Egyptian jojoba seeds newly cultivated in Ismailia desert in Egypt promoted us to determine its lipid components. Fatty alcohols, fatty acids, wax esters and sterols patterns were determined by capillary GLC whereas, tocopherols profile, isopropenoid alcohols and sterylglycosides were determined by HPLC. The Egyptian seeds are rich in wax esters (55 %) with fatty alcohols C20:1and C22:1 as major components and amounted to 43.0 % and 45.6 % respectively followed by C24:1 and C18:1(9.6 % and 1.3 % respectively). The fatty acids profile showed that C20:1 is the major constituent (60 %) followed by C18:1and C22:1 (14.5 and 11.8 % respectively) whereas C24:1 was present at low concentration amounted to 1.6 %. In addition, the Egyptian jojoba wax contained C18:2 fatty acid at a level of 8.7 %. Wax esters composition showed that the local wax had C42 and C40 esters as major components amounted to 51.1 and 30.1 % respectively. Also, it had C44 and C38 at reasonable amounts (10.0 and 6.3 % respectively). Whereas C36 and C46 were present at lower concentrations amounted to 1.4 and 1.1 respectively. The sterols analysis showed the presence of campe-, stigma-, β-sito-, and isofuco- sterol amounting to 18.4 %, 6.9 %, 68.7 %, and 6.0 % respectively. The tocopherols pattern revealed that the local seed wax contained γ-tocopherol as major constituent (79.2 %) followed by α-tocopherol (20.3 %). β-tocopherol as well as δ-tocopherol were found as minor constituents. The isopropenoid alcohols and the sterylglycosides (free and acylated) were not detected. The wax is proposed to be used in oleo chemistry and cosmetics.

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Acidolysis to incorporate oleic acid into refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) palm olein (IV 56) using various lipases (enzymes) as catalysts to increase the oleic content of the oil was investigated. Immobilised lipases (lipase PLG, Lipozyme TL IM, Lipozyme RM IM and Novozym 435) and non-immobilised lipase (lipase PL) were used in this study to compare the effectiveness of the selected lipases in catalyzing the reaction to produce a high oleic oil. The results showed that the TAG of OLO/OOL content was increased at least 4 fold and OOO content was increased at least 3 fold when a 5% enzyme load was used. Lipase PL showed the greatest increase in tri-unsaturated triacylglycerols (TAGs) content. A pilot scale experiment conducted using TL IM enzyme, followed by recovery of the oil and fractionation allows the production of oils with varying oleic contents. A high oleic content of 56% was achievable.

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We measured the ultrasonic vibration current of aqueous solution of dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) and dodecyltrimethylammonium chloride (DTAC) as a function of surfactant concentration at 298.15 K under atmospheric pressure. The dependence of vibration current on the surfactant concentration exhibited a break point around the critical micelle concentration (CMC) in the DTAB system, whereas no break point was observed in the DTAC system. Taking account of the theory for vibration current, this suggests that the vibration current in the concentration regime higher than CMC depends on the electrostatic properties of micelle surface. From the difference in the slope of vibration current versus molarity curve above CMC, it was found that the ζ-potential of DTAC micelle is larger than that of DTAB micelle. This can be explained by the dissociation degree of counterions from the micelle surface. In addition, the theoretical equation of vibration current enabled us to estimate the partial molar volume of surfactant ions from the different behavior of vibration current in the concentration regime lower than CMC.

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Sophorolipids (SLs) naturally produced from Candida bombicola are a mixture of lactonic (SL-lactone) and acidic (SL-acid) sophorosides of 17-L-hydroxydecanoic acid with an SL-lactone:SL-acid ratio of 72:28. SLs are biodegradable low-foaming surfactants with high detergency and hardness-tolerance properties. To analyze the effect of the SL-lactone:SL-acid ratio on these properties, SL-LXs containing X% SL-lactone, in which X varied from 0 to 100, were prepared and their interfacial activities and cytotoxicities examined. The minimum surface tension values for all SLs examined were comparable. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) was 680 mg/L for SL-L0 and 62-110 mg/L for the other SLs. Interestingly, natural SL (SL-L72) had the lowest surface tension and CMC among all of the SLs examined. The foaming ability and stability of the SLs were dependent on the SL-L content. SL-L0 and L17 had higher foaming values than the other SLs examined in 0-ppm hardness water. These values greatly reduced and became constant when the SL-L content increased over 55%. The detergencies of all of the SLs examined were comparable, except for those of SL-L0 and SL-L100, which were slightly lower than those of the other SLs. These results suggest that natural synergism between SLs creates a better balance for many interfacial activities. The cytotoxicity of SL-L72 was higher than that of SL-L0, but was comparable to that of surfactin, which is commercially available for cosmetic use. The low cytotoxicities and high interfacial properties of SLs increase their usefulness as biocompatible surface active agents for many applications.

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The effect of gemini surfactant, sodium dilauramidoglutamide lysine (DLGL), on the secondary structure of bovine serum albumin (BSA) was examined at 25°C and at high temperatures up to 130°C. The helicity (66%) of the protein decreased to 53% in the DLGL solution at 25°C and it also decreased to 16% with rise of temperature. Although approximately half of the original helical structures were destroyed upon heating up to 75°C, most of the structures were maximally protected in the coexistence of 0.30mM DLGL at 75°C (the protein concentration was 0.010mM). At temperatures below 75°C, the protected helicity became maximal at such low DLGL concentrations. In the thermal denaturations above 80°C, the protective effect did not appear at low DLGL concentrations, but monotonously enlarged with the surfactant concentration. On the other hand, upon cooling to 25°C after the thermal denaturations below 75°C, the helicity was maximally recovered to about 60% in the presence of DLGL below 0.30mM. Upon cooling to 25°C from high temperatures above 85°C, the recovered helicity gradually increased with the surfactant concentration. The present novel effect, especially observed at low DLGL concentrations, might be fulfilled by the monomer ions of the gemini surfactant, since actual binding numbers of DLGL onto BSA are necessarily smaller than the mixing ratios around 30mol/mol.

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Thirty-one nortriterpenoids, including 28 limonoids (1-28) and 3 degraded limonoids (29-31), and one diterpenoid (32), were isolated from the seed extract of Azadirachta indica (neem). Among these, six were new compounds and their structures were established to be 15-hydroxyazadiradione (3), 7-benzoyl-17-hydroxynimbocinol (5), 23-deoxyazadironolide (12), limocin E (13), 23-epilimocin E (14), and 7α-acetoxy-3-oxoisocopala-1,13-dien-15-oic acid (32). Upon evaluation of compounds 1-32 on the melanogenesis in the B16 melanoma cells, five compounds, 20, 26, 27, 29, and 31, exhibited marked inhibitory effect (74-91% reduction of melanin content at 25 μg/mL) with no or almost no toxicity to the cells. Seven compounds, 1, 6, 9, 10, 18, 20, and 26, on evaluation for their inhibitory effect against 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced inflammation (1 μg/ear) in mice, exhibited, except for compound 26, marked anti-inflammatory activity (ID₅₀ values 0.09-0.26 mg/ear). In addition, all of the 32 compounds exhibited moderate or potent inhibitory effects (IC₅₀ values of 230-501 mol ratio/32 pmol TPA) against the Epstein-Barr virus early antigen (EBV-EA) activation induced by TPA. Furthermore, on evaluation of azadirachtin B (21) for its anti-tumor-initiating activity on the two-stage carcinogenesis of mouse skin tumor induced by peroxynitrite (ONOO-; PN) as an initiator and TPA as a promoter, this exhibited marked inhibitory activity.

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A yeast strain, 25N-2B, that produces D-arabitol from glycerol, was identified as Candida parapsilosis based on phylogenetic, morphological, physiological, and biochemical analyses. It produced 32.2 g/L D-arabitol from 170 g/L glycerol in a jar fermentor. The D-arabitol in the reaction mixture was then completely converted to D-xylulose using Gluconobacter oxydans NBRC3293. The product was isolated from the reaction mixture and confirmed to be D-xylulose by ¹H and ¹³C-NMR and optical rotation.

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