Percentage Purity Research Articles

Studying the Physicochemical Properties and Isolation of Unsaturated Fatty Acids from Edible Oils by GC-MS and Argentated Silica Gel Chromatography

The core objective of this study was to investigate the physicochemical characteristics and fatty acid composition of the oils of sunflower, olive, virgin coconut and ginger oils, as well as the separation of their unsaturated fatty acids. The data indicated a significant variation in physicochemical properties (acid, saponification, ester, and iodine values) among oils. Transesterification process was carried out at a molar ratio of 1:7:0.1 of oil: methanol: KOH. Fatty acid methyl esters of oils were analyzed by infrared (IR) and gas chromatography–mass (GC-MS) spectrometry. Twelve fatty acids were identified, where the major fatty acid of olive oil was found to be oleic acid (89%), whereas those of sunflower and ginger oils were linoleic acid (80.9 %) and (79.3 %), respectively. Sunflower and olive oils were fractionated by 25% silver nitrate-impregnated silica gel column chromatography. By this method, linoleic acid methyl ester from sunflower and oleic acid methyl ester from olive oil were isolated with high purity percentages and yields. This study is significant for the development of food and pharmaceutical products.

Analysis of the industrial quality of three sugarcane cultivars at “santa rosalía de la chontalpa” sugarcane mill

Objective: To evaluate the industrial quality of three sugarcane cultivars in a template cycle at the supply area of “Santa Rosalía de la Chontalpa” sugarcane mill.
 Design / Methodology / Approach: An experiment was established under a factorial design 3x3 (3 cultivars: CP 72-2086, MEX 79-431 and MEX 69-290; x 3 sampling dates: 330, 390 and 450 DDS, Spanish equivalent for days after sowing) on an Eutric Fluvisol soil. In each plantation, a sample of 10 stems with three replications was collected to determine the industrial quality by polarimetry.
 Results: The industrial quality of the evaluated cultivars only differed statistically in terms of the percentage of purity, MEX 79-431 was the one that presented the lowest value for this variable. At 450 DDS, the highest value was observed for °Brix (17.28), POL percentage (14.92), purity (86.44%). The values obtained in the present study for the quality of juice in the evaluated cultivars are within the range of the standard values established for Mexico.
 Limitations / Implications: Polarimetry is still the method used by most of the sugar mills in Mexico, even if other more environmental-friendly methodologies exist.
 Findings / Conclusions: The trend line that best fit to MEX 69-290 and MEX 79-431, for °Brix, POL and purity, was a linear polynomial and to CP 72-2086, a polynomial quadratic. Fresh stems and reducing sugars showed best fit with an inverse polynomial. °Brix presented strong and positive correlation with POL (R = 0.99**); and strong and negative with reducer sugars (R = -0.95**) and fresh stem humidity (R = -0.91**).

Optimization of Silica Extraction from Diatomaceous Earth using the Central Composite Design of Response Surface Methodology

ABSTRACT This work evaluated the extraction efficiency of silica from diatomaceous earth (DE) by conventional solvent extraction (CSE) and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) under basic and acidic (HCl) conditions utilizing response surface methodology (RSM). A common statistical model was used to get the best percentage yield and percentage purity using RSM. Experimental parameters such as stirring time, NaOH concentration (for CSE), sonication time, NaOH/HCl concentration, cycle and amplitude (for UAE methods) were optimized using central composite design (CCD). The analytical responses, that is, percentage yield and percentage purity, were analyzed using ANOVA and regression analysis. The linear coefficient of determination, R2, was high and precise. The overall yield and purity were highest for the UAE method under acid condition (pH 1-2, approximately), making it the most effective silica extraction method from DE. For this method, the optimal conditions for extracting Si from DE were 2 h of sonication, 220 mL of 2.82 M HCl as a leaching/extracting medium, 0.524 cycles and 72.6 % of amplitude. Under these conditions, 82 % of silica was yielded with a purity of about 95 %. The experimental results indicate that high-quality silica can be produced from DE in high yield so that DE can be an alternative silica source. Keywords: Diatomaceous earth, silica, response surface methodology, ultrasound-assisted extraction, conventional solvent extraction.

EFFECT OF SPRAYING SOME ORGANIC ACIDS ON CERCOSPORA LEAF SPOT DISEASE, YIELD AND QUALITY OF SUGAR BEET

Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris var. saccharifera, L.) is one of the main economical sugar crops in Egypt. It is infected with Cercospora leaf spot disease, which is caused by Cercospora baticola Sacc. Fungs, which negatively affect the vegetative growth, yield and quality of sugar beet. The results obtained indicated that Cercospora leaf spot disease severity% and relative efficacy% were significantly reduced by spraying beets with 20 g/ L humic acid followed by 2 g/ L boric acid and 50 Mm/ L citric acid compared with the other treatments, in both seasons. Spraying of 1.5 g/ L boric acid treatment led to significant increase in most of traits where, it achieved thickest and heaviest tops and roots/plant and higher values of (chlorophyll a, b and carotenoids), sucrose, purity percentages, root and sugar yields/fed in both seasons, as compared to other humic acid levels. Application of 15 g humic/ L significantly affected endogenous phytohormones (gibberellins, auxins, cytokinin and abscisic) and gave the highest values of root diameter, fresh and foliage weights/plant, sucrose and purity percentages as well, sodium and potassium contents, root and sugar yields/fed in both seasons, photosynthetic pigments in leaves in 1st season only compared to the rest of the used levels of humic acid. Foliar application of 50 citric acid/fed increased root diameter, (foliage and fresh weights/plant), sucrose and purity percentages as well, root and sugar yields/fed in both seasons in comparison to that those plants sprayed with (30 and 40 mM/L) and the check treatment. Based on, the previously mentioned combination can be recommended to increase root yield and quality of sugar beet as well as to reduce Cercospora leaf spot disease severity.

Preparative separation of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl inhibitors originating from Saxifraga sinomontana employing medium-pressure liquid chromatography in combination with reversed-phase liquid chromatography.

Traditional Tibetan medicines elaborately document the health benefits of Saxifraga sinomontana. However, there have been limited reports on its chemical make-up, presumably because of the complicated separation and purification process. In this work, a methanolic extract of Saxifraga sinomontana was utilized for targeted separation of 4 key 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl inhibitors employing the medium-pressure liquid chromatography, reversed-phase liquid chromatography in combination with on-line reversed-phase liquid chromatography-1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl detection. Pre-treatment of the sample was carried out by employing medium-pressure liquid chromatography using MCI GEL® CHP20P as the stationary phase, furnishing 2.4 g of fraction Fr3 and 3.4 g of fraction Fr4 (the percentage retrieval was 32.7%). The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl inhibitors contained in fractions Fr3 and Fr4 were subjected to additional separation using a C18 (ReproSil-Pur C18 AQ) column and yielded 106.2 mg of Fr3-1, 246.9 mg of Fr3-2, 248.5 mg of Fr4-1 and 41.8 mg of Fr4-2. The degree of purity, structures and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl inhibition activity of the isolated DPPH inhibitors were determined, and four 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl inhibitors including two new diarylnonanoids (3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenol-(6′-O-galloyl)-1-O-β-d-glucopyrano side with IC50 of 39.6 μM, 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl-(6′-O-galloyl)-1-O-β-d-glucopyranoside with IC50 of 46.9 μM, saximonsin A with IC50 of 11.4 μM, and saximonsin B with IC50 of 20.6 μM) were isolated with a percentage purity above 95%. The methodology thus evolved has good efficacy for preparatively isolating high-purity 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl inhibitors from extracts of Saxifraga sinomontana and could be efficiently utilized for rapidly isolating 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl inhibitors from other natural products.

Development of a downstream process for purification and purity analysis of glutaminase free L-asparaginase using UPLC, DLS-ZP and DSC-TGA

Several bacterial strains were isolated from soil and water in the current work and screened for glutaminase-free L-asparaginase activity. The selected strain was subjected to the production of glutaminase-free L-asparaginase and thereby purification. Before purification, pH scouting was performed, and 8.6 pH was the optimum working pH to carry out purification. The enzyme was purified using Sephadex G-200 gel filtration chromatography and up to 4.55-folds and its purity percentage was determined using UPLC. The purity of L-asparaginase was determined to be 99.2%. The enzyme was characterized using UV-Visible Spectrophotometer, DLS, ZP, DSC, TGA. The loss of the enzyme was 65% after sublimation, indicating its purity compared to the standard drug. The results report a developed process for the purification of L-asparaginase and its characterization, which can prove instrumental in the purification process of naturally occurring enzymes because today, most developed processes deal with recombinant enzymes.

Analytical method development and validation for the estimation of Furosemide an anti-diuretic in Furosemide injection diluted with normal saline in presence of impurities by RP-HPLC

This study was aimed to establish a simple, accurate, precise, robust and rapid reverse phase high performance liquid chromatographic method for the estimation of Furosemide in Furosemide injection diluted with normal saline and it was validated as per the parameters mentioned in the ICH guidelines such as system suitability, linearity, accuracy, precision, specificity, ruggedness and robustness and solution stability. The optimized chromatographic HPLC analysis was performed on Waters e2695 system equipped with Inertsil ODS-3V C18 column (250 cm x 150 mm; 5 um particle size), with a mixture of 1% glacial acetic acid and acetonitrile in the ratio of 50%:50% v/v as the mobile phase, at the flow rate of 1.0 mL/min. The detection was performed at the wavelength of 272 nm and the retention time of Furosemide was found to be 7.03 min. The calibration plot gave linear relationship over the concentration range of 10-120 ug/mL with correlation coefficient of r2 = 0.9998. The percentage purity of Furosemide in the given formulation was found to be 103.56 +/- 0.6546. The amount of Furosemide in the given formulation for intraday and interday was found to be 102.45 +/- 0.2291 and 102.67 +/- 0.4041, respectively. The accuracy of the proposed method was determined by recovery studies and was found to be in the range of 100.14% to 101.01%. This indicates that there is no inteference was observed due to excipients used in formulation. The percentage of RSD was found to be less than 2 for all the parameters. All the impurities peak were separated well and no inteference were found with the retention time of Furosemide. The results of robustness, ruggedness and solution stability were found to be within the acceptance limit. Hence, the developed method was found to be simple, linear, accurate, precise, robust, rapid method for the analysis of Furosemide in Furosemide injection diluted with normal saline. In addition, the main feature of the developed method is lower run time with less solvent consumption.

Method development and validation of aliskiren in tablet formulation by UV spectrophotometric methods

Optical methods through ultraviolet-spectrophotometer were developed and justification was done to validate the method for quantitative determination of aliskiren in its tablet formulation. Wavelengths for different methods were chosen by running selected sample in spectrum mode of the instrument, it was 279 nm; absorbance maxima for zero order technique, 289 nm; peak minima for first order derivative technique and between 269 nm and 289 nm for AUC technique using distilled water as reference. After studying linearity graph, working concentration range selected for method I, method II and method III was in between 25 to 150 µg mL-1. R2 value equal to 0.999 confirmed a better correlation between concentration and absorbance. Percentage purity of aliskiren in tablet formulation was found in between 98.54-100.36 which was very close to label claim. Validation following ICH guidelines was done to justify the results obtained through method I, method II and method III. The percentage of the standard drug recovered in recovery study for all the three techniques were within the limit and were in between 98.61-101.66. The percentage relative standard deviation in precision study was less than 2 for all the techniques. From the observed data it can be said that the developed methods can be utilized for quantitative estimation of aliskiren in tablet formulation. Keywords: Ultraviolet-Spectrophotometer, Optical methods, Aliskiren, Validation, First order derivative, AUC

Thermoluminescence of fluorapatite mineral

Fluorapatite [Ca10(PO4)6F2] is a mineral of the apatite group of the highest occurrence in the world among phosphates. The material is known for its diverse luminescent properties, as fluorescent lamps and lasers. The thermoluminescence (TL) signal of apatite from various origins has been investigated in the past years, mainly of the Mexican origin. In this work, the objective was to investigate the TL of samples of the Brazilian natural fluorapatites submitted to beta-ionizing radiation. The chemical composition of the samples was obtained by the technique of X-ray fluorescence and the electronic transitions were verified by optical absorption in the visible region. The mineral presented a wide optical absorption band between 500 nm and 750 nm, typical of fluorapatite, and SEM/EDS showed a high percentage of purity. The registered Raman spectrum exhibits the characteristics modes from the PO43− tetrahedra, observed in fluorapatite, and a band at 1103 cm−1 characteristic of the (CaO3)2- carbonate group. The TL measurements were carried out using a commercial Risø TL/OSL reader, model DA-20, equipped with a built in 90Sr/90Y beta source, with different radiation doses (1–5 Gy). The TL glow curve showed three peaks located at about 350 K, 470 K and 570 K (heating rate of 1 K/s). The activation energy and the frequency factor associated with each peak were determined by different methods. In addition, the TL response (area under the peaks) has shown linear behavior in relation to the doses.

Application of E-nose technique to predict sugarcane syrup quality based on purity and refined sugar percentage

Rapid test methods with portable devices along with standard chemical tests are necessary to determine raw syrup quality in the sugarcane agro-industries. On this account, a special e-nose device was developed to test the sugarcane syrup and its association with the odor emitted from it to determine the amount of sucrose (purity) in the sugarcane syrup. Samples were obtained from the farms of Hakim-Farabi agro-industry, including four varieties (CP57, CP69, IRC99-02, and CP48). Experiments included chemical tests to determine the percentage of purity (PTY) and refined sugar (RS) plus an electronic nose test. Partial least squares (PLS), principle component regression (PCR), multiple linear regression (MLR), and artificial neural network (ANN) methods were used to evaluate the correlation between the gained signals from the sensor array and chemical analysis results of the samples. In the case of PTY, among 8 sensors, MQ3, MQ5, and MQ9 had the highest response compared to the others, while regarding RS, all the sensors except for MQ8 indicated a great contribution. Also, all models for PTY and RS showed a good prediction performance. The results revealed that ANN model, with topology 8-1-2, outperformed others for prediction of the quality indices of sugarcane, with high correlation coefficients (R2 = 0.96 for RS; 0.99 for PTY), and relatively low RMSE values of 0.33 for RS; 0.4 for RTY. Finally, findings indicated that e-nose technique has the potential to become an authentic tool to assess chemical features of sugarcane syrup from e-nose system signals.

Study on emission spectral lines of hematite and magnetite for purity’s differentiation

Iron oxides have been investigated by employing mostly Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). However, absorption spectra sometimes are difficult to obtain in situ, where accessibility to the location is limited. In this paper, we propose using emission spectra to investigate the purity of hematite (α-Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4). We used an infrared beam (wavelength of 1064 nm) from a pulsed laser to obtain emission spectra of the α-Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 for two different purities (99.99% and 96%) ranging from visible to near-infrared regions. The average values of full width at half maximum (FWHM) for the 99.99% purity were found to be 0.15 nm and 0.17 nm for the hematite and the magnetite, respectively; the average values of FWHM for the 96% purity were found to be 0.19 nm and 0.23 nm for the hematite and the magnetite, respectively. In addition, it is found that lower purity iron oxides exhibited a higher amplitude in the broader emission spectrum when compared to the iron oxides with high purity under the same experimental conditions. Therefore, by observing the amplitude of the broader emission spectra, it is possible to differentiate qualitatively between hematite and magnetite purities; moreover, from the average value of the FWHM of the spectral lines, it is possible to evaluate percentage purity content of hematite and magnetite, which are useful for different mechanical and biomedical applications. FTIR measurements also confirmed that the purity of the oxides can be found by measuring the peaks’ shifts. However, the proposed technique can be used in place of FTIR, where accessibility to the measurement’s location becomes problematic.

Comparative Evaluation of Bioethanol Production from Pineapple (Ananas comosus) and Cassava (Manihot esculenta)Waste from Warri

Fossil fuel is known to increase greenhouse gas emission which has resulted in serious environmental consequences. This study was designed to determine bioethanol production from pineapple(a fructogenic waste) and cassava (a glucogenic waste). It was also designed to allow a comparative analysis of pure ethanol with ethanol produced from the two food wastes with a view to generate an alternative fuel source. The parameters evaluated were the volume ofbioethanol per 100g of waste, percentage (%) purity of bioethanol produced, pH and auto ignition temperature of bioethanol produced. The values obtained were analyzed using the unpaired student’s t- test where appropriate to determine if there are any significant differences in pure ethanol values for those parameters. The result showed thatrelative to the pure ethanol(control), the auto ignition temperature of ethanol produced from the cassava (Manihot esculenta)and pineapple(Ananas comosus)wastes were significantly (p≤0.05) high. The autoignition temperature of ethanol produced from pineapple waste was slightly higher when compared to bioethanol from cassava waste but it was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The volume of ethanol produced from cassava waste was slightly lower (p>0.05), when compared to the volume of the same parameter in the pineapple waste. There was a significant (p≤0.05) decreasein pH of ethanolproduced from pineapple waste when compared to that from cassava waste. The % purity of the bioethanol produced from pineapple waste was higher (p>0.05) when compared to that from the cassava waste. The autoignition temperature of the blend of produced bioethanol was slightly reduced(p>0.05) when compared to the auto ignition temperatures of individual ethanol from separate waste. But, relative to the pure ethanol utilized as a control in this study, the autoignition temperature of the blend was significantly (p≤0.05) high. Finally, it was observed that bioethanolobtained from cassava waste (a glucogenic energysource) produced a lower yield involume with a 15.8 v/100g (ml) value while its fructogenic counterpart (pineapple waste) exhibited a slightly lower autoignition temperature effect (33oC). The autoignition temperature of the waste blend (Cassava-Pine) was 30oC when compared to each waste source alone.A combination of both cassava and pineapple waste yielded better fuel properties and iscampaigned in this study for use in the production of biofuel.

EVALUATION OF NATURAL KILLER CELLS USING DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES

Natural killer (NK) cells mediate spontaneous cytotoxicity toward abnormal and tumor cells and rapidly secrete numerous cytokines and chemokine`s which promote subsequent adaptive immune responses. The presented study aimed to compare between different methods for NK evaluation and determination. Ten samples of healthy individuals were collected from Al-Zahraa University hospital and evaluated for phenotypic identification for NK cells. Isolation procedure of NK was performed in Clinical Pathology Department, Hematology Unit, Flow-cytometry lab, Al-Azhar University. Protocols started with isolation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from fresh human whole blood depending on Ficoll-Paque density gradient centrifugation. Other protocol depended on flow cytometry sorting technique. All experiments were carried out in accordance with the approved guidelines. Sorting procedure using FACS Calibur machine yielded 64.97 % purity before cells were cultured, while mixed Ficoll separation of whole blood showed purity 22.74%. Through our study, it is clear to us that the percentage of purity of NK cells using the flow-cytometry sorting technique is much higher than the percentage of purity of NK cells using the separation method dependent on Ficoll-Paque density technique, Therefore, through our study, we see that it is better to rely on the flow-cytometry sorting technique using the flow cytometry device and CD56 +CD16 and CD3 antibodies in order to obtain the best purity of the NK cells (CD56+ CD16 positive /CD3 negative population) for use in medical purposes and laboratory research.

Stability indicating RP-HPLC method for the estimation of flucloxacillin sodium in a tablet dosage form

A Simple, accurate and precise method was developed and validated for the determination of flucloxacillin sodium in its tablet dosage form. The separation was eluted on xterra c18 column (4.6x150mm, 5micron) using a mixture of octane buffer and methanol as mobile phase in a ratio of (30:70) which was pumped through column at a flow rate of 1ml/min. Optimised wavelength for flucloxacillin was 237nm, the retention time was 2.305minutes and the percentage purity was found to be 98.14%. System suitability parameters such as theoretical plate and tailing factor for flucloxacillin sodium was found to be 2991.64 and 1.90 respectively, the proposed method was validated as per ICH guidelines (ICH, Q2 AND (R1)) the method was found to be linear at the concentration range of 20-100µg/ml and the correlation coefficient (r2) value was found to be 0.9994 percentage RSD for precision was 0.9% and percentage RSD for ruggedness was 0.5%. The precision study was precise, robust and repeatable. The LOD and LOQ values are 2.98 and 9.98 respectively. Hence the suggested RP-HPLC method can be used for routine analysis for flucloxacillin sodium in tablet dosage form.

Determination of the Excitatory Effects of MicroRNA-30 in the Self-Renewal and Differentiation Process of Neonatal Mouse Spermatogonial Stem Cells

Background: Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are considered as special stem cells since they have the ability of self-renewal, differentiation, and transferring genetic information to the next generation. Also, they considered as vital players in initiating and preserving spermatogenesis. The fate decisions of SSCs are mediated by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, among which microRNAs (miRNAs) are one of the most essential factors in spermatogenesis among endogenous regulators. However, the mechanisms by which individual miRNAs regulate self-renewal and differentiation of SSCs are unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of miRNA-30 mimic on fate determinations of SSCs. Materials and Methods: The obtained SSCs from neonatal mice (3-6 days old) were purified by MACS and flow cytometry with a promyelocytic leukemia zinc-finger marker. Then, the cultured cells were transfected with miRNA- 30 mimic, and finally, the changes in expressing ID4 and c-kit proteins were assessed by western blot analysis. Results: According to flow cytometry findings, the percentage of SSC purity was about 98.32. The expression of ID4 protein and colonization increased significantly through the transfection of miRNA-30 mimic (P<0.05). Conclusion: The miRNA-30 controls spermatogonial stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, which may have significant implications for treating male infertility. [GMJ.2020;9:e1829]

Determination of the Excitatory Effects of MicroRNA-30 in the Self-Renewal and Differentiation Process of Neonatal Mouse Spermatogonial Stem Cells.

Background: Spermatogonial stem cells (SSCs) are considered as special stem cells since they have the ability of self-renewal, differentiation, and transferring genetic information to the next generation. Also, they considered as vital players in initiating and preserving spermatogenesis. The fate decisions of SSCs are mediated by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, among which microRNAs (miRNAs) are one of the most essential factors in spermatogenesis among endogenous regulators. However, the mechanisms by which individual miRNAs regulate self-renewal and differentiation of SSCs are unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of miRNA-30 mimic on fate determinations of SSCs. Materials and Methods: The obtained SSCs from neonatal mice (3-6 days old) were purified by MACS and flow cytometry with a promyelocytic leukemia zinc-finger marker. Then, the cultured cells were transfected with miRNA- 30 mimic, and finally, the changes in expressing ID4 and c-kit proteins were assessed by western blot analysis. Results: According to flow cytometry findings, the percentage of SSC purity was about 98.32. The expression of ID4 protein and colonization increased significantly through the transfection of miRNA-30 mimic (P<0.05). Conclusion: The miRNA-30 controls spermatogonial stem cell self-renewal and differentiation, which may have significant implications for treating male infertility.

Effects of Ethanol Concentration on Organosolv Lignin Precipitation and Aggregation from Miscanthus x giganteus

This work assesses the behavior of organosolv lignin aggregates derived from Miscanthus x giganteus using different ethanol concentrations (10%, 25%, 50%, and 75% by volume). The percentage of lignin recovery was found to decrease from 75.8% to 71.4% and 25.1%, as the ethanol concentration was increased from 10% to 25% and 50%, respectively. Increasing the ethanol concentration further to 75% led to zero recovery. The purity of the precipitated lignin was consistently found to be ≥90%. Lignin derived from the dried supernatant obtained at 50% ethanol concentration resulted in high lignin purity (51.6%) in comparison with the other ethanol concentrations used. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis showed that the precipitated lignin and dried supernatant at 50% ethanol concentration possessed the highest peak intensity apportioned to wavenumber of lignin as compared to that of at 25% and 10% ethanol concentrations, and the results linked with the percentage of lignin purity. The results of particle size analysis for precipitated lignin demonstrated particle sizes of 306, 392, and 2050 nm for 10%, 25%, and 50% ethanol concentrations, respectively, and the remaining supernatant with average particle sizes of 1598, 1197, and 875 nm, respectively. These results were verified with the morphology of lignin macromolecules in scanning electron microscopy images. Results of the particle size distribution of lignin revealed that the overall size of lignin aggregates decreased with decreasing ethanol concentration. In summary, these findings suggest that ethanol concentration affected the behavior of lignin aggregates in water–ethanol solution.

Synthesis and in vitro biological evaluations of novel tetrapeptide as therapeutic agent for wound treatment

We report a new small peptide containing four amino acid residues (glycine-aspartic acid-proline-histidine) conjugated with palmitic acid (Palmitoyl-GDPH) that was synthesized, characterized and evaluated for its biological activities. The Palmitoyl-GDPH was prepared by solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) with high percentage purity of 98.6%. The results of circular dichroism (CD) demonstrated the feasibility and stability of Palmitoyl-GDPH secondary structure at many temperatures up to 60 °C. Palmitoyl-GDPH showed its greatest collagenase inhibition activity and nitric oxide (NO) scavenging effect of 80.00 ± 2.22% at 1.0 mg/ml and 83.40 ± 8.08% at 2.5 mg/ml, respectively. In addition, in-vitro cell based study revealed that Palmitoyl-GDPH was not toxic and possessed strong proliferative activity towards normal human dermal fibroblast (NHDF) cell line. Wound scratch assay method showed that Palmitoyl-GDPH significantly promoted the cell migration which progressed faster compared to tetracycline-treated group (positive control) by about 98.39 ± 2.79% and 95.79 ± 3.83%, respectively. Collectively, these results suggested that newly synthesized Palmitoyl-GDPH possessed a strong candidate for use as therapeutic agent and can be a novel approach in the treatment of cutaneous wounds.

Extraction of Polyhydroxyakanoate (PHA) from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) using Chemical Solvent Extraction

Palm oil mill effluent or POME is the waste water discharge from palm oil milling activities. Polyhydroxyalkanoate or PHA is the linear polyester that produces by bacterial fermentation of sugar or lipids with nature process. The objectives of this research are to extract PHA from POME using chemical solvent and to study the percentage of purity and recovery of PHA. A methodology was developed for PHA extraction from palm oil mill effluent using chemical solvent. PHA from POME can be extracted by using chemical extraction method by using non halogenated solvent that are acetone, methyl isobutyl ketone and ethyl acetate. The result show percentage of mass PHA recovery with acetone has high percentage that is 93% follow by ethyl acetate with 81.2% and lastly with methyl isobutyl ketone with 66%. Meanwhile, the PHA purity percentage by using acetone is 71%, follow by ethyl acetate 58% of purity obtain lastly methyl isobutyl ketone with 49% PHA purity obtain. PHA can be extracted from POME using chemical solvent extraction method.

Synthesis, characterization and biodiesel conversion of monodispersed sulfonated-silica nanoparticles

The enhancing need of energy followed by increasing of human population to be main factors in fuels depleting. This motivated researcher over the world to solve and to utilize natural resources as bioenergy for human sustainability in future. Today, there are numerous research related to bioconversion and bioprocessing of natural resources as well as optimizing catalyst in biodiesel conversion. Design of suitable catalyst for biodiesel conversion to be a challenge in this research area. In this paper, we report of preparation, characterization and biodiesel conversion ability of heterogeneous catalyst, so called monodispersion sulfonated-silica nanoparticles (MSN). This nanoparticles was characterized by FTIR, TEM, SEM and SEM-EDAX as well as N2 adsorption-desorption. The result revealed that the catalyst prepared through CTAB templating technique has been successfully synthesized with high monodispersion nano-size. Moreover, its ability in biodiesel conversion up to 13.33% for purity percentage.