region in these molecules as the major determinant for agonism. Hydrogen/deuterium exchange coupled to mass spectrometry (HDX‐MS) analysis of RORγ–ligand complexes help rationalize the observed results.     

Steric and electronic effects on mesophase stability of segmented liquid crystalline polymers with arylazomethine pendant groups

Summary The kinetics of DL-lactide polymerization was studied in CH₂Cl₂ at 25°C and in toluene at 70°C with HAPENAlOMe, a new Schiff's base complex derived from 2-hydroxyacetophenone and ethylenediamine. A higher polymerization rate is observed with this initiator as compared to other previously reported Al-alkoxides complexes. The polymerization with HAPENAlOMe is also shown to be a living process in both solvents. Moreover, the polymerization proceeds to quite high conversion without significant occurrence of transesterification reactions as confirmed from ¹³C NMR and SEC analysis. Received: 4 October 1999/Accepted: 6 December 1999     

Degradation of organic dye using zero-valent iron prepared from by-product of pickling line

In this study, zero-valent iron (ZVI) was produced using iron oxide that is a by-product of a pickling line at a steel works. The reaction activity of the produced ZVI was evaluated through a series of decomposition experiments of Orange II aqueous solution. The size of ZVI particles increased with reduction temperature due to coalescence. Correspondingly, the specific surface area of ZVI decreased with increasing reduction temperature. The decomposition efficiency of synthesized ZVI particles was higher at a lower pH. In particular, no significant decomposition reaction was observed at pH of 4 and higher. The rate of the ZVI-assisted decomposition of Orange II was increased by addition of H2O2 at pH of 3, whereas it was reduced by addition of H2O2 at a higher pH of 6. Nevertheless, simultaneous use of ZVI, UV and H2O2 led to a considerable increase in the decomposition rate even at a high pH condition (pH = 6).     

Dweb model: Representing Web 2.0 dynamism

Due to the increase in the number and popularity of applications such as e-commerce or on-line booking systems, typical of the Web 2.0, dynamic contents are becoming more and more frequent. This trend suggests the review of widely accepted paradigms and models for the World Wide Web. As a system that is continuously changing, both in the offered applications and in its infrastructure, performance evaluation studies are a main concern to provide sound proposals when designing new web-related systems. Although the dynamism in the workload characterization has also been tackled in previous research, it has not been modeled in a precise way yet because of its complex nature.In this paper we propose the Dweb model which represents the dynamism of current web applications in the workload characterization. Dweb is based on three main concepts that allow to model dynamic workload: navigation, workload test and workload distribution. In addition, a dynamic workload generator has been implemented to show the practical application of the proposed model, which has been illustrated through a case study.