Use of chemometrics to characterize tropical wines from different vintages and grape cultivars according to the 1H NMR spectroscopy data.

Tropical wines have been produced in Northeast of Brazil since 1980's, between the 8° and 9° S latitude, in a region called Sub-rniddle São Francisco river Valley. This area presents an intra-annual climate variability and wines can be elaborated in different months of the year, according to the winery, with different analytical characteristics due to the climatic conditions. NMR spectroscopy is an interesting tool that allows to determine in a single analysis many analytical compounds of the wines. PCA and PLS rnultivariate statistical analyses applied on NMR data allow to discriminate samples and to identify the responsible compounds for the clustering. The aim of this work was to use chemometrics, PCA and PLS, applied on IH NMR spectroscopy data, to characterize tropical wines from different vintages and grape cultivars, in Northeast of Brazil. Wines were elaborated by using traditional winemaking process with control of the fermentations temperature and use of antioxidants. Before statistical analyses, IHNMR spectra were segmented, normalized, converted to Excel software format and further processed for PCA and PLS analyses. Statistical analyses applied on NMR spectra data were not satisfactory to discriminate between different vintages of white and red wines together, but they were able to separate each one according to different vintages and cultivars. Metabolic compounds were found to explain wine clusters, and fingerprints are discussed

Use of chemometrics to characterize tropical wines from different vintages and grape cultivars according to the 1H NMR spectroscopy data.

Resumo

Determination of metabolite profiles in tropical wines by 1H NMR spectroscopy and chemometrics.

The aim of this work was to determine metabolite profiles of tropical wines produced in northeast Brazil, by using 1H NMR spectroscopy in comoination with chemometric methods to analyze and discrirninate wine samples from 2007 vintages produced by different wineries

Metabolic profiles of Brazilian tropical wines determined by H NMR spectroscopy and chemometrics.

Tropical wines are a new concept of vitiviniculture that is being developped principally in Brazil

Effect of the solvent on the conformation of monocrotaline as determined by isotropic and anisotropic NMR parameters.

The conformation in solution of monocrotaline, a pyrrolizidine alkaloid presenting an eleven-membered macrocyclic diester ring, has been investigated using a combination of isotropic and anisotropic NMR parameters measured in four solvents of different polarity (D2 O, DMSO-d6 , CDCl3 , and C6 D6 ). Anisotropic NMR parameters were measured in different alignment media, based on their compatibility with the solvent of interest: cromoglycate liquid crystal solution was used for D2 O, while a PMMA polymer gel was chosen for CDCl3 and C6 D6 , and a poly-HEMA gel for DMSO-d6 . Whereas the pyrrolizidine ring shows an E6 exo-puckered conformation in all of the solvents, the macrocyclic eleven-membered ring adopts different populations of syn-parallel and anti-parallel relative orientation of the carbonyl groups according to the polarity of the solvent

Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Babassu Oil and Development of a Microemulsion System for Topical Delivery

Babassu oil extraction is the main income source in nut breakers communities in northeast of Brazil. Among these communities, babassu oil is used for cooking but also medically to treat skin wounds and inflammation, and vulvovaginitis. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of babassu oil and develop a microemulsion system with babassu oil for topical delivery. Topical anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated in mice ear edema using PMA, arachidonic acid, ethyl phenylpropiolate, phenol, and capsaicin as phlogistic agents. A microemulsion system was successfully developed using a Span® 80/Kolliphor® EL ratio of 6 : 4 as the surfactant system (S), propylene glycol and water (3 : 1) as the aqueous phase (A), and babassu oil as the oil phase (O), and analyzed through conductivity, SAXS, DSC, TEM, and rheological assays. Babassu oil and lauric acid showed anti-inflammatory activity in mice ear edema, through inhibition of eicosanoid pathway and bioactive amines. The developed formulation (39% A, 12.2% O, and 48.8% S) was classified as a bicontinuous to o/w transition microemulsion that showed a Newtonian profile. The topical anti-inflammatory activity of microemulsified babassu oil was markedly increased. A new delivery system of babassu microemulsion droplet clusters was designed to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of vegetable oil

Fishers' knowledge identifies environmental changes and fish abundance trends in impounded tropical rivers

The long-term impacts of large hydroelectric dams on small-scale fisheries in tropical rivers are poorly known. A promising way to investigate such impacts is to compare and integrate the local ecological knowledge (LEK) of resource users with biological data for the same region. We analyzed the accuracy of fishers’ LEK to investigate fisheries dynamics and environmental changes in the Lower Tocantins River (Brazilian Amazon) downstream from a large dam. We estimated fishers’ LEK through interviews with 300 fishers in nine villages and collected data on 601 fish landings in five of these villages, 22 years after the dam’s establishment (2006–2008). We compared these two databases with each other and with data on fish landings from before the dam’s establishment (1981) gathered from the literature. The data obtained based on the fishers’ LEK (interviews) and from fisheries agreed regarding the primary fish species caught, the most commonly used type of fishing gear (gill nets) and even the most often used gill net mesh sizes but disagreed regarding seasonal fish abundance. According to the interviewed fishers, the primary environmental changes that occurred after the impoundment were an overall decrease in fish abundance, an increase in the abundance of some fish species and, possibly, the local extinction of a commercial fish species (Semaprochilodus brama). These changes were corroborated by comparing fish landings sampled before and 22 years after the impoundment, which indicated changes in the composition of fish landings and a decrease in the total annual fish production. Our results reinforce the hypothesis that large dams may adversely affect small-scale fisheries downstream and establish a feasible approach for applying fishers’ LEK to fisheries management, especially in regions with a low research capacity

Measurement of residual chemical shift anisotropies in compressed PMMA gels. Automatic compensation of gel isotropic shift contribution.

Mechanical compression of polymer gels provides a simple way for the measurement of Residual Chemical Shift Anisotropies (RCSAs), which then can be employed, on its own, or in combination with Residual Dipolar Couplings (RDCs), for structural elucidation purposes. RCSAs measured using compression devices needed a posteriori correction to account for the increase of the polymer to solvent ratio inside the swollen gel. This correction has been cast before in terms of a single free parameter which, as shown here, can be simultaneously optimized along with the components of the alignment tensor while still retaining discriminating power of the different relative configurations as illustrated in the stereochemical analysis of α-santonin and 10-epi-8-deoxycumambrin B

H. NMR study of Northeast Brazilian wines.

The new Brazilian frontier in the vitiviniculture activity is located at Northeast region in Pernambuco State, closed to the equtor line (8º latitude south)

Complete NMR assignment and conformational analysis of 17-α-ethinylestradiol by using RDCs obtained in grafted graphene oxide.

The 1 H and 13 C NMR spectra of 17-α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), a well-known contraceptive, including diastereotopic methylene groups, were fully assigned with the help of residual dipolar couplings (RDC) measured in the recently developed grafted graphene oxide orienting medium. RDC analysis, which included all 1 DCH couplings and the long-range 2 DCH 1 H-C ≡ 13 C coupling, also pointed to the presence of a minor conformation arising from pseudo-rotation of the steroid B ring. STD measurements revealed that the most likely interaction between EE2 and orienting medium occurred on the C and D ring