Metabolomics-Based Identification of Bleached Shellac in Liquid Fruit Wax

The purpose of this study was to identify whether liquid fruit waxes could be added with bleached shellac. The compounds of bleached shellac from different sources were analyzed by targeted metabolomics based on liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) combined with liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection. Twelve target compounds were selected by multivariate statistical analysis including unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA) and supervised partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). According to variable importance in the projection (VIP) value, five differential compounds and seven shared compounds were identified. Finally, the viability of this method in the detection of commercial liquid fruit wax products was verified using the shared compounds as biomarkers. These results showed that chromatography combined with mass spectrometry can identify whether bleached shellac could be added in liquid fruit wax

An Efficient Microwave-Assisted Suzuki Reaction using a New Pyridine-Pyrazole/Pd(II) Species as Catalyst in Aqueous Media

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Characterization of Lignins from Sugarcane Bagasse Pretreated with Green Liquor Combined with Ethanol and Hydrogen Peroxide

Sugarcane bagasse was pretreated by green liquor combined with ethanol (GL-Ethanol) and green liquor combined with H2O2 (GL-H2O2). After 72 h of enzymatic hydrolysis, the glucose yields of sugarcane bagasse pretreated with GL-Ethanol and GL-H2O2 were 97.7% and 41.7%, respectively. The reason that GL-Ethanol was more effective than GL-H2O2 has not been elucidated clearly. In this study, the chemical composition of the sugarcane bagasse and chemical structure of the isolated lignins after these two pretreatment methods were characterized to investigate their correlation with the enzymatic hydrolysis of sugarcane bagasse. The removal of lignins with GL-Ethanol pretreatment was much higher than that of GL-H2O2. In addition, the decomposition of cellulose was lower in the case of GL-Ethanol than in that of GL-H2O2. According to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and 1H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies, the ester bonds (belonging to lignin-carbohydrate complex) could be broken during GL-Ethanol treatment. It was also found that the molecular weight of lignins obtained from GL-Ethanol was lower than that of lignins from GL-H2O2

Coproduction of Furfural, Phenolated Lignin and Fermentable Sugars from Bamboo with One-Pot Fractionation Using Phenol-Acidic 1,4-Dioxane

A one-pot fractionation method of Moso bamboo into hemicellulose, lignin, and cellulose streams was used to produce furfural, phenolated lignin, and fermentable sugars in the acidic 1,4-dioxane system. Xylan was depolymerized to furfural at a yield of 93.81% of the theoretical value; however, the prolonged processing time (5 h) led to a high removal ratio of glucan (37.21%) in the absence of phenol. The optimum moderate condition (80 °C for 2 h with 2.5% phenol) was determined through the high fractionation efficiency. Consequently, 77.28% of xylan and 84.83% of lignin were removed and presented in the hydrolysate, while 91.08% of glucan was reserved in the solid portion. The formation of furfural from xylan remained high, with a yield of 92.92%. The extracted lignin was phenolated with an increasing content of phenolic hydroxyl. The fractionated lignin yield was 51.88%, which suggested this could be a low-cost raw material to product the activated carbon fiber precursor. The delignified pulp was subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis and the glucose yield reached up to 99.03% of the theoretical

Enhancement of fermentable sugar yield by competitive adsorption of non-enzymatic substances from yeast and cellulase on lignin

Background: Enhancement of enzymatic digestibility by some supplementations could reduce enzyme loading and cost, which is still too high to realize economical production of lignocellulosic biofuels. A recent study indicates that yeast hydrolysates (YH) have improved the efficiency of cellulases on digestibility of furfural residues (FR). In the current work, the components of YH were separated by centrifugation and size exclusion chromatography and finally characterized in order to better understand this positive effect. Results: A 60.8% of nitrogen of yeast cells was remained in the slurry (YHS) after hydrothermal treatment. In the supernatant of YH (YHL), substances of high molecular weight were identified as proteins and other UV-absorbing compounds, which showed close molecular weight to components of cellulases. Those substances attributed to a synergetic positive effect on enzymatic hydrolysis of FR. The fraction of YHL ranged from 1.19 to 2.19 mL (elution volume) contained over 50% of proteins in YHL and had the best performance in stimulating the release of glucose. Experiment results proved the adsorption of proteins in YHL on lignin. Conclusions: Supplementation of cellulases with YH enhances enzymatic digestibility of FR mainly by a competitive adsorption of non-enzymatic substances on lignin. The molecular weight of these substances has a significant impact on their performance. Different strategies can be used for a good utilization of yeast cells in terms of biorefinery concept

Removing Calcium Ions from Remelt Syrup with Rosin-Based Macroporous Cationic Resin

Mineral ions (mainly calcium ions) from sugarcane juice can be trapped inside the heating tubes of evaporators and vacuum boiling pans, and calcium ions are precipitated. Consequently, sugar productivity and yield are negatively affected. Calcium ions can be removed from sugarcane juice using adsorption. This paper described the experimental condition for the batch adsorption performance of rosin-based macroporous cationic resins (RMCRs) for calcium ions. The kinetics of adsorption was defined by the pseudo-first-order model, and the isotherms of calcium ions followed the Freundlich isotherm model. The maximal monolayer adsorption capacity of calcium ions was 37.05 mg·g−1 at a resin dosage of 4 g·L−1, pH of 7.0, temperature of 75 °C, and contact time of 10 h. It appeared that the adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic based on the thermodynamic parameters. The removal rate of calcium ions in remelt syrup by RMCRs was 90.71%. Calcium ions were effectively removed from loaded RMCRs by 0.1 mol·L−1 of HCl, and the RMCRs could be recycled. The dynamic saturated adsorption capacity of RMCRs for calcium ions in remelt syrup was 37.90 mg·g−1. These results suggest that RMCRs are inexpensive and efficient adsorbents and have potential applications for removing calcium ions in remelt syrup

Fluorinated Linear Copolyimide Physically Crosslinked with Novel Fluorinated Hyperbranched Polyimide Containing Large Space Volumes for Enhanced Mechanical Properties and UV-Shielding Application

Fluorinated hyperbranched polyimide (FHBPI), a spherical polymer with large space volumes, was developed to enhance fluorinated linear copolyimide (FPI) in terms of mechanical, UV-shielding, and hydrophobic properties via simple blend and thermal imidization methods. FPI possessed superior compatibility with FHBPI, and no obvious phase separation was found. The incorporation of FHBPI led to the formation of physical crosslinked network between FPI and FHBPI, which markedly improved the mechanical properties of the FPI, resulting in maximum enhancement of 83% in tensile strength from 71.7 Mpa of the pure FPI to 131.4 Mpa of the FPI/FHBPI composite film containing 15 wt % of FHBPI. The introduction of FHBPI also changed the surface properties of composites from hydrophilicity to hydrophobicity, which endowed them with outstanding dielectric stability. Meanwhile, the thin FPI/FHBPI composites kept the high transparency in the visible spectrum, simultaneously showing enhanced UV-shielding properties and lifetimes under intense UV ray. This was attributed to the newly formed charge transfer complex (CTC) between FHBPI and FPI. Moreover, the FPI/FHBPI composites possessed preeminent thermal properties. The properties, mentioned above, gave the composites enormous potential for use as UV-shielding coatings in an environment filled with high temperatures and strong ultraviolet rays

Synthesis, Antifungal Activity, 3D-QSAR and Controlled Release on Hydrotalcite Study of Longifolene-Derived Diphenyl Ether Carboxylic Acid Compounds

Twenty-two novel longifolene-derived diphenyl ether-carboxylic acid compounds 7a–7v were synthesized from renewable biomass resources longifolene, and their structures were confirmed by FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and HRMS. The preliminary evaluation of in vitro antifungal activity displayed that compound 7b presented inhibition rates of 85.9%, 82.7%, 82.7%, and 81.4% against Alternaria solani, Cercospora arachidicola, Rhizoctonia solani, and Physalospora piricola, respectively, and compound 7l possessed inhibition rates of 80.7%, 80.4%, and 80.3% against R. solani, C. arachidicola, P. piricola, respectively, exhibiting excellent and broad-spectrum antifungal activities. Besides, compounds 7f and 7a showed significant antifungal activities with inhibition rates of 81.2% and 80.7% against A.solani, respectively. Meanwhile, a reasonable and effective 3D-QSAR mode (r2 = 0.996, q2 = 0.572) has been established by the CoMFA method. Furthermore, the drug-loading complexes 7b/MgAl-LDH were prepared and characterized. Their pH-responsive controlled-release behavior was investigated as well. As a result, complex 7b/MgAl-LDH-2 exhibited excellent controlled-releasing performance in the water/ethanol (10:1, v:v) and under a pH of 5.7