Chemical speciation of organic matter in natural waters. Interaction of nucleotide 5' mono-, di- and triphosphates with major components of seawater

AbstractThe interactions of nucleotide 5' mono-, di- and triphosphates in a multicomponent ionic medium simulating the macro-composition of seawater (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, Cl-, SO42-, Synthetic Sea Water, SSW) have been investigated at different ionic strengths and at T= 25°C. A chemical speciation model, according to which all the internal interactions between the components of the ionic medium are taken into account, was applied to determine the effective formation constants of species in the nucleotide-seawater system. The results were compared to protonation parameters calculated from single electrolyte systems. A simpler model (SSW considered as a single salt BA, with Bz+ and Az-), representative of the cation (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+) and anion (Cl-, SO42-) macro-components of seawater respectively, was also used to calculate the overall complexing ability of the seawater salt towards all the systems here investigated

Improvement of Fresh Ovine “Tuma” Cheese Quality Characteristics by Application of Oregano Essential Oils

In the present work, oregano essential oils (OEOs) were applied to process the fresh ovine cheese "Tuma" obtained by pressed cheese technology. Cheese making trials were performed under industrial conditions using ewe's pasteurized milk and two strains of Lactococcus lactis (NT1 and NT5) as fermenting agents. Two experimental cheese products (ECP) were obtained through the addition of 100 (ECP100) and 200 (ECP200) & mu;L/L of OEO to milk, while the control cheese product (CCP) was OEO-free. Both Lc. lactis strains showed in vitro and in vivo ability to grow in the presence of OEOs and to dominate over indigenous milk lactic acid bacteria (LAB) resistant to pasteurization. In the presence of OEOs, the most abundant compound found in cheese was carvacrol, constituting more than 65% of the volatile fraction in both experimental products. The addition of OEOs did not influence ash, fat, or protein content, but it increased by 43% the antioxidant capacity of the experimental cheeses. ECP100 cheeses showed the best appreciation scores by the sensory panel. In order to investigate the ability OEOs to be used as a natural preservative, a test of artificial contamination was carried out, and the results showed a significant reduction of the main dairy pathogens in OEO-added cheeses

Speciation of organic matter in natural waters. Interaction of polyacrylates with the major cation components of seawater

The speciation of some high molecular weight polycarboxylates was studied in different ionic media. Polyacrylates here investigated (W=2.0, 5.1 and 20.0 kDa) form weak species with alkali metal cations (K=102 mol l1, t=25 jC, I=0 mol l1) and quite stable complexes with alkaline earth metal cations (K>106 mol l1, t=25 jC, I=0 mol l1). Results are reported from experiments performed in a multicomponent electrolyte solution simulating the major composition of seawater (artificial seawater). Protonation constants in this medium are expressed as a polynomial function of S1/2 (S=salinity) and the sharp lowering with respect to values obtained in non-interacting aqueous tetraalkylammonium salts can be ascribed to the formation of alkali and alkaline earth cation complexes. A simplified approach, according to which the seawater salt is considered as a single 1:1 salt, was used to describe the total interacting ability of the major components of seawater towards polyacrylates. Protonation and complex formation data are reported as a function of the degree of proton dissociation and of the molecular weight: empirical equations to take into account these functions are also give

Speciation of chitosan-phosphate and chitosan-nucleotide systems in an NaCl aqueous solution

The speciation of chitosan (310 kDa) with organic (adenosine 5′-monophosphate, AMP, and adenosine 5′-triphosphate, ATP), and inorganic phosphorus containing ligands (phosphate and pyrophosphate) was investigated in NaCl aqueous solutions at I = 0.1 mol L−1 and T = 25°C. For all the systems, the investigated results obtained gave evidence for the formation of (chitosan)LHi complex species (L = nucleotides, phosphate and pyrophosphate; i = 1 to 4, but for AMP, i = 1 to 3). The stability data of complex species were used to calculate the sequestering ability of chitosan towards phosphorus compounds considered here, expressed as pL50 i.e., −log(total chitosan concentration) necessary to bind 50% of ligand. The pL50 values, calculated at different pH values, show quite a good sequestering ability of chitosan towards phosphorus compounds, in particular for the ones having higher negative charge, such as pyrophosphate and ATP