Olive Fruit Ripening Degree and Water Content Relationships with Phenolic Acids and Alcohols, Secoiridoids, Flavonoids and Pigments in Fruit and Oil.

Olive drupe traits (i.e., ripening index and pericarp water content) and minor components (i.

Multi-Analytical Approach to Characterize the Degradation of Different Types of Microplastics: Identification and Quantification of Released Organic Compounds.

Microplastics and nanoplastics represent one of the major environmental issues nowadays due to their ubiquitous presence on Earth, and their high potential danger for living systems, ecosystems, and human life. The formation of both microplastics and nanoplastics strongly depends on both the type of pristine materials and the degradation processes related to biological and/or abiotic conditions. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of two of the most relevant abiotic parameters, namely temperature and light, taken under direct control by using a Solar box, on five types of reference polymers: high density polyethylene (HDPE), low density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Sensitivity of Proton NMR Relaxation and Proton NMR Diffusion Measurements to Olive Oil Adulterations with Vegetable Oils.

Olive oils and, in particular, extra-virgin olive oils (EVOOs) are one of the most frauded food. Among the different adulterations of EVOOs, the mixture of high-quality olive oils with vegetable oils is one of the most common in the market. The need for fast and cheap techniques able to detect extra-virgin olive oil adulterations was the main motivation for the present research work based on H NMR relaxation and diffusion measurements.

Analysis of Extra Virgin Olive Oils from Two Italian Regions by Means of Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Relaxation and Relaxometry Measurements.

The interest in development of new non-destructive methods for characterization of extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs) has been increasing in the recent years. Among different experimental techniques, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation measurements are very promising in the field of food characterization and authentication. In this study, we focused on relaxation times and measured at different magnetic field strengths (namely, 2, 100, and 400 MHz) and H NMR relaxometry dispersions directly on olive oil samples without any chemical/physical treatments.

Near UV-Vis and NMR Spectroscopic Methods for Rapid Screening of Antioxidant Molecules in Extra-Virgin Olive Oil.

Several spectroscopic techniques have been optimized to check extra-virgin olive oil quality and authenticity, as well as to detect eventual adulterations. These methods are usually complementary and can give information about different olive oil chemical components with bioactive and antioxidant properties. In the present work, a well-characterized set of extra-virgin olive oil (cultivar ) samples from a specific area of Tuscany (Italy) were investigated by combining near UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, H and C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) to identify and quantify different chemical components, such as pigments, secoiridoids and squalene, related to the nutritional and quality properties of olive oils.

The effect of sourdough fermentation on Triticum dicoccum from Garfagnana: H NMR characterization and analysis of the antioxidant activity.

The fermentation of Triticum dicoccum with sourdough enhances the nutritional aspects of the final product by the enrichment of several compounds with potential medical and biological activity, hence, could improve the health of consumers. This study analyzed the chemical composition of fermented spelt flour from Garfagnana (Province of Lucca, Tuscany) by H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (H NMR) spectroscopy and its in vitro antioxidant properties by FRAP and DPPH tests. Beyond this, the ex vivo CAA-RBC assay determined the cellular antioxidant activity on human erythrocytes under oxidative condition.

Effects of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Apples Enriched-Dark Chocolate on Endothelial Progenitor Cells in Patients with Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Randomized Cross-Over Trial.

Background: Endothelial dysfunction has been associated to cardiovascular outcomes in patients with cardiovascular risk factors. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play an important physiological role for their reparative potential of vascular integrity, but are numerically reduced and functionally impaired in patients with cardiovascular risks. This study assesses the effects of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) and apple-enriched dark chocolate intake on the blood levels of EPCs.

H NMR and PCA-based analysis revealed variety dependent changes in phenolic contents of apple fruit after drying.

Dry and fresh apples have been studied monitoring their polyphenolic profiles through H NMR, antioxidant capacity and total polyphenol content. Six ancient and underutilized apple varieties (Mantovana, Mora, Nesta, Cipolla, Ruggina, Sassola) and a commercial one (Golden Delicious) were dried with an air-drying system at 45°C for 19h. Although some of their polyphenol constituents were lost during drying, the antioxidant capacity of some apple varieties remained higher compared to Golden Delicious.

Extraction of pigment information from near-UV vis absorption spectra of extra virgin olive oils.

This work reports a new approach to extract the maximum chemical information from the absorption spectrum of extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs) in the 390-720 nm spectral range, where "oil pigments" dominate the light absorption. Four most important pigments, i.e.

Conformational properties and orientational order of a de Vries liquid crystal investigated through NMR spectroscopy.

Solid-state and liquid-state NMR spectroscopic techniques are used to describe at molecular level the behaviour of a de Vries liquid crystal (namely the mesogen 9HL) at the SmA-SmC* transition, which is characterized by the absence of the layer shrinkage, typical of non-de Vries smectogens. Previous (2)H NMR studies on the same smectogen, performed at a different magnetic field (from 4.70 to 18.

Synthesis, chiroptical properties and density functional theory calculations of 3,3'-biphenyl-2,2'-bitropone.

The synthesis of new bitropone derivatives, namely, 3,3'-biphenyl-2,2'-bitropone and 7,7'-biphenyl-2,2'-bitropone, are reported. Isolation of enantiomers arising from restricted rotation around the C-C bond connecting the tropone moieties was attempted by means of chiral high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). No separation was obtained for 7,7'-biphenyl-2,2'-bitropone.

Dynamics of partially oriented L-phenylalanine-d(8) in the CsPFO/H(2)O lyotropic system via (2)H NMR relaxation studies.

Dynamics of the l-phenylalanine-d(8) has been here investigated by analyzing the (2)H NMR spin-lattice relaxation times of this selectively deuterium enriched amino acid diluted in the cesium pentadecafluorooctanoate/water (CsPFO/H(2)O) lyotropic system both in the nematic (N(+)(D)) and in the lamellar (L(D)) phases. Information on the internal and overall molecular motions as well as on collective motions has been achieved by a global fitting procedure. The dynamic processes affecting this probe molecule reflect its particular conformational and interaction properties with respect to the lyotropic environment.

Order and dynamics of a liquid crystalline dendrimer by means of 2H NMR spectroscopy.

A complete Deuterium NMR study performed on partially deuterated liquid crystalline carbosilane dendrimer is here reported. The dendrimer under investigation shows a SmA phase in a large temperature range from 381 to 293 K, and its mesophasic properties have been previously determined. However, in this work the occurrence of a biphasic region between the isotropic and SmA phases has been put in evidence.

Atomistic computer simulation and experimental study on the dynamics of the n-cyanobiphenyls mesogenic series.

Several dynamic properties of the 4-n-alkyl-4'-cyanobiphenyls series ( nCB) with n=5, 6, 7, 8 have been studied by atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in the NVE ensemble adopting an ab initio derived force field (J. Phys. Chem.

NMR investigation of the dynamics of banana shaped molecules in the isotropic phase: a comparison with calamitic mesogens behaviour.

The first translational self-diffusion NMR measurements in the isotropic phase of banana-shaped liquid crystals are reported. In this paper, two banana-shaped mesogens, having a similar molecular structure and showing a nematic phase, have been investigated by means of translational self-diffusion NMR, (2)H NMR spin-spin and (1)H NMR spin-lattice relaxation measurements in the isotropic phase. While (1)H diffusion and (2)H relaxation times reveal a peculiar slow dynamic behaviour of banana-shaped mesogens compared with calamitic mesogens, the (1)H relaxation times seem to be affected by fast dynamics only.

Smectic order parameters from diffusion data.

Microcanonical molecular dynamics simulations have been performed in the smectic A phase of an elementary liquid-crystal model. Smectic order parameters and diffusion coefficients along directions parallel and perpendicular to the director have been calculated during the same trajectory for a number of state points. This has permitted the satisfactory testing of a procedure, adopted in the analysis of experimental self-diffusion coefficients, leading to an estimate of the temperature dependence of the smectic order parameters.