A Review on the Fundamentals of Palm Oil Fractionation: Processing Conditions and Seeding Agents

Fractionation is a well-established process adopted in the fats and oils industries. It involves the separation of low and high melting triacylglycerol under controlled cooling conditions into olein and stearin fractions with distinct chemical and physical properties. Amongst the other vegetable oils, palm oil is one of the most fractionated oils in the past few decades mainly attributed to its semisolid properties. The various fraction of palm oil allows it to be used in different types of food products such as margarine, frying oil, and cocoa butter substitute. In fractionation, proper control of the fractionation conditions is important to produce the fractions with desirable stearin and olein quality. The purpose of this paper is to critically review the fractionation conditions (crystallization temperature, agitation, cooling rate and crystallization time) that affect the yield and quality of the oil produced. Additionally, it also provides the latest updates on the influence of seeding agents (diacylglycerol, monoacylglycerol, hard fat, phytosterol, phospholipid, lecithin, essential oil, sugar, polyglycerol ester, and talc) used in fractionation. This article is useful to provide a fundamental understanding of fractionation to scientists from the industries or academia working in the fats and oils industries. Practical Applications: This paper provides an in-depth understanding of fractionation particularly on the parameters of fractionation in influencing the quality and yield of the stearin and olein produced. It also for the first time presents the effect of addition of various seeding agents on palm oil fractionation which can help the industry to select the appropriate seeding agents to improve the currently employed fractionation process. Thus, it can act as a guideline for the industry to understand and select the appropriate fractionation conditions when developing a new product using this approach. The fractionation conditions discussed here can also be used as a reference when fractionating other types of fats and oils as most of them share a common background.     

Preparation and Bioactivity of Iridium(III) Phenanthroline Complexes with Halide Ions and Pyridine Leaving Groups

A series of half-sandwich structural iridium(III) phenanthroline (Phen) complexes with halide ions (Cl⁻, Br⁻, I⁻) and pyridine leaving groups ([(η⁵-Cp^X)Ir(Phen)Z](PF₆)_n, Cp^x: electron-rich cyclopentadienyl group, Z: leaving group) have been prepared. Target complexes, especially the Cp^xbiph (biphenyl-substituted cyclopentadienyl)-based one, showed favourable anticancer activity against human lung cancer (A549) cells; the best one ( Ir8 ) was almost five times that of cisplatin under the same conditions. Compared with complexes involving halide ion leaving groups, the pyridine-based one did not display hydrolysis but effectively caused lysosomal damage, leading to accumulation in the cytosol, inducing an increase in the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species and apoptosis; this indicated an anticancer mechanism of oxidation. Additionally, these complexes could bind to serum albumin through a static quenching mechanism. The data highlight the potential value of half-sandwich iridium(III) phenanthroline complexes as anticancer drugs.     

Luminescent Amphiphilic Aminoglycoside Probes to Study Transfection

We report the characterization of amphiphilic aminoglycoside conjugates containing luminophores with aggregation-induced emission properties as transfection reagents. These inherently luminescent transfection vectors are capable of binding plasmid DNA through electrostatic interactions; this binding results in an emission “on” signal due to restriction of intramolecular motion of the luminophore core. The luminescent cationic amphiphiles effectively transferred plasmid DNA into mammalian cells (HeLa, HEK 293T), as proven by expression of a red fluorescent protein marker. The morphologies of the aggregates were investigated by microscopy as well as ζ-potential and dynamic light-scattering measurements. The transfection efficiencies using luminescent cationic amphiphiles were similar to that of the gold-standard transfection reagent Lipofectamine® 2000.     

Metal Complexes as Antiviral Agents for SARS-CoV-2

The severe acute respiratory syndrome – coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the infectious agent responsible for COVID-19 – has caused more than 2.5 million deaths worldwide and triggered a global pandemic. Even with successful vaccines being delivered, there is an urgent need for novel treatments to combat SARS-CoV-2, and other emerging viral diseases. While several organic small molecule drug candidates are in development, some effort has also been devoted towards the application of metal complexes as potential antiviral agents against SARS-CoV-2. Herein, the metal complexes that have been reported to show antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 or one of its target proteins are described and their proposed mechanisms of action are discussed.     

聚丙烯改性技术进展

介绍了近年来聚丙烯改性技术研究方面的进展．研究内容包括用结晶成核剂对聚丙烯的晶型进行设计，用橡胶、矿物填料等对聚丙烯进行改性．     

化学镀Ni-Cu-P添加剂的研究

通过对化学镀Ni-Cu-P合金的稳定剂、表面活性剂、光亮剂对镀层性能及镀液稳定性的影响研究，得出最佳实验配方。     

我国木质素油田化学品的发展现状

本文综述了我国木质素类（碱木质素或木质素磺酸盐）油田化学品的最新进展，其中包括钻井液处理剂、油井水泥添加剂、堵水剂、调剖剂、稠油降粘剂和表面活性剂驱油的牺牲剂。目前我国木质素类堵水剂、调剖剂和稠油降粘剂的研究和应用方面已达到或超过世界先进水平，改性木质素磺酸盐的研究也接近国际先进水平，但钻井处理剂和水泥添加剂仅为美国的1／9，许多木质素化学品仍为空白。因此，这些油田化学品仍然是吸引人去研究的课题，期望不久的将来会有较大的进展。     

气相法改性纳米二氧化硅表面

采用硅烷偶联剂A-151处理的纳米二氧化硅粒子，具有良好的疏水性，并且反应副产物没有腐蚀性，有利于保护设备和环境保护。分别用表面羟基数、亲油化度等性能来表征改性纳米二氧化硅的效果。红外光谱分析表明A-151确实已经和纳米二氧化硅表明的羟基发生了化学反应，通过透射电镜研究发现改性后纳米二氧化硅在乙醇中达到纳米级的分散。     

含Fe~(3+)的酸液对钢铁的腐蚀作用及其抑制

钢铁制品的酸浸去除轧制铁鳞以及换热设备酸洗除锈除垢时有Fe~(3+)产生.通过恒电位法和失重法研究了含Fe~(3+)的酸液对钢铁的腐蚀作用及其抑制,结果表明:Fe~(3+)的存在会促进钢铁的腐蚀,一定结构的硫脲衍生物和阴离子表面活性剂之间存在协同效应,能有效地抑制氢离子放电的阴极过程和Fe~(3+)还原的阴极过程,从而抑制金属的腐蚀.