Long-chain Aliphatic Alcohols Research Articles

Efficacy Assessment of Five Policosanol Brands and Damage to Vital Organs in Hyperlipidemic Zebrafish by Six-Week Supplementation: Highlighting the Toxicity of Red Yeast Rice and Safety of Cuban Policosanol (Raydel®).

Policosanol is a mixture of long-chain aliphatic alcohols (LCAAs) derived from various plant and insect origins that are marketed by various companies with distinct formulations and brand names. Policosanols offer several beneficial effects to treat dyslipidemia and hypertension; however, a comprehensive functionality comparison of various policosanol brands has yet to be thoroughly explored. In the present study five distinct policosanol brands from different origins and countries, Raydel-policosanol, Australia (PCO1), Solgar-policosanol, USA (PCO2), NutrioneLife-monacosanol, South Korea (PCO3), Mothernest-policosanol, Australia (PCO4), and Peter & John-policosanol, New Zealand (PCO5) were compared via dietary supplementation (1% in diet, final wt/wt) to zebrafish for six weeks to investigate their impact on survivability, blood lipid profile, and functionality of vital organs under the influence of a high-cholesterol diet (HCD, final 4%, wt/wt). The results revealed that policosanol brands (PCO1-PCO5) had a substantial preventive effect against HCD-induced zebrafish body weight elevation and hyperlipidemia by alleviating total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides (TG) in blood. Other than PCO3, all the brands significantly reduced the HCD's elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). On the contrary, only PCO1 displayed a significant elevation in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level against the consumption of HCD. The divergent effect of PCO1-PCO5 against HCD-induced hepatic damage biomarkers, aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), was observed. PCO1, PCO2, and PCO4 efficiently curtailed the AST and ALT levels; however, PCO3 and PCO5 potentially aggravated the HCD's elevated plasma AST and ALT levels. Consistently, the hepatic histology outcome revealed the least effectiveness of PCO3 and PCO5 against HCD-induced liver damage. On the contrary, PCO1 exhibited a substantial hepatoprotective role by curtailing HCD-induced fatty liver changes, cellular senescent, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) production. Likewise, the histological outcome from the kidney, testis, and ovary revealed the significant curative effect of PCO1 against the HCD-induced adverse effects. PCO2-PCO5 showed diverse and unequal results, with the least effective being PCO3, followed by PCO5 towards HCD-induced kidney, testis, and ovary damage. The multivariate interpretation based on principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) validated the superiority of PCO1 over other policosanol brands against the clinical manifestation associated with HCD. Conclusively, different brands displayed distinct impacts against HCD-induced adverse effects, signifying the importance of policosanol formulation and the presence of aliphatic alcohols on the functionality of policosanol products.

Cuban Policosanol (Raydel®) Exerts Higher Antioxidant and Anti-Glycation Activities than Chinese Policosanol (BOC Sciences) in Reconstituted High-Density Lipoproteins: In Vivo Anti-Inflammatory Activities in Zebrafish and Its Embryos.

The present study compares sugarcane-wax purified policosanols sourced from Cuba (Raydel®) and China (BOC Sciences) and utilized following the synthesis of reconstituted high-density lipoproteins (rHDL). The two policosanols exhibited distinctly different ingredient ratios of long-chain aliphatic alcohols, particularly 1-octacosanol (C28) and 1-tetratriacotanol (C34). After synthesizing rHDL with apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I), the two policosanols bound well with phospholipid and apoA-I to form the discoidal rHDL. Notably, rHDL-1, containing Cuban policosanol, displayed the largest particle diameter at approximately 78 ± 3 nm. In contrast, both control rHDL (rHDL-0) and rHDL containing Chinese policosanol (rHDL-2) exhibited smaller particles, with diameters of approximately 58 ± 3 nm and 61 ± 2 nm, respectively. Furthermore, rHDL-1 demonstrated enhanced anti-glycation activity, safeguarding apoA-I from degradation within HDL, and displayed the antioxidant ability to inhibit LDL oxidation. A microinjection of each rHDL into zebrafish embryos in the presence of carboxymethyllysine (CML) revealed rHDL-1 to have the strongest antioxidant activity with the highest embryo survivability and normal developmental morphology. Dermal application to recover the wound revealed rHDL-1 to have the highest wound-healing activity (75%) and survivability (92%) in the cutaneous wound area in the presence of CML. In adult zebrafish, injecting CML (250 μg) caused acute death and hyperinflammation, marked by heightened neutrophil infiltration and interleukin (IL)-6 production in liver. However, co-administering rHDL-1 notably increased survival (85%) and exhibited strong anti-inflammatory properties, reducing IL-6 production while improving the blood lipid profile. However, a co-injection of rHDL-2 resulted in the lowest survivability (47%) with more hepatic inflammation. In conclusion, Cuban policosanol (Raydel®) has more desirable properties for the in vitro synthesis of rHDL with stronger anti-glycation and antioxidant activities than those of Chinese policosanol (BOC Sciences). Moreover, Raydel-policosanol-integrated rHDL demonstrates a noteworthy effect on accelerated wound healing and robust anti-inflammatory properties, leading to increased survivability in zebrafish embryos and adults by effectively suppressing CML-induced hyperinflammation.

Pine nut skin as a source of phytosterols and alkanediols - Hypocholesterolemic potential and development of sustainable vegan emulsifiers

Pine nut skin is a byproduct arising from the pine nut industry, whose composition and bioactive potential are currently unexplored. For this purpose, its characterization is required for the development of sustainable food ingredients.Pine nut skin was separated into finer (<500 μm) and coarser (≥500 μm) fractions, composed of carbohydrates (35 g/100 g and 11 g/100 g, respectively), lignin (47 g/100 g and 72 g/100 g), lipids (8 g/100 g and 9 g/100 g), and protein (7 g/100 g and 3 g/100 g). The lipophilic extract of both fractions had similar amounts of β-sitosterol (30 mg/g), differing in the amount of long-chain aliphatic alcohols, namely nonacosan-10-ol (8 mg/g and 51 mg/g for finer and coarser fractions, respectively) and secondary/secondary alkanediols (18 mg/g and 185 mg/g), known as emulsifier compounds. The composition of pine nut skin fractions indicated their potential in affecting the cholesterol absorption in the intestinal lumen. The lipophilic extract from the finer fraction showed to decrease cholesterol micellar solubilization, and the polysaccharides and lignin had bile salt sequestration properties, rendering this byproduct an hypolipidemic potential. The coarser fraction showed potential as a substitute of egg yolk (3.4 g/100 g dry weight) in a mayonnaise formulation (49 g/100 g oil-in-water emulsion), an emulsifying capacity ascribed to the dietary fiber content and to its lipophilic fraction. From pine nut skin it is possible to obtain low-cost food ingredients with relevance as emulsifiers and potential hypocholesterolemic activity.

Novel Porous Organic Polymer Catalyst with Phosphate and Sulfonic Acid Sites for Facile Esterification of Levulinic Acid.

Biomass-derived value-added materials such as levulinic acid (LA) are favorable natural resources for producing ester-based biolubricants owing to their biodegradability, nontoxicity, and excellent metal-adhering properties. However, highly active catalysts must be developed to carry out efficient esterification of LA with aliphatic alcohols, especially long-chain aliphatic alcohols. In this study, we developed a novel porous covalent organic polymer catalyst (BPOP-SO3H) with dual acid sites, phosphate and sulfonic acid sites, for the esterification of LA. The prepared BPOP-SO3H catalyst was verified using various surface analysis techniques. BPOP-SO3H exhibited 98% LA conversion with n-butanol and 99% selectivity for butyl levulinate ester within 30 min, which is superior to that of most reported catalysts. BPOP-SO3H also showed high LA conversion and ester selectivity when other aliphatic alcohols were used. Moreover, BPOP-SO3H showed good recyclability for five consecutive cycles. We believe that incorporating a high density of acid sites into a porous polymer with a large surface area and hierarchical pores is a promising approach for developing heterogeneous acid catalysts for the production of alkyl levulinate esters from LA.

Comparison of Policosanol Profiles of the Sprouts of Wheat Mutant Lines and the Effect of Differential LED Lights on Selected Lines.

Policosanols (PCs) are long-chain linear aliphatic alcohols that are present in the primary leaves of cereal crops, such as barley and wheat, sugar cane wax, and beeswax. PCs have been used as a nutraceutical for improving hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia. However, the PC content in mutant wheat lines has not been investigated. To select highly functional wheat sprouts with a high content of PCs in wheat mutant lines developed via gamma-irradiated mutation breeding, we cultivated the sprouts of wheat mutant lines in a growth chamber with white LED light (6000 K) and analyzed the PC content in these samples using GC-MS. We studied the PC content in 91 wheat sprout samples: the original variety (Woori-mil × D-7; WS01), commercially available cv. Geumgang (WS87) and cv. Cheongwoo (WS91), and mutant lines (WS02-WS86 and WS88-WS90) developed from WS01 and WS87. Compared to WS01, 18 mutant lines exhibited a high total PC content (506.08-873.24 mg/100 g dry weight). Among them, the top 10 mutant lines were evaluated for their PC production after cultivating under blue (440 nm), green (520 nm), and red (660 nm) LED light irradiation; however, these colored LED lights reduced the total PC production by 35.8-49.7%, suggesting that the cultivation with white LED lights was more efficient in promoting PCs' yield, compared to different LED lights. Therefore, our findings show the potential of radiation-bred wheat varieties as functional foods against hyperlipidemia and obesity and the optimal light conditions for high PC production.

An innovative method for the extraction and HPLC analysis of bioactive policosanols from non-psychoactive Cannabis sativa L.

Policosanols (PCs) refer to a mixture of long-chain aliphatic alcohols. Sugar cane is the main industrial source of PCs, but others, including beeswax and Cannabis sativa L., are also known. In the raw material PCs are bonded to fatty acids to form long-chain esters, known as waxes.PCs are mainly used as a cholesterol-lowering product, even though their efficacy is controversial. More recently, the pharmacological interest in PCs has increased, as they have been investigated as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative agents.Given their promising biological implications, the development of efficient extraction and analytical methodologies for the determination of PCs is extremely important to identify new potential sources of these compounds and to ensure the reproducibility of biological data. Conventional techniques used for the extraction of PCs involve time-consuming approaches leading to low yields, while analytical methods for their quantification are based on gas-chromatographic (GC) techniques, which require an additional derivatization step during the sample preparation to increase their volatility.In the light of all the above, this work was aimed at the development of an innovative method for the extraction of PCs from non-psychoactive C. sativa (hemp) inflorescences, taking advantage of the microwave-assisted technology. In addition, a new analytical method based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with an evaporative light scattering detector (ELSD) was developed for the first time for both the qualitative and quantitative analysis of these compounds in the extracts. The method was validated according to ICH guidelines, and it was applied to the analysis of PCs in hemp inflorescences belonging to different varieties. The results were analyzed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis to rapidly identify samples with the highest content of PCs, which might find an application as alternative sources of these bioactive compounds in both the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical fields.

Exploiting the Integrated Valorization of Eucalyptus globulus Leaves: Chemical Composition and Biological Potential of the Lipophilic Fraction before and after Hydrodistillation.

E. globulus leaves have been mainly exploited for essential oil recovery or for energy generation in industrial pulp mills, neglecting the abundance of valuable families of extractives, namely, triterpenic acids, that might open new ways for the integrated valorization of this biomass. Therefore, this study highlights the lipophilic characterization of E. globulus leaves before and after hydrodistillation, aiming at the integrated valorization of both essential oils and triterpenic acids. The lipophilic composition of E. globulus leaves after hydrodistillation is reported for the first time. Extracts were obtained by dichloromethane Soxhlet extraction and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In addition, their cytotoxicity on different cell lines representative of the innate immune system, skin, liver, and intestine were evaluated. Triterpenic acids, such as betulonic, oleanolic, betulinic and ursolic acids, were found to be the main components of these lipophilic extracts, ranging from 30.63-37.14 g kg-1 of dry weight (dw), and representing 87.7-89.0% w/w of the total content of the identified compounds. In particular, ursolic acid was the major constituent of all extracts, representing 46.8-50.7% w/w of the total content of the identified compounds. Other constituents, such as fatty acids, long-chain aliphatic alcohols and β-sitosterol were also found in smaller amounts in the studied extracts. This study also demonstrates that the hydrodistillation process does not affect the recovery of compounds of greatest interest, namely, triterpenic acids. Therefore, the results establish that this biomass residue can be considered as a promising source of value-added bioactive compounds, opening new strategies for upgrading pulp industry residues within an integrated biorefinery context.

Phytochemistry and pharmacology of Argemone mexicana Linn – An Indian medicinal plant

Argemone mexicana (Mexicana poppy) it is commonly known as “Satyanasi or bhatkatiya” belonging to the family papaveraceae of 44 genera and about 760 species of flowering plant which is used in several traditional medicines to cure various ailments all over the world. The plants consist of alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, long-chain aliphatic alcohol, amino acids, carboxylic acid, steroids, carbohydrates and phenolics. Pharmacological studies performed on the plant revealed that the plant tends to posses antioxidant, wound healing activity, antifungal, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, hepatoprotective, larvicidal and chemosterilant activity. The present article gives detailed information on its phytochemical and pharmacological properties and its ethno medicinal uses about the plant which would be helpful for the researchers for the future investigation.

A Review of the Effects of Policosanol on Metabolic Syndrome

Cardiovascular disease is the world's number one killer disease and the leading non-communicable disease in terms of causing premature deaths. Overwhelming evidence suggest that effective management of metabolic syndrome will markedly reduce morbidity and premature deaths from cardiovascular disease. Although many therapies exist, most of them are ineffective due to decreased effectiveness and/or side effects following prolonged usage. Policosanol, a well-tolerated long-chain aliphatic alcohol has been proven to be effective against the components of metabolic syndrome (namely dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity) even when used for a long period with minimal or no adverse effects. This study intends to explore the potential benefits of Policosanol in the management of metabolic syndrome. PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct were used as the search engines to retrieve articles related to Policosanol and metabolic syndrome from 2010 to 2021. The results from the three search engines were scrutinized and merged. Duplicate publications were excluded. Similarly, four articles from the WHO website ( www.who.int/publications ) were included making a total of 63 articles used in this review. Most of the reviewed articles show Policosanol to be effective in reducing systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose level, body weight, total cholesterol level, triglyceride level, low density lipoprotein and increasing high density lipoprotein levels. There are few conflicting articles that reported Policosanol to have no effect on lipid parameters. Policosanol was shown to be a safe and well-tolerated natural product that is effective against all the components of metabolic syndrome. Thus, using this natural product will go a long way in reducing the burden and economic consequences of the syndrome.

Chemical Profile of Lipophilic Fractions of Different Parts of Zizyphus lotus L. by GC-MS and Evaluation of Their Antiproliferative and Antibacterial Activities.

Zizyphus lotus L. is a perennial shrub particularly used in Algerian folk medicine, but little is known concerning the lipophilic compounds in the most frequently used parts, namely, root bark, pulp, leaves and seeds, which are associated with health benefits. In this vein, the lipophilic fractions of these morphological parts of Z. lotus from Morocco were studied by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and their antiproliferative and antimicrobial activities were evaluated. GC–MS analysis allowed the identification and quantification of 99 lipophilic compounds, including fatty acids, long-chain aliphatic alcohols, pentacyclic triterpenic compounds, sterols, monoglycerides, aromatic compounds and other minor components. Lipophilic extracts of pulp, leaves and seeds were revealed to be mainly composed of fatty acids, representing 54.3–88.6% of the total compounds detected. The leaves and seeds were particularly rich in unsaturated fatty acids, namely, (9Z,12Z)-octadeca-9,12-dienoic acid (2431 mg kg−1 of dry weight) and (9Z)-octadec-9-enoic acid (6255 mg kg−1 of dry weight). In contrast, root bark contained a high content of pentacyclic triterpenic compounds, particularly betulinic acid, accounting for 9838 mg kg−1 of dry weight. Root bark extract showed promising antiproliferative activity against a triple-negative breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231, with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) = 4.23 ± 0.18 µg mL−1 of extract. Leaf extract displayed interesting antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermis, presenting minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values from 1024 to 2048 µg mL−1 of extract. Our results demonstrate that Zizyphus lotus L. is a source of promising bioactive components, which can be exploited as natural ingredients in pharmaceutical formulations.

Elderberry Stalks as a Source of High-Value Phytochemical: Essential Minerals and Lipophilic Compounds

Elderberry (Sambucus nigra L.) consumption has been growing in the last years, generating a large number of stalks (~10% of the berries bunch) that are still under-valorized. This study focused on the evaluation of elderberry stalks as a source of high-value phytochemicals. In this vein, the essential mineral content and lipophilic composition were analyzed for the first time. In addition, the polar fraction was evaluated regarding its total phenolic content (TPC) and antioxidant activity by both 2,2-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) and 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) assays. The lipophilic fraction was mainly composed of triterpenic acids (2902.20 mg kg−1 of dry weight (dw)), fatty acids (711.73 mg kg−1 dw) and sterols (288.56 mg kg−1 dw). Minor amounts of long-chain aliphatic alcohols and other components were also detected. Ursolic acid (2265.83 mg kg−1 dw), hexadecanoic acid (219.85 mg kg−1 dw) and β-sitosterol (202.74 mg kg−1 dw) were the major lipophilic components verified. The results of this study also indicated that elderberry stalks might be used as a natural source of essential minerals, particularly calcium, iron and potassium, which are known to play important roles in various body functions. The analysis of the polar fraction also showed that elderberry stalks present TPC as high as elderberry themselves as well as considerable antioxidant activity (1.04 and 0.37 mmol TE g−1 of extract, against respectively ABTS and DPPH radicals). These results highlight the potential of elderberry stalks as a natural source of high-value phytochemicals that may be explored in several fields.

Comprehensive Insights into the Production of Long Chain Aliphatic Aldehydes Using a Copper-Radical Alcohol Oxidase as Biocatalyst

The oxidation of alcohols is a cornerstone reaction in chemistry, notably in the flavor and fragrance industry where long-chain aliphatic aldehydes are major odorant compounds. In a context where greener alternatives are sought after, biocatalysis holds many promises. Here, we investigated the ability of the alcohol oxidase from Colletotrichum graminicola (CgrAlcOx)—an organic cofactor-free enzyme belonging to the copper-radical oxidase (CRO) class—to convert industrially relevant long-chain aliphatic alcohols. CgrAlcOx is a competent catalyst for the conversion of octan-1-ol when supported by the accessory enzymes peroxidase and catalase. Detailed examination of the products revealed the occurrence of an overoxidation step leading to the production of carboxylic acid for some aliphatic aldehydes and benzaldehyde derivatives. The partition between aldehyde and acid products varied upon substrate properties (chain length and propensity to form geminal-diols) and enzyme specificity and could be tuned by controlling the reaction conditions. In silico analyses suggested an inhibitory binding mode of long-chain aliphatic geminal-diols and a substrate-induced fit mechanism for a benzyl alcohol derivative. By demonstrating their natural ability to perform long-chain aliphatic alcohol oxidation, the present study establishes the potential of fungal CRO-AlcOx as promising candidates for the green production of flavor and fragrance compounds.

Direct oxidative esterification of alcohols catalyzed by a nitrogen-doped carbon black-supported PdBi bimetallic catalyst under ambient conditions

A highly efficient nitrogen-doped carbon black (NCB)-supported PdBi alloy nanocatalyst has been fabricated via a facile coreduction wet chemical approach. The optimal PdBi/NCB shows outstanding catalytic performance with broad substrate scope, good functional group tolerance towards direct oxidative esterification of alcohols under mild conditions in a heterogeneous catalytic system with air as the sole oxidant. A variety of benzylic and allylic alcohols were smoothly reacted with methanol and even with long-chain aliphatic alcohols, providing desired esters in good to excellent yields. Moreover, the as-prepared catalyst is easily recycled and can be reused at least five times without a significant loss of catalytic activity. Superior catalytic activity is mainly attributable to the unique structure of the catalyst, including synergetic electronic effect between Pd and Bi, as well as modulated surface character by acidification and N doping for better active components’ anchoring and dispersion, as well as reactants’ adsorption. This study provides a facial, practical, eco-friendly and efficient catalytic system for oxidative esterification of alcohols and shows promising prospect in industrial production.

Orally administered octacosanol improves some features of high fructose-induced metabolic syndrome in rats.

We examined whether orally administered octacosanol, a long-chain aliphatic saturated alcohol, improves the features of high fructose-induced metabolic syndrome in rats. Five-week-old rats were fed a high fructose diet containing 60% fructose for 3 weeks. Then, the high fructose fed rats received a daily single oral administration of octacosanol (10 or 100 mg/kg body weight) with high fructose feeding for one week. Three- or four-week high fructose feeding increased insulin resistance, serum insulin, triglyceride, total cholesterol, free fatty acids, uric acid, and lipid peroxide concentrations, and hepatic triglyceride and cholesterol contents significantly and decreased serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and adiponectin concentrations significantly but did not affect blood pressure and hepatic lipid peroxide and reduced glutathione contents. Four-week high fructose feeding decreased hepatic ascorbic acid content significantly. Oral administration of octacosanol (10 or 50 mg/kg body weight) to high fructose-fed rats for the last 1-week fructose diet feeding attenuated these changes except serum insulin level and insulin resistance significantly and increased hepatic reduced glutathione content significantly. The higher dose of Oct decreased hepatic lipid peroxide content significantly. These results indicate that orally administered octacosanol improves dyslipidemia, hyperuricemia, hypoadiponectinemia, and oxidative stress associated with the features of high fructose-induced metabolic syndrome rats.

Characterization and Cytotoxicity Assessment of the Lipophilic Fractions of Different Morphological Parts of Acacia dealbata.

Acacia dealbata biomass, either from forest exploitation or from the management of invasive species, can be a strategic topic, namely as a source of high-value compounds. In this sense, the present study aimed at the detailed characterization of the lipophilic components of different morphological parts of A. dealbata and the evaluation of their cytotoxicity in cells representative of different mammals’ tissues. The chemical composition of lipophilic extracts from A. dealbata bark, wood and leaves was evaluated using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Terpenic compounds (representing 50.2%–68.4% of the total bark and leaves extracts, respectively) and sterols (60.5% of the total wood extract) were the main components of these extracts. Other constituents, such as fatty acids, long-chain aliphatic alcohols, monoglycerides, and aromatic compounds were also detected in the studied extracts. All the extracts showed low or no cytotoxicity in the different cells tested, demonstrating their safety profile and highlighting their potential to be used in nutraceutical or pharmaceutical applications. This study is therefore an important contribution to the valorization of A. dealbata, demonstrating the potential of this species as a source of high value lipophilic compounds.

Enzymatic Synthesis and Stereocomplex Formation of Chiral Polyester Containing Long-Chain Aliphatic Alcohol Backbone.

Herein we demonstrated a novel lipase-catalyzed synthesis of isotactic D-/L-poly(aspartate-octanediol) ester containing long chain alcohols backbone and discovered their stereocomplex feature with an increased Tm for the first time. Simple design of monomer structures not only overcomes the inherent selectivity limitation of enzyme used, but also achieves totally isotactic polyester products. By crystallizing the mixed enantiopure isotactic polyesters in different solvents, the formation of amorphous mixture, homocrystallites or stereocomplex crystallites were observed, respectively. This study is expected to open up a new way to prepare various stereocomplex polyesters containing a long-chain aliphatic alcohol backbone and a wide variety of functional groups.

ABCG1 contributes to suberin formation in Arabidopsis thaliana roots

Diffusion barriers enable plant survival under fluctuating environmental conditions. They control internal water potential and protect against biotic or abiotic stress factors. How these protective molecules are deposited to the extracellular environment is poorly understood. We here examined the role of the Arabidopsis ABC half-size transporter AtABCG1 in the formation of the extracellular root suberin layer. Quantitative analysis of extracellular long-chain fatty acids and aliphatic alcohols in the atabcg1 mutants demonstrated altered root suberin composition, specifically a reduction in longer chain dicarboxylic acids, fatty alcohols and acids. Accordingly, the ATP-hydrolyzing activity of heterologous expressed and purified AtABCG1 was strongly stimulated by fatty alcohols (C26–C30) and fatty acids (C24–C30) in a chain length dependent manner. These results are a first indication for the function of AtABCG1 in the transport of longer chain aliphatic monomers from the cytoplasm to the apoplastic space during root suberin formation.

Pyrolysis behaviors and product distribution of Shengli Lignite at different heating rate and final temperature by TG-FTIR and Py-GC-MS

ABSTRACT The slow pyrolysis characteristics of Shengli lignite (SL) from ambient temperature to 800°C at heating rates of 20°C/min and 100°C/min were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (TG-FTIR) and by pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS). The final temperatures had larger effect on the pyrolysis products. The pyrolysis at 800°C of 20°C/min and 100°C/min (from the Py-GC-MS) obtained a variety of aliphatic compounds and monocyclic aromatic compounds, including short-chain olefins, alcohols, and ketones. But at 400°C, almost no short-chain aliphatic compounds were obtained, and a faster heating rate (100°C/min) was beneficial for obtaining long-chain aliphatic alkanes, alcohols, and acids (n-Hexadecanoic acid and Octadecanoic acid). It provides evidence that the aliphatic chains in lignite structure were long-chain, and the short-chain aliphatic compounds were from the secondary decomposition. The bicyclic compounds, monocyclic aromatic compounds were always important products. The real-time FTIR showed obvious differences in the pyrolysis at different heating rates. In the slower pyrolysis process (20°C/min), the absorbance of CO2 was much higher than that in the other processes, but in the faster pyrolysis process (100°C/min), the diversity of the pyrolysis products was substantially improved by the -OH, C = O, -COOH, C-CH3 and aromatic C-H functional groups, so maybe more valuable gas/liquid products could be produced at larger heating rate. The products at some specific temperatures (from the DTG peaks) were also provided for the reaction analysis.

Phenotypic and mutational spectrum of thirty-five patients with Sjögren-Larsson syndrome: identification of eleven novel ALDH3A2 mutations and founder effects.

Sjögren-Larsson syndrome (SLS) is a rare neurocutaneous disorder characterized by congenital ichthyosis, spastic diplegia and intellectual disability. It is an inborn error of lipid metabolism caused by biallelic mutations in the ALDH3A2 gene encoding the fatty aldehyde dehydrogenase that plays a pivotal role in metabolism of long-chain aliphatic aldehydes and alcohols. In this report, we describe the clinical, neuro-radiological and molecular findings of 35 patients with SLS. All patients shared the typical clinical manifestations of SLS including spasticity, ichthyosis and intellectual disability. Brain MRI demonstrated deep while matter affection in all patients that varied in severity. Mutational analysis of the ALDH3A2 gene revealed 16 distinct mutations including 11 previously unreported ones. Three mutations (p.S365L, p.R9* and p.G400R) were recurrent in our patients with frequencies ranging from 12 to 24%. Interestingly, patients carrying the two new mutations p.R9* and p.G400R shared similar haplotypes suggesting possible founder effects in our population. In conclusion, we present a large cohort of patients from the same ethnicity with the characteristic clinical and brain imaging findings of SLS but with variable inter and intra familial severity and expressivity. We also identified many novel and founder ALDH3A2 mutations thus expanding the mutational spectrum of the disorder.

Ru and Ag promoted Co/Al2O3 catalysts for the gas-phase amination of aliphatic alcohols with ammonia

The present paper describes the synthesis of primary amines from long-chain aliphatic alcohols and ammonia using alumina-supported noble metal doped cobalt formulations with moderate cobalt loading (5 wt%).