Gamma-oryzanol, a group of phytosterol ferulates found in rice bran, possesses antioxidative activity and other bioactivities. The kinetics of thermal degradation of gamma-oryzanol in stripped rice bran oil (SRBO) were investigated under heating at 132, 160, 192 and 222°C for 480, 140, 60 and 50 h, respectively. Losses of the overall gamma-oryzanol and its components (cycloartenyl ferulate, 24-methylene cycloartanyl ferulate, campesteryl ferulate and β-sitosteryl ferulate) could be expressed by the first-order kinetics model. The rate constant of thermal degradation of gamma-oryzanol increased with increasing heating temperatures. The temperature dependence of the obtained rate constants was found to obey the Arrhenius equation. Campesteryl ferulate showed slightly more thermally resistant than other components at temperature lower than 160°C. However, the change in the absorbance from 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay as a function of heating time exhibited the same pattern for the SRBO with and without gamma-oryzanol for all studied heating temperatures.

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Aquaculture activity has increased the population of crab, hence increasing the generation of related wastes, particularly the shell. In addition, the number of molting process in crabs compounds further the amount of waste shell generated. As such, in the present work, the application of the waste crab shell as a source of CaO in transesterification of palm olein to biodiesel (methyl ester) was investigated. Preliminary XRD results revealed that thermally activated crab shell contains mainly CaO. Parametric study has been investigated and optimal conditions were found to be methanol/oil mass ratio, 0.5:1; catalyst amount, 4 wt. %; and reaction temperature, 338 K. As compared to laboratory CaO, the catalyst from waste crab shell performs well, thus creating another low-cost catalyst source for producing biodiesel as well as adding value to the waste crab shell. Reusability of crab shell CaO has also been studied and the outcome confirmed that the catalyst is capable to be reutilized up to 11 times, without any major deterioration.

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Kojic acid monooleate is a fatty acid derivative of kojic acid which can be widely used as a skin whitening agent in a cosmetic applications. In avoiding any possible harmful effects from chemically synthesized product, the enzymatic synthesis appears to be the best way to satisfy the consumer demand nowadays. The ability of immobilized lipase from Rhizomucor meihei (lipozyme RMIM) to catalyze the direct esterification of kojic acid and oleic acid was investigated. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and 5-level-4-factor central composite rotatable were employed to evaluate the effects of synthesis parameters such as enzyme amount (0.1-0.4 g), temperature (30-60°C), substrate molar ratio (1-4 mmol, kojic acid:oleic acid) and reaction time (24-48 h) on percentage molar conversion to kojic acid monooleate. Analysis of the product using TLC, GC and FTIR showed the presence of kojic acid monooleate. The optimal conditions for the enzymatic reaction were obtained after analysis with backward elimination using 0.17 g of enzyme and 4 mmol of substrate at 52.50°C for 42 h. Under these conditions the esterification percentage was 37.21%. The results demonstrated that response surface methodology can be applied effectively to optimize the lipase-catalysed synthesis of kojic acid monooleate. The optimum conditions can be used to scale up the process.

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Although there are various determination methods for γ -oryzanol contained in rice bran oil by absorptiometry, normal-phase HPLC, and reversed-phase HPLC, their accuracies and the correlations among them have not been revealed yet. Chloroform-containing mixed solvents are widely used as mobile phases in some HPLC methods, but researchers have been apprehensive about its use in terms of safety for the human body and the environment.
   In the present study, a simple and accurate determination method was developed by improving the reversed-phase HPLC method. This novel HPLC method uses methanol/acetonitrile/acetic acid (52/45/3 v/v/v), a non-chlorinated solvent, as the mobile phase, and shows an excellent linearity (y = 0.9527x + 0.1241, R² = 0.9974) with absorptiometry. The mean relative errors among the existing 3 methods and the novel method, determined by adding fixed amounts of γ-oryzanol into refined rice salad oil, were -4.7% for the absorptiometry, -6.8% for the existing normal-phase HPLC, +4.6% for the existing reversed-phase HPLC, and -1.6% for the novel reversed-phase HPLC method. γ -Oryzanol content in 12 kinds of crude rice bran oils obtained from different sources were determined by the four methods. The mean content of those oils were 1.75±0.18% for the absorptiometry, 1.29±0.11% for the existing normal-phase HPLC, 1.51±0.10% for the existing reversed-phase HPLC, and 1.54±0.19% for the novel reversed-phase HPLC method.

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Polycarboxylate-type green surfactants with either sulfide- (S-) or imino- (N-) linkages were prepared in high yields by a single addition reaction of fatty mercaptan or fatty amine with unsaturated polycarboxylic acids such as fumaric, maleic, itaconic and aconitic acids. They exhibited surfactant properties and excellent biodegradabilities. Also, green surfactants with S-linkages showed better calcium ion sequestration abilities compared to the corresponding surfactant having an N-linkage. Among these surfactants, aconitic acid-derived polycarboxylate with an S-linkage exhibited calcium ion sequestration capacities similar to that of disodium 3-oxapentanedioate (ODA), a conventional calcium ion sequestrant on a molar basis of the surfactant.

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Bone char (BC) was prepared by carbonizing four types of animal biomass, and the adsorption of fluoride ions and elution of phosphate ions were investigated. It was found that the BC yield decreased as carbonization temperature increased, and that carbonization temperature had no significant effect on surface pH, base or acid consumptions. Fluoride ion adsorption was increased in BC produced at a low carbonization temperature. The adsorption mechanism of fluoride ion on BCs might be monolayer adsorption. BC can potentially be used to remove fluoride ions in drinking water. However, it was found that phosphate ions from BC are eluted due to adsorption of fluoride ions, and that ingestion of large amounts of phosphate ions inhibits reabsorption of calcium in the human body. Thus there is a need to study the elution behavior of phosphate ions. The adsorption mechanisms of fluoride ions onto BC would be a physical adsorption onto BC and phosphate ion in BC is exchanged to fluoride ion.

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The antioxidative activities of durum wheat flour and its components on linoleic acid were examined at 50°C and 12% relative humidity. The progress of the oxidation was monitored by the pressure change due to the oxygen consumption during the oxidation. The antioxidative capacities were assessed by the length of the induction period for the oxidation. Durum wheat flour and its methanol extract showed antioxidative capacities. Three kinds of gluten, i.e., durum wheat gluten, hard red winter wheat gluten, and hard red spring wheat gluten, also showed antioxidative capacities. On the other hand, wheat starch had no antioxidative capacity. The addition of durum wheat flour, its gluten or its methanol extract to linoleic acid lengthened the induction period depending on the amount of the additive.

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