Search results for "Chemical engineering"
showing 10 items of 5892 documents
Quality parameters, bioactive compounds and their correlation with antioxidant capacity of commercial fruit-based baby foods
2013
Comprehensive research is required to achieve the optimization of the antioxidant protection through baby foods, in particular, the commercially available fruit-based baby foods. This study investigated the physicochemical properties, ascorbic acid (AA), total carotenoids (TC), total phenolic content (TPC), trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) and oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) of 23 different commercially available fruit-based baby foods. The main contribution to the total antioxidant capacity (trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity and oxygen radical absorbance capacity) was provided by ascorbic acid, followed by phenolic compounds, in accordance with a mathematical e…
Impact of molecular weight on the formation of electrosprayed chitosan microcapsules as delivery vehicles for bioactive compounds.
2016
The molecular weight of chitosan is one of its most determinant characteristics, which affects its processability and its performance as a biomaterial. However, information about the effect of this parameter on the formation of electrosprayed chitosan microcapsules is scarce. In this work, the impact of chitosan molecular weight on its electrosprayability was studied and correlated with its effect on the viscosity, surface tension and electrical conductivity of solutions. A Discriminant Function Analysis revealed that the morphology of the electrosprayed chitosan materials could be correctly predicted using these three parameters for almost 85% of the samples. The suitability of using elect…
Ionic liquid gels and antioxidant carbon nanotubes: Hybrid soft materials with improved radical scavenging activity
2019
Hypothesis: Performances of materials are frequently affected by the action of radicals that can induce their degradation. To overcome the above issue, natural antioxidants (AOs) can be added during manufacturing. Considering the high instability of AOs, they have been adsorbed on carbon nanomaterials surface. However, the inclusion of functionalized carbon nanomaterials into gel matrix could enhance the antioxidant efficiency and represent an easy way to disperse and handle the active species.Experiments: Carboxypropyl functionalized carbon nanotubes (f-CNT), pure or with physically adsorbed alpha-tocopherol (f-CNT-VE) and quercetin (f-CNT-Q), were incorporated in some ionic liquid gels (I…
Effect of ferulic acid and α-tocopherol antioxidants on properties of sodium caseinate edible films
2011
Edible films, based on sodium caseinate containing three different concentrations of ferulic acid or alpha-tocopherol (20, 40 and 60 mg/g sodium caseinate), were obtained in order to evaluate the effect of these compounds on properties of the caseinate matrices. Special emphasis was placed on their effect on the films' oxygen barrier properties, which are decisive in the prevention of the oxidation of foods containing lipids. Films were characterized as to their tensile, optical and surface properties as well as their barrier properties to water vapor, oxygen and aroma compounds (n-hexanal and n-hexanol). Ferulic acid was more efficient at reducing oxygen and n-hexanal permeability than alp…
Synthesis and studies of calcium channel blocking and antioxidant activities of novel 4-pyridinium and/or N-propargyl substituted 1,4-dihydropyridine…
2014
The novel 1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives containing the cationic pyridine moiety at the position 4, and the N-propargyl group as a substituent at position 1 of the 1,4-DHP cycle were designed, synthesised, and assessed in biological tests. Among all the novel compounds, the 4-(N-dodecyl) pyridinium group-containing compounds 11 (without the N-propargyl group) and 12 (with the N-propargyl group) demonstrated the highest calcium antagonistic properties against neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y (IC50 about 5–14 mM) and the vascular smooth muscle A7r5 cell (IC50 – 0.6–0.7 mM) lines, indicating that they predominantly target the L-type calcium channels. These compounds showed a slight total antioxidant act…
Alteration of the Mitochondrial Effects of Ceria Nanoparticles by Gold: An Approach for the Mitochondrial Modulation of Cells Based on Nanomedicine
2020
Ceria nanoparticles are cell compatible antioxidants whose activity can be enhanced by gold deposition and by surface functionalization with positive triphenylphosphonium units to selectively target the mitochondria. The antioxidant properties of these nanoparticles can serve as the basis of a new strategy for the treatment of several disorders exhibiting oxidative stress, such as cancer, diabetes or Alzheimer&rsquo
High Throughput Screening for Bioactive Volatile Compounds and Polyphenols from Almond (Prunus amygdalus) Gum: Assessment of Their Antioxidant and An…
2016
This work was devoted to recover and identify bioactive polyphenols and volatile compounds from almond gum, which can be used as food additives and/or nutraceuticals. For this purpose, solvent extract was obtained after hydrodistillation of almond gum and the extracted volatiles were identified using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The major compounds were 9-octadecenoic acid (18.47%), 3-eicosene (17.04%), hexadecanoic acid (13.82%), benzyl salycilate (9.54%), 1-octadecene (7.28%), cetene (4.38%) and turmerone (3.2%). Subsequently, the antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the obtained extracts rich in polyphenols and volatile compounds were evaluated. Antioxidant activi…
Stability and bioaccessibility of EGCG within edible micro-hydrogels. Chitosan vs. gelatin, a comparative study
2016
Micro-hydrogels are very promising systems for the protection and controlled delivery of sensitive bioactives, but limited knowledge exists regarding the impact of this encapsulation on their bioaccessibility. In this work, two different hydrogel-forming biopolymers (gelatin and chitosan) were compared as wall materials for the microencapsulation of a model flavonoid, (−)-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Results showed that gelatin was more adequate as wall material for the encapsulation of EGCG than chitosan, achieving higher encapsulation efficiencies (95% ± 6%), being more effective in delaying EGCG release and degradation in aqueous solution and exhibiting a 7 times higher bioaccessibil…
Sustainable bioactive pectin-based films to improve fruit safety via a circular economy approach.
2023
This work reports on the valorisation of persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thunb.) for the development of food-grade antiviral coatings against major viral foodborne pathogens, human noroviruses (NoVs) and hepatitis A virus (HAV). Initially, the antiviral activity of polyphenol-rich pectin extracts with abundant non-covalent interactions (PPN), pectin extracts enriched with intact pectin-polyphenol ester and O-glycosyl bonds (PPC) and hydro-ethanolic polyphenol-rich extracts (EPE) was compared. Higher viral reductions were found for the pectin extracts rich in polyphenols, mainly in those containing covalent pectin-polyphenol interactions. This specific extract was mixed with commercial citrus pect…
A Tool for Predicting the Dynamic Response of Biotrickling Filters for VOC Removal
2016
This article presents the development of a MATLAB® computer program to simulate the performance of biotrickling filters. Since these filters behave differently during spraying and nonspraying cycles, the presented simulation tool is built on top of a mathematical description of each situation. The resulting variable-structure model is then used as the basis for simulation experiments. The model presented herein represents the first attempt to take into account the variable spraying pattern usually found in industrial installations. Overall, the software is flexible and easy to use, allowing the user to specify the emission concentration pattern, the gas concentration pattern, as well as the…