A mixture of lard and rapeseed oil (1:1, wt/wt) was interesterified using immobilized lipases from Rhizomucor miehei (Lipozyme RM IM) and Candida antarctica (Novozym 435) as catalysts. Enzymatic interesterifications were carried out at 60°C for 8 h with Lipozyme RM IM or at 80°C for 4 h with Novozym 435. The biocatalyst doses were kept constant (8 wt-%). The starting blend was quantitatively separated by column chromatography into pure triacylglycerol fraction (98.5%), and a nontriacylglycerol fraction containing free fatty acids (0.3%) and of mono- and diacylglycerols (1.2%). It was found that after interesterification the contents of free fatty acids and of mono- and diacylglycerols increased to 3.5% and 6.3% or to 1.5% and 4.5% when Lipozyme RM IM and Novozym 435 were used, respectively.The slip melting temperatures and solid fat contents of the triacylglycerol fractions separated from interesterified samples were lower compared with the nonesterified blend. The sn-2 and sn-1,3 distribution of fatty acids in the triacylglycerol fractions before and after interesterification were determined. The compositions of fatty acids at sn-2 were near statistical (33.3%) when Novozym 435 was used. When Lipozyme RM IM was used, the fatty acid compositions at the sn-2 position remained practically unchanged, compared with the starting blend. The changes in molecular structures of fat components due to interesterification have greatly influenced on the melting profiles of products as illustrated by the DSC melting scans. The interesterified fats and isolated triacylglycerols had reduced oxidative stabilities, as assessed by Dynamic DSC and Isothermal PDSC measurements. The Arrhenius kinetic parameters for fats oxidation based on DSC and PDSC measurements were calculated.

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Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) is one of the most widely grown essential oil crops in the world. Commercial extraction of lavender oil is done using steam distillation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the length of the distillation time (DT) on lavender essential oil yield and composition when extracted from dried flowers. Therefore, the following distillation times (DT) were tested in this experiment: 1.5 min, 3 min, 3.75 min, 7.5 min, 15 min, 30 min, 60 min, 90 min, 120 min, 150 min, 180 min, and 240 min. The essential oil yield (range 0.5-6.8%) reached a maximum at 60 min DT. The concentrations of cineole (range 6.4-35%) and fenchol (range 1.7-2.9%) were highest at the 1.5 min DT and decreased with increasing length of the DT. The concentration of camphor (range 6.6-9.2%) reached a maximum at 7.5-15 min DT, while the concentration of linalool acetate (range 15-38%) reached a maximum at 30 min DT. Results suggest that lavender essential oil yield may not increase after 60 min DT. The change in essential oil yield, and the concentrations of cineole, fenchol and linalool acetate as DT changes were modeled very well by the asymptotic nonlinear regression model. DT may be used to modify the chemical profile of lavender oil and to obtain oils with differential chemical profiles from the same lavender flowers. DT must be taken into consideration when citing or comparing reports on lavender essential oil yield and composition.

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Recent studies have reported that dipeptidyl-peptitase IV (DPP-IV) is correlated with diabetic conditions and also with dyslipidemia caused by overnutrition, especially a high fat diet. However, the role of DPP-IV in diabetes during dyslipidemia has been unclear. We utilized a lymph fistula rat model to determine whether intestinal lymph, which absorbs dietary fats, is affected by a chronic high-fat and high-cholesterol diet (HFHC). HFHC diet rats showed significantly higher DPP-IV activity in intestinal lymph and plasma compared to rats receiving a normal chow diet. In addition, HFHC diet rats showed significantly increased DPP-IV mRNA expression in the intestine. However, DPP-IV mRNA in the lymphocytes isolated from intestinal lymph and mesenteric lymph nodes did not show significant differences from that in the normal diet rats. In conclusion, HFHC diets increased DPP-IV expression in intestinal lymph; these results indicate the applicability of a previously unrecognized role for DPP-IV in metabolic disorders, including diabetes.

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Pica behavior, a behavior that is characterized by eating a nonfood material such as kaolin and relates to the degree of discomfort in animals, and the variations of locomotor activity of rats after eating deteriorated fat and oil extracted from instant noodles were examined in our previous study. The result shows that oxidized fat and oil with at least 100 meq/kg in peroxide value (PV) increase pica behavior and decrease locomotor activity. In the present study, the same two behaviors were measured using autoxidized trilinoleate (tri-LA) and tridocosahexaenoate (tri-DHA) as a model of vegetable and fish oil, respectively, to compare fatty acid differences against the induction of two behaviors. The oxidized levels of tri-LA and tri-DHA were analyzed with PV and p-anisidine value (AnV), the method to analyze secondary oxidized products. The oxidation levels of respective triacylglycerol (TAG) samples were carefully adjusted to make them having almost the same PV and AnV. As the results, 600 or more meq/kg in PV of both TAGs significantly increased the consumption of kaolin pellets compared to the control group. Furthermore, 300 or more meq/kg in PV of tri-LA and 200 or more meq/kg in PV of tri-DHA demonstrated significant decrease in locomotor activity compared to control group. These results would indicate that the oxidized TAG having the same PV and/or AnV would induce the same type of pica behavior and locomotor activity. Furthermore, that the structure of oxidized products might not be important and the amount of hydroperoxide group and/or aldehyde group in deteriorated fats and oils might affect the pica behavior and locomotor activity were thought.

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Tadpole-type amphiphilic dendrimers consisting of an alkyl chain, a quaternary ammonium bromide (qb) and a poly(amidoamine) dendron (den) (C_nqbdenGm, where n represents an alkyl chain with a length of 10,14, or 18 carbons; m is the generation number G of dendron taking the value –0.5, 0.5, or 1.5) were synthesized using N, N-dimethylethylenediamine as a central scaffold. Electrical conductivity, surface tension, pyrene fluorescence, and dynamic light scattering measurements were used to characterize the properties of the dendrimers. In addition, the effect of the alkyl chain length and the generation number of a dendron on these properties was evaluated through a comparison with those of the corresponding previously reported amphiphilic dendrimers with lactobionamide sugar terminal groups (C_nqbdenGmLac) and conventional cationic monomeric surfactants (C_nTAB). Both critical micelle concentration (cmc) and surface tension (except for C₁₈ series) were lower than those of C_nqbdenGmLac and C_nTAB with the same alkyl chain length, indicating that the synthesized amphiphilic dendrimers have an excellent micelle-forming ability in solution and high adsorption ability at the air/water interface, in spite of the large bulky dendron structure. When the alkyl chain length and the generation number of the amphiphilic dendrimers were increased, the surface tension became high because of the curved long alkyl chain and the bulky structure of dendron. Further, C_nqbdenGm formed micelles with a small size in solution, and the micelles of C_nqbdenG(–0.5) had almost a constant size despite the changes in the concentration, while those of C_nqbdenG0.5 and C_nqbdenG1.5 became smaller with increasing concentration. The difference in the behavior results from the difference in the number of amide groups in the low- and high-generation dendrons.

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We have improved a previous method for the preparation of hemoglobin-soiled fabrics in order to facilitate quantitative calculation of the efficiency with which protein stains can be removed from such materials. We then evaluated the sensitivity of surface reflectance as a method for stain quantification. Test fabrics were made by spotting a white fabric with a certain amount of hemoglobin solution and drying it. We observed a large difference between the percentage stain removal as measured by surface reflectance when compared with chemical analysis. Deformities in the surface of the soiled fabric caused by capillary action in the drying process likely contributed to this difference. Quantitative removal percentage could be predicted easily from the K/S values of test fabrics that were dry-heated without steam, although soil adhesion was too weak to evaluate the washing power of commercial detergent. Overall, we found that practical test fabrics with adequate soil adhesion properties can be prepared by adopting a steam heating process after dry heating.

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The biotransformation of terpenoid C13 norisoprenoid (±)-α-ionone (1) using the plant pathogenic fungus Epicoccum purpurascens as a biocatalyst was investigated for the production of useful novel organic compounds. There are no reported biotransformations using E. purpurascens. The biotransformation of compound 1 via reduction of the C-9 ketone position yielded α-ionol (2) as the major metabolic product. Reduction of the racemic α-ionone [(–)-(6S)- and (+)-(6R)-] resulted in the exclusive formation of the two enantiomers (–)-(6S,9R)- and (+)-(6R,9S)-α-ionol (2). Thus, the enzymatic reduction of α-ionone by E. purpurascens proceeds with high asymmetry.

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Passion fruit seed was refluxed in methanolic water and further liquid – liquid extracted yielding n-Hexane, Ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and aqueous (Aq.) extracts. The EtOAc part was the most potent antioxidant (IC_50DPPH = 2.7 ± 0.2 and IC_50ABTS = 9.0 ± 0.0 μg/mL) that significantly (p < 0.05) better than Aq. extract (IC_50DPPH = 177.8 ± 1.3 and IC_50ABTS = 15.4 ± 0.0 μg/mL). The antioxidant EtOAc exhibited ferric reducing powder (EC_{1mM FeSO4} = 2,813.9 ± 11.6) and tyrosinase inhibitory effect (39.9 ± 0.0 % at 1 mg/mL). The more potent active extract had significant higher total phenolic content than the Aq. one (p < 0.05). Sun protection factor of the EtOAc extract was comparable to ferulic acid. Chlorogenic acid, rosmarinic acid and quercetin were highly found in EtOAc extract, whereas kojic acid and gallic acid were largely determined in the Aq. part. The most potent biologically active fraction was non cytotoxic in vero cells at the highest test concentration (50 μg/mL). A process to minimize the waste from the fruit juice production is offered. Passion fruit value and profitability in agribusinesses will be increased by the biochemical transformation of the seed into active extracts appraisal for natural cosmetic as a multifunction ingredient.

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This study investigated the removal of free residual chlorine by activated carbon (AC). ACs were prepared from coal (AC1) and coconut shell (AC2). The specific surface area of AC1 was larger than that of AC2. The removal of free residual chlorine increased with elapsed time and amount of adsorbent. The removal mechanism of free residual chlorine was the dechlorination reaction between hypochlorous acid or hypochlorite ion and AC. Moreover, AC1 was useful in the removal of free residual chlorine in tap water. The optimum condition for the removal of free residual chlorine using a column is space velocity 306 1/h; liner velocity 6.1 m/h.

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