The Thermal Decomposition of Carbohydrates. Part I. The Decomposition of Mono-, Di-, and Oligo-Saccharides

Study of the structural characterization, physicochemical properties and antioxidant activities of phosphorylated long-chain inulin with different degrees of substitution

In this study, phosphorylated derivatives of long-chain inulin with different substitution degrees were prepared. The synthesized samples were named PFXL-1, PFXL-2, PFXL-3, and PFXL-4 according to their degree of substitution (from low to high). The structures of FXL and PFXL were characterized by infrared spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and the results indicated the successful introduction of phosphate groups. FXL and PFXL were composed of two types of sugar, fructose and glucose, with a molar ratio of 0.977:0.023. The SEM results showed that phosphorylation changed the morphology of FXL from an irregular mass to small spherical aggregates. The XRD pattern showed that the crystallinity was reduced by the introduction of phosphate groups. The Mw of FXL was 2649 g/mol, and the Mw of PFXL-4 increased the most (2965 g/mol). Additionally, PFXL was more stable and uniform, and the absolute value of the PFXL potential reached 7.83 mV. Phosphorylation decreased the weight loss rate of FXL and improved the viscoelastic properties and antioxidant activity of FXL. This study presents a method for the modification of FXL, demonstrating that phosphorylation can enhance its physicochemical properties and physiological activity and suggesting its potential as a functional food and quality modifier.

Highly efficient fermentation of 5-keto-D-fructose with Gluconobacter oxydans at different scales

BACKGROUND

The global market for sweeteners is increasing, and the food industry is constantly looking for new low-caloric sweeteners. The natural sweetener 5-keto-D-fructose is one such candidate. 5-Keto-D-fructose has a similar sweet taste quality as fructose. Developing a highly efficient 5-keto-D-fructose production process is key to being competitive with established sweeteners. Hence, the 5-keto-D-fructose production process was optimised regarding titre, yield, and productivity.

RESULTS

For production of 5-keto-D-fructose with G. oxydans 621H ΔhsdR pBBR1-p264-fdhSCL-ST an extended-batch fermentation was conducted. During fructose feeding, a decreasing respiratory activity occurred, despite sufficient carbon supply. Oxygen and second substrate limitation could be excluded as reasons for the decreasing respiration. It was demonstrated that a short period of oxygen limitation has no significant influence on 5-keto-D-fructose production, showing the robustness of this process. Increasing the medium concentration increased initial biomass formation. Applying a fructose feeding solution with a concentration of approx. 1200 g/L, a titre of 545 g/L 5-keto-D-fructose was reached. The yield was with 0.98 g_{5-keto-d-fructose}/g_fructose close to the theoretical maximum. A 1200 g/L fructose solution has a viscosity of 450 mPa∙s at a temperature of 55 °C. Hence, the solution itself and the whole peripheral feeding system need to be heated, to apply such a highly concentrated feeding solution. Thermal treatment of highly concentrated fructose solutions led to the formation of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, which inhibited the 5-keto-D-fructose production. Therefore, fructose solutions were only heated to about 100 °C for approx. 10 min. An alternative feeding strategy was investigated using solid fructose cubes, reaching the highest productivities above 10 g_{5-keto-d-fructose}/L/h during feeding. Moreover, the scale-up of the 5-keto-D-fructose production to a 150 L pressurised fermenter was successfully demonstrated using liquid fructose solutions (745 g/L).

CONCLUSION

We optimised the 5-keto-D-fructose production process and successfully increased titre, yield and productivity. By using solid fructose, we presented a second feeding strategy, which can be of great interest for further scale-up experiments. A first scale-up of this process was performed, showing the possibility for an industrial production of 5-keto-D-fructose.

Three-Dimensional Printing of Click Functionalized, Peptide Patterned Scaffolds for Osteochondral Tissue Engineering

Osteochondral repair remains a significant clinical challenge due to the multiple tissue phenotypes and complex biochemical milieu in the osteochondral unit. To repair osteochondral defects, it is necessary to mimic the gradation between bone and cartilage, which requires spatial patterning of multiple tissue-specific cues. To address this need, we have developed a facile system for the conjugation and patterning of tissue-specific peptides by melt extrusion of peptide-functionalized poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL). In this study, alkyne-terminated PCL was conjugated to tissue-specific peptides via a mild, aqueous, and Ru(II)-catalyzed click reaction. The PCL-peptide composites were then 3D printed by multimaterial segmented printing to generate user-defined patterning of tissue-specific peptides. To confirm the bioactivity of 3D printed PCL-peptide composites, bone- and cartilage-specific scaffolds were seeded with mesenchymal stem cells and assessed for deposition of tissue-specific extracellular matrix in vitro. PCL-peptide scaffolds successfully promoted osteogenic and chondrogenic matrix deposition, with effects dependent on the identity of conjugated peptide.

Urinary metabolites of furan in waterpipe tobacco smokers compared to non-smokers in home settings in the US

OBJECTIVES

Determine uptake of furan, a potential human carcinogen, in waterpipe tobacco (WPT) smokers in home settings.

METHODS

We analysed data from a US convenience sample of 50 exclusive WPT smokers, mean age 25.3 years, and 25 non-smokers, mean age 25.5 years. For WPT smokers, data were collected at a home visit by research assistants during which participants smoked one WPT head of one brand for a mean of 33.1 min in their homes. Research assistants provided and prepared a WP for participants by weighing and loading 10 g of WPT in the WP head. At the completion of the smoking session, research assistants measured the remaining WPT. Cotinine and six furan metabolites were quantified in first morning urine samples provided on 2 consecutive days for non-smokers, and on the morning of a WPT smoking session and on the following morning for smokers.

RESULTS

WPT smokers consumed a mean of 2.99 g WPT. In WPT smokers, urinary cotinine levels increased significantly 26.1 times the following morning; however, urinary metabolites of furan did not increase significantly. Compared to non-smokers, 2 furan metabolites, N-acetyl-S-[1-(5-acetylamino-5-carboxylpentyl)-1H-pyrrol-3-yl]-L-cysteine and N-acetyl-S-[1-(5-amino-5-carboxypentyl)-1H-pyrrol-3-yl]-L-cysteine sulfoxide, were significantly higher in WPT smokers in pre and in post WPT smoking levels.

CONCLUSIONS

To enable a more rigorous assessment of furan exposure from WPT smoking, future research should determine furan concentrations in WPT smoke, quantify furan metabolites from users of various WPT brands; and extend the investigation to social settings where WPT smoking is habitually practiced.

Insights into the Properties and Potential Applications of Renewable Carbohydrate-Based Ionic Liquids: A Review

Carbohydrate-derived ionic liquids have been explored as bio-alternatives to conventional ionic liquids for over a decade. Since their discovery, significant progress has been made regarding synthetic methods, understanding their environmental effect, and developing perspectives on their potential applications. This review discusses the relationships between the structural properties of carbohydrate ionic liquids and their thermal, toxicological, and biodegradability characteristics in terms of guiding future designs of sugar-rich systems for targeted applications. The synthetic strategies related to carbohydrate-based ionic liquids, the most recent relevant advances, and several perspectives for possible applications spanning catalysis, biomedicine, ecology, biomass, and energy conversion are presented herein.

Carbohydrates-Key Players in Tobacco Aroma Formation and Quality Determination

Carbohydrates are important compounds in natural products where they primarily serve as a source of energy, but they have important secondary roles as precursors of aroma or bioactive compounds. They are present in fresh and dried (cured) tobacco leaves as well. The sugar content of tobacco depends on the tobacco variety, harvesting, and primarily on the curing conditions (temperature, time and moisture). If the process of curing employs high temperatures (flue-curing and sun-curing), final sugar content is high. In contrast, when air curing has a lower temperature, at the end of the process, sugar level is low. Beside simple sugars, other carbohydrates reported in tobacco are oligosaccharides, cellulose, starch, and pectin. Degradation of polysaccharides results in a higher yield of simple sugars, but at the same time reduces sugars oxidization and transfer into carbon dioxide and water. Loss of sugar producers will compensate with added sugars, to cover undesirable aroma properties and achieve a better, pleasant taste during smoking. However, tobacco carbohydrates can be precursors for many harmful compounds, including formaldehyde and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. Keeping in mind that added sugars in tobacco production are unavoidable, it is important to understand all changes in carbohydrates from harvesting to consuming in order to achieve better product properties and avoid the formation of harmful compounds. This review summarizes current knowledge about tobacco carbohydrates, including changes during processing with special focus on carbohydrates as precursors of harmful compounds during smoking.

Preparation and Characterization of Acylcaramel

Caramel is a widely used water-soluble food pigment. The acylation of caramel was conducted by aliphatic acyl chlorides with different chain lengths. Acetyl, butyryl, octyl, lauryl, palmityl, and stearyl caramels were prepared with the ratio of acyl chloride/caramel of 6. The formation of acylated caramel was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectra, and the acyl mass fraction in acylcaramel was determined by potentiometric titration. Thermal analysis showed that the weight loss of acylated caramel was higher than that of raw caramel. The scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the morphology of acylated caramel was significantly different from that of raw material. The acyl mass fraction of acylated caramel increased with the increase of acyl chain lengths. Meanwhile, the lipo-hydro partition coefficient, the solubility in corn oil, and color, red, and yellow indexes increased with the increase of the mass fraction of acyl in acylcaramel. It was found that stearyl caramel has the highest lipid solubility of 5.73 mg/mL in corn oil; however, the color, red, and yellow indexes of palmityl caramel reached 25 818.60, 1.149, and 1.757, respectively. This study provides a method to improve the solubility of caramel in lipid phase and expand the application range of caramel.

Thermal Behavior of d-Ribose Adsorbed on Silica: Effect of Inorganic Salt Coadsorption and Significance for Prebiotic Chemistry

Understanding ribose reactivity is a crucial step in the "RNA world" scenario because this molecule is a component of all extant nucleotides that make up RNA. In solution, ribose is unstable and susceptible to thermal destruction. We examined how ribose behaves upon thermal activation when adsorbed on silica, either alone or with the coadsorption of inorganic salts (MgCl₂ , CaCl₂ , SrCl₂ , CuCl₂ , FeCl₂ , FeCl₃ , ZnCl₂ ). A combination of ¹³ C NMR, in situ IR, and TGA analyses revealed a variety of phenomena. When adsorbed alone, ribose remains stable up to 150 °C, at which point ring opening is observed, together with minor oxidation to a lactone. All the metal salts studied showed specific interactions with ribose after dehydration, resulting in the formation of polydentate metal ion complexes. Anomeric equilibria were affected, generally favoring ribofuranoses. Zn²⁺ stabilized ribose up to higher temperatures than bare silica (180 to 200 °C). Most other cations had an adverse effect on ribose stability, with ring opening already upon drying at 70 °C. In addition, alkaline earth cations catalyzed the dehydration of ribose to furfural and, to variable degrees, its further decarbonylation to furan. Transition-metal ions with open d-shells took part in redox reactions with ribose, either as reagents or as catalysts. These results allow the likelihood of prebiotic chemistry scenarios to be evaluated, and may also be of interest for the valorization of biomass-derived carbohydrates by heterogeneous catalysis.

Content of 4(5)-methylimidazole, caffeine and chlorogenic acid in commercial coffee brands

Content of 4(5)-methylimidazole (4-MeI), caffeine and chlorogenic acid in commercial coffee brands were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV DAD and MS detectors. Positive ion ESI mass spectra of the 4-MeI standard yielded intense signals corresponding to [M+H]+ (83.0604) and [2M+H]+ ions (165.1115). Also, adducts of 4-MeI with acetonitrile from mobile were detected - [M+ACN]+ ions (124.0849). The LOD of 2.5 ng mL-1 and LOQ of 8.4 ng.mL-1 were calculated according to the following formulas: LOD = 3.SD/S, and LOQ = 10.SD/S, where S is the slope of the calibration curve and SD is the standard deviation of the noise. The caffeine content was compared to the results of the standard addition, 1st derivative and liquid-liquid extraction spectrophotometry. 4-MeI was in tens µg g-1 in the Vietnamese coffees while in units µg.g-1 in all Czech and Brazilian coffees (<2.4 µg.g-1 and <4.9 µg.g-1, respectively). The results for caffeine were within the documented range (0.31 - 2.20%) in all coffee samples. The lower content of caffeine and chlorogenic acid was observed in Vietnamese coffees. All the methods used for determination of caffeine in the Czech and Brazilian coffees gave acceptable precision and accuracy. However, there were significant differences in the results in Vietnamese coffees. The caffeine extractability (100 °C, 3 min brewing) almost reached 100% in Czech and Brazilian coffees, while it was less than 90% in Vietnamese coffees. The Czech and Brazilian coffees tend to produce more caffeine in brews than the Vietnamese coffee because of the different composition of blends and the particle size degree.  

An evaluation of sucrose as a possible contaminant in e-liquids for electronic cigarettes by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

The influence of sucrose combustion products on smoking and nicotine addiction is still controversial because the presence of the sucrose may be treated as a source of aldehydes and organic acids. In e-liquids used as refills for electronic cigarettes, which are made primarily of poly(propylene glycol), glycerine and ethanol, sucrose may be present at trace levels, and its impact on mainstream smoke formation, and hence on human health and smoking/nicotine addiction is unknown. An analytical method was developed where high-performance liquid chromatography in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography mode and tandem mass spectrometry were used for fast and simple determination of sucrose and other saccharides in e-liquids for electronic cigarettes. Minimal effort was required in the sample preparation step, and satisfactory results were obtained, and the sample matrix had an insignificant impact. The chromatographic separation was done using an Ascentis Express OH5 column (150 mm × 2.1 mm, 2.7 μm). The coefficients of variation for within-day precision for three concentrations were 2.4 %, 1.6 % and 2.3 %, and the between-day coefficients of variation for a single concentration were 2.1 %, 2.5 % and 1.7 % measured on the next 3 days. The detection limit was 0.73 μg/g, and the sucrose content in e-liquids ranged from 0.76 to 72.93 μg/g among 37 samples. Moreover, with the method presented it is possible to determine the presence of other saccharides such as fructose, glucose, maltose and lactose. However, only sucrose was found in all samples of e-liquids. The proposed method is rapid, simple and reliable in terms of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry.

The role of the Maillard reaction in the formation of flavour compounds in dairy products--not only a deleterious reaction but also a rich source of flavour compounds

Dairy products are heated both during processing and by consumers during food preparation; consumers place a high level of importance on flavour when assessing product acceptability. Of particular importance to the flavour of heated dairy products is the highly complex network of Maillard reactions. Much focus has been placed on the undesirable flavours generated through the Maillard reaction and how to minimise the formation of these flavours. However, beneficial flavours can also be formed by the Maillard reaction; dairy products, such as ghee, are formed by heating and are characterised by the unique flavour generated by this chemistry. This review looks at the Maillard reaction as a source of beneficial flavours for cooked dairy products and the application of models to the study of flavour formation in food systems. Models are typically used to study complex reactions in a simplified way; however, they are not always applicable to food systems.

Does densification influence the steam pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis of softwoods to sugars?

The global trade in wood pellets continues to grow. However, their potential as a feedstock for large scale cellulosic ethanol production has not been evaluated. We anticipated that the reduced moisture content and pressure exerted on the wood biomass during the pelletisation process would result in some carbohydrate loss as well as making the biomass more recalcitrant to pretreatment and subsequent hydrolysis. However, when softwood chips and pellets were steam pretreated at medium severity, little hemicellulose loss occurred while more than two-thirds of the cellulose present in the cellulose rich water insoluble fractions were hydrolysed (at 20 FPU cellulase/g cellulose). In addition, prior steaming substantially reduced the particle size of the wood chips enabling direct pelletisation without the need for grinding. Surprisingly, it was also possible to apply a single steam pretreatment to facilitate both pelletisation and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis without the need for a further pretreatment step.

Unraveling the chemical composition of caramel

Caramel is one of mankind's best known dietary materials obtained from carbohydrates by heating. Much effort has been expended toward the chemical characterization of the components of caramel but impeded by a lack of suitable analytical techniques sufficiently powerful for providing insight into an extraordinarily complex material. This paper reports the characterization of caramel formed by heating from glucose, fructose, and saccharose using a conceptually novel combination of mass spectrometrical techniques. The analytical strategy employed uses high-resolution mass spectrometry (MS) followed by targeted liquid chromatography-tandem MS experiments. Caramel is composed from several thousand compounds formed by a small number of unselective and chemoselective reactions. Caramelization products include oligomers with up to six carbohydrate units formed through unselective glycosidic bond formation, dehydration products of oligomers losing up to a maximum of eight water molecules, hydration products of sugar oligomers, disproportionation products, and colored aromatic products.

Quantification of 4-methylimidazole in class III and IV caramel colors: validation of a new method based on heart-cutting two-dimensional liquid chromatography (LC-LC)

4-Methylimidazole (4MeI) is a nitrogen compound formed during the manufacture of class III and IV caramel colors. The European Commission has limited its content to 250 ppm. Two methods were compared to perform 4MeI quantification in caramels. The first one, currently used and considered to be the reference method, consists of a hot extraction of caramel color with dichloromethane and an analysis of the acetyl derivative of the extract by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The second method is based on the heart-cutting two-dimensional liquid chromatography technique (LC-LC) to directly separate 4MeI from the other components present in caramel color sample (diluted in water) in <30 min. The accuracy profile validation method and the comparison between the results obtained with the two methods show that the new and completely automated LC-LC method is usable to quantify 4MeI in caramels.

Effects of heating conditions on the glass transition parameters of amorphous sucrose produced by melt-quenching

This research investigates the effects of heating conditions used to produce amorphous sucrose on its glass transition (T(g)) parameters, because the loss of crystalline structure in sucrose is caused by the kinetic process of thermal decomposition. Amorphous sucrose samples were prepared by heating at three different scan rates (1, 10, and 25 °C/min) using a standard differential scanning calorimetry (SDSC) method and by holding at three different isothermal temperatures (120, 132, and 138 °C) using a quasi-isothermal modulated DSC (MDSC) method. In general, the quasi-isothermal MDSC method (lower temperatures for longer times) exhibited lower T(g) values, larger ΔC(p) values, and broader glass transition ranges (i.e., T(g end) minus T(g onset)) than the SDSC method (higher temperatures for shorter times), except at a heating rate of 1 °C/min, which exhibited the lowest T(g) values, the highest ΔC(p), and the broadest glass transition range. This research showed that, depending on the heating conditions employed, a different amount and variety of sucrose thermal decomposition components may be formed, giving rise to wide variation in the amorphous sucrose T(g) values. Thus, the variation observed in the literature T(g) values for amorphous sucrose produced by thermal methods is, in part, due to differences in the heating conditions employed.

Investigation of thermal decomposition as the kinetic process that causes the loss of crystalline structure in sucrose using a chemical analysis approach (part II)

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on a calcium form cation exchange column with refractive index and photodiode array detection was used to investigate thermal decomposition as the cause of the loss of crystalline structure in sucrose. Crystalline sucrose structure was removed using a standard differential scanning calorimetry (SDSC) method (fast heating method) and a quasi-isothermal modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) method (slow heating method). In the fast heating method, initial decomposition components, glucose (0.365%) and 5-HMF (0.003%), were found in the sucrose sample coincident with the onset temperature of the first endothermic peak. In the slow heating method, glucose (0.411%) and 5-HMF (0.003%) were found in the sucrose sample coincident with the holding time (50 min) at which the reversing heat capacity began to increase. In both methods, even before the crystalline structure in sucrose was completely removed, unidentified thermal decomposition components were formed. These results prove not only that the loss of crystalline structure in sucrose is caused by thermal decomposition, but also that it is achieved via a time-temperature combination process. This knowledge is important for quality assurance purposes and for developing new sugar based food and pharmaceutical products. In addition, this research provides new insights into the caramelization process, showing that caramelization can occur under low temperature (significantly below the literature reported melting temperature), albeit longer time, conditions.

Di-D-fructose dianhydride-enriched products by acid ion-exchange resin-promoted caramelization of D-fructose: chemical analyses

Caramelization commonly occurs when sugars, or products containing a high proportion of sugars, are heated either dry or in concentrated aqueous solutions, alone or in the presence of certain additives. Upon thermal treatment of sugars, dehydration and self-condensation reactions occur, giving rise to volatiles (principally 2-hydroxymethylfurfural, HMF), pigments (melanoidines) and oligosaccharidic material, among which di-D-fructose dianhydrides (DFAs) and glycosylated DFA derivatives of different degree of polymerization (DP) have been identified. This study reports a methodology to produce caramel-like products with a high content of DFAs and oligosaccharides thereof from commercial D-fructose based on the use of acid ion-exchange resins as caramelization promotors. The rate of formation of these compounds as a function of D-fructose concentration, catalyst proportion, temperature, catalyst nature and particle size has been investigated. The use of sulfonic acid resins allows conducting caramelization at remarkable low temperatures (70-90 degrees C) to reach conversions into DFA derivatives up to 70-80% in 1-2 h, with relative proportions of HMF < 2%.The relative abundance of individual DFA structures can be modulated by acting on the catalyst nature and reaction conditions, which offers a unique opportunity for nutritional studies of DFA-enriched products with well-defined compositions.

Effect of Sweeteners on Radical Formation in Starch Studied by Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

The process of radical generation occurring upon thermal treatment of potato and corn starch containing sweeteners: saccharose, acesulfam K, aspartame, and sorbitol was investigated by electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, using Cu2+ ions as a paramagnetic probe. It was found that the influence of acesulfam K and sorbitol on radical formation is stronger than that of other additives. Acesulfam K increased the amount of radicals in the starch compared to native starch, whereas sorbitol significantly decreased their concentration. The influence of sweeteners on radical processes in the starch is because of differences in their molecular structures and presence or absence of OH groups.

Sugars as tobacco ingredient: Effects on mainstream smoke composition

Sugars are natural tobacco components, and are also frequently added to tobacco during the manufacturing process. This review describes the fate of sugars during tobacco smoking, in particular the effect of tobacco sugars on mainstream smoke composition. In natural tobacco, sugars can be present in levels up to 20 wt%. In addition, various sugars are added in tobacco manufacturing in amounts up to 4 wt% per sugar. The added sugars are usually reported to serve as flavour/casing and humectant. However, sugars also promote tobacco smoking, because they generate acids that neutralize the harsh taste and throat impact of tobacco smoke. Moreover, the sweet taste and the agreeable smell of caramelized sugar flavors are appreciated in particular by starting adolescent smokers. Finally, sugars generate acetaldehyde, which has addictive properties and acts synergistically with nicotine in rodents. Apart from these consumption-enhancing pyrolysis products, many toxic (including carcinogenic) smoke compounds are generated from sugars. In particular, sugars increase the level of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, acrolein, and 2-furfural in tobacco smoke. It is concluded that sugars in tobacco significantly contribute to the adverse health effects of tobacco smoking.

Evaluation of the potential effects of ingredients added to cigarettes. Part 2: chemical composition of mainstream smoke

Cigarette mainstream smoke from blended research cigarettes with and without the addition of ingredients was analyzed for its chemical composition. In total, 333 ingredients commonly used in cigarette manufacturing were assigned to three different groups. Each group of ingredients was introduced at a low and a high level to the test cigarettes. The list of the 51 smoke constituents determined is based on those analytes suggested for analysis in a US Consumer Product Safety Commission proposal for low ignition cigarettes and cigarette smoke constituents identified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as worthy of concern and characterized as carcinogens. An increase in the yield of total particulate matter (TPM) in the range of 13 to 28% relative to the control cigarette without ingredients was observed for all test cigarettes. This was presumably caused by the higher transfer rates of the added ingredients to the smoke compared to the transfer from the tobacco part of the filler. When the yields of individual constituents were normalized to the TPM yields, a reduction in the majority of the constituents was observed when compared to the control. For one of the ingredient groups this reduction was especially high: for phenols a maximum of 70%, for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons 50%, and for N-nitrosamines 45%. An increase in the amount relative to TPM was observed for a few smoke constituents: hydrogen cyanide and cadmium (one ingredient group), formaldehyde (one ingredient group), and resorcinol and lead (two ingredient groups). These results are consistent with the lack of any increased activity in the in vitro and in vivo assays in this same series of studies (Food and Chemical Toxicology 2002, 40, 105-111; Food and Chemical Toxicology 2002, 40, 113-131). An overall assessment of our data suggests that these ingredients, when added to the tobacco, do not add to the toxicity of smoke, even at the elevated levels tested in this series of studies.

Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of mono- and disaccharides in D-fructose, D-glucose and sucrose caramels by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Di-D-fructose dianhydrides as tracers of caramel authenticity

The monosaccharide (D-fructose, D-glucose, anhydrosugars), disaccharide (glucobioses) and pseudodisaccharide (di-D-fructose dianhydrides) content of D-fructose, D-glucose and sucrose caramels has been determined by gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (GLC-MS) of their trimethylsilyl (TMS) or TMS-oxime derivatives. The chromatographic profiles revealed significant differences in the disaccharide/pseudodisaccharide distribution depending on the caramel source: a D-fructose caramel contains prominent proportions of di-D-fructose dianhydrides, a D-glucose caramel mainly D-glucobioses, and a sucrose caramel similar proportions of both disaccharide/pseudodisaccharide series. It is noteworthy that di-D-fructose dianhydrides are found in all three types of caramels and might then be used as specific tracers of the authenticity of caramel, i.e., a product resulting from the controlled heat treatment of food-grade carbohydrates for use as food additives.

Accelerated stability studies of heparin

The objective of this study was to extend our understanding of the stability of heparin. Sodium heparin, derived from porcine intestinal mucosa, was first incubated in 0.1 N hydrochloric acid and 0.1 N sodium hydroxide at 30 and 60 degrees C and sampled at times ranging from 0 to 1000 h. The absorbance spectra of the products formed under basic conditions showed an ultraviolet maxima at 232 nm associated with chemically catalyzed beta-elimination at the uronic acid residues. The products formed under acidic conditions showed a decreased staining intensity consistent with desulfation and a decrease in molecular weight corresponding to hydrolysis of glycosidic linkages when analyzed by gradient polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Heparin samples were next prepared in 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer at pH 7.0 in sealed ampules that had been flushed with nitrogen and incubated at 100 degrees C. Samples taken at times ranging from 0 to 4000 h were then analyzed. Heparin was relatively stable over the first 500 h, after which it rapidly degraded. Heparin, assayed using both anti-factor Xa and anti-factor IIa amidolytic methods retained 80-90% of its activity over the first 500 h, but these activities dropped precipitously, to approximately 6% and approximately 0.5% of the initial activity at 1000 h and 2000 h, respectively. This rapid decomposition began only after the buffering capacity of the solution was overwhelmed by acidic degradants, which caused the pH to decrease. Decomposition processes observed under these conditions included the endolytic hydrolysis of glycosidic linkages and loss of sulfation, particularly N-sulfate groups, and were similar to the degradation processes observed in 0.1 N hydrochloric acid. This study provides initial observations on heparin degradation pathways. More complete, quantitative studies and studies leading to the isolation and characterization of specific degradants are still required.