In this paper, the feasibility of crude Jatropha curcas L. oil (CJCO) as raw material to produce biodiesel under low-frequency ultrasonic irradiation (40 kHz) assisted is examined. A two-step transesterification process (acid catalyzed esterification followed by alkaline catalyzed transesterification) is employed to produce biodiesel. In the first step, the high level of free fatty acid (FFA), 12.5%, of CJCO is successfully reduced to less than 3% by acid catalyzed esterification with 15% w/w methanol to oil ratio, catalyst concentration 3.0% w/w, ultrasonic irradiation time 20 min at under reaction temperature 30°C, which are selected as optimum conditions for the acid catalyzed esterification. Then, the second step, alkaline catalyzed transesterification is carried out as methanol to oil ratio 15% w/w, catalyst concentration 1% w/w, reaction temperature 30°C and ultrasonic irradiation time 30 min. This results to high percentage of conversion to biodiesel about 98%. Comparing the results obtained under the ultrasonic irradiation in this study with those under conventional stirring conditions, ultrasonic irradiation technique significantly illustrated the higher efficiency than the conventional method, especially for the high FFA oil.

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Actual ratios of triacylglycerol (TAG) positional isomers in human, rat, and cow milk fat and cow, buffalo, goat, and sheep cheese fat were analyzed using HPLC–UV–atmospheric pressure chemical ionization–MS/MS system equipped with an octacosyl silylation column or polymeric ODS column. We substituted cheese fats for milk fats in parts of our study because milks from ruminants, with the exception of cows, are difficult to get in Japan. The actual ratio of β–PPC (the TAG consisting of two palmitic acids (P) and one capric acid (C), with the palmitic acid located at the β position) and β–PCP in human milk was different from those in ruminants, with more than half of the medium-chain fatty acids located at the β position even though other fats possessed it mainly at the α position. Palmitic acid was mainly located at the β position for human milk and rat milk; however, the location in ruminant cheese fat was mainly at the α position. The location of fatty acids is thought to be very important for infant nutrition. Particularly, the location of palmitic acid in case of human milk and of medium-chain fatty acids in case of ruminant milk was very characteristic and is considered to be very important to the fatty acids in milk fat.

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In this study, effect of fatty acid composition on dynamic and steady shear rheology of oils was studied. For this aim, different types of vegetable oils (soybean, sunflower, olive, hazelnut, cottonseed and canola), were used. Rheological properties of oil samples were identified by rheometer (Thermo-Haake) at 25°C and fatty acid composition of oils was determined by GC (Agilent 6890). Steady shear rheological properties of oil samples were measured at shear rate range of 0.1-100 s^-1. Viscosity of olive, hazelnut, cottonseed, canola, soybean and sunflower was 61.2 mPa.s, 59.7 mPa.s, 57.3 mPa.s, 53.5 mPa.s, 48.7 mPa.s and 48.2 mPa.s, respectively. There was a significant difference between viscosity of oils except soybean and sunflower. As a result it was seen that there was a correlation between viscosity and monounsaturated (R=0.89), polyunsaturated (R=-0.97) fatty acid composition of oils, separately. Equation was found to predict viscosity of the oils based on mono and polyunsaturation composition of oils. In addition the dynamic rheological properties of oils were also examined. G', G'' and tan δ (G''/G') values were measured at 0.3 Pa (in viscoelastic region) and 0.1-1 Hz. As a result of multiple regression analysis another equations were found between tan &delta, viscosity and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

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Fatty hydroxamic acids derivatives based on palm kernel oil which are phenyl fatty hydroxamic acids (PFHAs), methyl fatty hydroxamic acids (MFHAs), isopropyl fatty hydroxamic acids (IPFHAs) and benzyl fatty hydroxamic acids (BFHAs) were applied as chelating agent for copper liquid-liquid extraction. The extraction of copper from aqueous solution by MFHAs, PFHAs, BFHAs or IPFHAs were carried out in hexane as an organic phase through the formation of copper methyl fatty hydroxamate (Cu-MFHs), copper phenyl fatty hydroxamate (Cu-PFHs), copper benzyl fatty hydroxamate (Cu-BFHs) and copper isopropyl fatty hydroxamate (Cu-IPFHs). The results showed that the fatty hydroxamic acid derivatives could extract copper at pH 6.2 effectively with high percentage of extraction (the percentages of copper extraction by MFHAs, PFHAs, IPFHs and BFHAs were found to be 99.3, 87.5, 82.3 and 90.2%, respectively). The extracted copper could be quantitatively stripped back into sulphuric acid (3M) aqueous solution. The obtained results showed that the copper recovery percentages from Cu-MFHs, Cu-PFHs, Cu-BFHs and Cu-IPFHs are 99.1, 99.4, 99.6 and 99.9 respectively. The copper extraction was not affected by the presence of a large amount of Mg (II), Ni (II), Al (III), Mn (II) and Co (II) ions in the aqueous solution.

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Over the past two or three decades, Langmuir monolayers comprising various fluorinated amphiphiles such as perfluorinated, partially fluorinated, and fluorinated-hydrogenated hybrid molecules at the air-water interface, have been investigated to deepen the understanding of their characteristic phenomena and to explore the mutual interaction of these amphiphiles with biomembrane constituents. Langmuir monolayers of these fluorinated amphiphiles are potentially applicable in the fields of materials, biological and clinical science, where they may be utilized in two-dimensional protein crystallization, microelectronics, and for surfactant replacement in the lung. This review article focuses on the miscibility between perfluorinated long-chain carboxylic acids (CF₃(CF₂)_n−1COOH, or FnCOOH) and phospholipids or fatty acids in biomembranes upon lateral compression, and describes how the chain-length mismatch between the fluorinated and the hydrogenated tails relates to the interfacial phase behavior from the thermodynamic and the morphological aspects at the micrometer and nanometer levels.

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Noroviruses (NVs) are major causative pathogens of gastroenteritis. The disinfection of contaminated clothing during common household washing is desirable. The virucidal effects of 2 bleach activators, sodium alkyl acyloxybenzene sulfonate (OBS) and alkyl acyloxybenzoic acid (OBC), were studied using Feline calicivirus (FCV) as a surrogate for NVs. FCV was added to solutions containing either OBS or OBC and sodium percarbonate at various temperatures and for varying lengths of time. OBS and OBC, which generate long carbon chain peroxy acids, enhanced the virucidal effect of sodium percarbonate (PC). In particular, sodium lauroyloxybenzene sulfonate (OBS-12) and decanoyloxybenzoic acid (OBC-10) showed superior virucidal effects. Although the virucidal effect of 38–200 mg/L OBS-12 was maintained with 2–5% (v/v) horse serum, there was less of an effect with the same concentration of available chlorine. OBS and OBC have been used as ingredients in some laundry products to increase bleaching activity. It is expected that the use of OBS and OBC is also effective for the inactivation of NVs under common household washing conditions.

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This study investigates the activated carbon (AC) treatment and ozone oxidation of the sulfa drugs - sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfamonomethoxine (SMM), sulfadimidine (SDD), and sulfadimethoxine (SDM) - in aqueous solution systems. Three AC samples were prepared from Shirasagi (AC1 and AC2) and coal (AC3), and the surface functional groups, solution pH, specific surface areas, pore volumes, and morphologies of the three samples were evaluated. The specific surface areas were in the following order: AC1 (1391 m²/g) > AC2 (1053 m²/g) > AC3 (807 m²/g). The pore volume and mean pore diameter of AC3 were greater than those of AC1 and AC2. The concentration of sulfa drugs adsorbed onto the AC samples reached equilibrium within 150 h. Experimental data of the adsorption rate were fitted to a pseudo-second-order model. The amount of sulfa drugs adsorbed onto the AC samples was in the order of SDM < SMM < SDD < SMX; the mechanism of adsorption of the sulfa drugs onto the AC samples depended on the hydrophobicity of the AC surface. The adsorption isotherm data were fitted to Freundlich and Langmuir models. Ozone was generated from oxygen gas using an A-27 ozone generator, and the complete degradation of the sulfa drugs by ozone treatment at 60 mL/min was achieved within 50 min. Ozone treatment caused the structure of the sulfa drugs to decompose via ozone oxidation.

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Melanoma incidence and mortality have risen dramatically in recent years. No effective treatment for metastatic melanoma exists; hence currently, an intense effort for new drug evaluation is being carried out. In this study, we investigated the effects of a palm oil-derived nanopolymer called Bio-12 against human malignant melanoma. The nanopolymers of Bio-12 are lipid esters derived from a range of fatty acids of palm oil. Our study aims to identify the anti-proliferative properties of Bio-12 against human malignant melanoma cell line (MeWo) and to elucidate the mode of actions whereby Bio-12 brings about cell death. Bio-12 significantly inhibited the growth of MeWo cells in a concentration- and time- dependent manner with a median inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) value of 1/25 dilution after 72 h but was ineffective on human normal skin fibroblasts (CCD-1059sk). We further investigated the mode of actions of Bio-12 on MeWo cells. Cell cycle flow cytometry demonstrated that MeWo cells treated with increasing concentrations of Bio-12 resulted in S-phase arrest, accompanied by the detection of sub-G1 content, indicative of apoptotic cell death. Induction of apoptosis was further confirmed via caspase (substrate) cleavage assay which showed induction of early apoptosis in MeWo cells. In addition, DNA strand breaks which are terminal event in apoptosis were evident through increase of TUNEL positive cells and formation of a characteristic DNA ladder on agarose gel electrophoresis. Moreover, treatment of MeWo cells with Bio-12 induced significant increase in lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity. These results show that Bio-12 possesses the ability to suppress proliferation of human malignant melanoma MeWo cells and this suppression is at least partly attributed to the initiation of the S-phase arrest, apoptosis and necrosis, suggesting that it is indeed worth for further investigations.

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