Publications by authors named "Luis Cabrita"

Reactive washing (RW) is a key process for disinfecting, purifying, and bleaching of cork stoppers to seal bottles with alcoholic beverages. Excessively severe treatment conditions deteriorate the surface properties of cork stoppers and must be strictly controlled. In this study, the conventional RW of natural cork stoppers was optimized employing a fractional factorial design.

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The dioxane lignin was isolated from extractives- and suberin-free cork ( L.) by a modified acidolytic procedure and submitted to structural analysis by permanganate oxidation, analytical pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS), liquid- and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The molecular weight ( = 2500 Da) was assessed by size exclusion chromatography (SEC).

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The effect of methyl, hydroxyl, and chloride substituents in position 3 of the 3',4',7-trihydroxyflavylium core structure was studied. The stability, relative energy of each of chemical species (thermodynamics), and their rates of interconversion (kinetics) are very dependent on these substituents. By comparing the mole fraction distribution at equilibrium of the three multistate systems with the parent 3',4',7-trihydroxyflavylium, introduction of a methyl substituent in position 3 increases the mole fraction of hemiketal at the expense of the trans-chalcone and increases the hydration rate very significantly; a hydroxyl substituent in position 3 gives rise to a degradation process, as observed in anthocyanidins.

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An acylated anthocyanin trioside was isolated from pink flowers of Convolvulus althaeoides using a combination of chromatographic techniques. On the basis of MS (MALDI-TOF) and NMR (1H NMR, 1H-1H COSY, 1D TOCSY, HSQC, HMBC, 13C CAPT) its structure was determined as cyanidin 3-O-[6-O-(4-O- (6-O-(E-caffeoyl)-β-D-glucopyranosyl)-β-L-rhamnopyranosyl)-β-D-glucopyranoside]-5-O-β-D-glucopyranoside. The absolute configuration of the aldose enantiomer moieties was determined from the separation of the corresponding thiazolidine diastereoisomer derivatives by HPLC-DAD.

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Copigmentation and the anti-copigmentation effects can be mimicked by the interaction of anthocyanin's model compounds respectively with cucurbit[7]uril (CB7) and β-cyclodextrin (β-CD). The complex network of chemical reactions displayed by this family of compounds includes the colored flavylium cation, AH(+), and quinoidal base, A, along with the colorless hemiketal, B, cis-chalcone, Cc, and trans-chalcone, Ct. Whereas AH(+) is stable only at very acidic pH values, the remaining species are formed at slightly acidic and neutral conditions.

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Novel mono and dialkylbipyridinium (viologens) cations combined with iodide, bromide, or bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide [NTf2] as anions were developed. Selective alkylation synthetic methodologies were optimized in order to obtain the desired salts in moderate to high yields and higher purities. All prepared mono- and dialkylbipyridinium salts were completely characterized by (1)H, (13)C, and (19)F NMR spectroscopy, Fourier-transform IR spectroscopy, and elemental analysis (in the case of NTf2 salts).

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Novel ammonium and phosphonium room temperature ionic liquids based on Ru(bpy)(CN)4 as a luminescent complex anion have been developed and characterized by comparative absorption, emission, NMR and electrochemical studies as well as the evaluation of their polarity behaviour.

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