Glass transition and water effects on sucrose inversion by invertase in a lactose-sucrose system

Isolation of saccharides in dairy and soy products by solid-phase extraction coupled with analysis by ligand-exchange chromatography

The present study reports an improved method to quickly and reproducibly isolate the saccharides from a variety of dairy and soy products utilizing reversed-phase solid-phase extraction to quantitatively remove fats, fatty acids, and lipids followed by desalination and deproteinization by ion-exchange solid-phase extraction with no loss of saccharides during extraction. Analysis of the isolated saccharides was performed by ligand-exchange HPLC. The method presented requires no prolonged heating (thus protecting the saccharides from hydrolysis or isomerization), uses benign reagents, and realizes a significant time savings over existing methods. The isolation and analysis of monosaccharides (glucose, galactose and fructose), disaccharides (lactose and sucrose), and polysaccharides (raffinose and stachyose) from dairy products (whole, reduced fat, and lactose-free milk and yogurt), infant formula (powdered and premixed), and soy beverages were studied in this investigation with recoveries ranging from 88% to 110% in all products studied. We also applied the method to quickly discriminate authentic soy milk from a soy beverage, branded as soy milk.

State diagrams for improving processing and storage of foods, biological materials, and pharmaceuticals (IUPAC Technical Report)

Supplemented temperature/composition phase diagrams include the non-equilibrium glass-transition temperature (Tg) curve and equilibrium ice-melting and solubility curves. The inclusion of the non-equilibrium curve allows one to establish relationships with the time coordinate and, thus, with the dynamic behavior of systems, provided that the thermal history of such systems is known. The objective of this report is to contribute to the potential applications of supplemented state diagrams for aqueous glass-formers, in order to describe the influence of water content, nature of vitrifying agents, and temperature on the physico-chemical properties of foods and biological and pharmaceutical products. These data are helpful to develop formulations, processing strategies, or storage procedures in order to optimize the stability of food ingredients and pharmaceutical formulations. Reported experimental data on phase and state transitions for several food and pharmaceutical systems were analyzed. Some methodological aspects and the effect of phase and state transitions on the main potential chemical reactions that can alter those systems during processing and/or storage are discussed.

Influence of solid-state acidity on the decomposition of sucrose in amorphous systems. I

It was of interest to develop a method for solid-state acidity measurements using pH indicators and to correlate this method to the degradation rate of sucrose. Amorphous samples containing lactose 100mg/ml, sucrose 10mg/ml, citrate buffer (1-50mM) and sodium chloride (to adjust the ionic strength) were prepared by freeze-drying. The lyophiles were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry and Karl Fischer titremetry. The solid-state acidity of all lyophiles was measured using diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and suitable indicators (thymol blue or bromophenol blue). The prepared lyophiles were subjected to a temperature of 60 degrees C and were analyzed for degradation using the Trinder kit. The results obtained from this study have shown that the solid-state acidity depends mainly on the molar ratio of the salt and the acid used in buffer preparation and not on the initial pH of the solution. The degradation of sucrose in the lyophiles is extremely sensitive to the solid-state acidity and the ionic strength. Reasonable correlation was obtained between the Hammett acidity function and sucrose degradation rate. The use of cosolvents (in the calibration plots) can provide good correlations with the rate of an acid-catalyzed reaction, sucrose inversion, in amorphous lyophiles.

Examination of Cholesterol oxidase attachment to magnetic nanoparticles

Magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4) were synthesized by thermal co-precipitation of ferric and ferrous chlorides. The sizes and structure of the particles were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The size of the particles was in the range between 9.7 and 56.4 nm. Cholesterol oxidase (CHO) was successfully bound to the particles via carbodiimide activation. FTIR spectroscopy was used to confirm the binding of CHO to the particles. The binding efficiency was between 98 and 100% irrespective of the amount of particles used. Kinetic studies of the free and bound CHO revealed that the stability and activity of the enzyme were significantly improved upon binding to the nanoparticles. Furthermore, the bound enzyme exhibited a better tolerance to pH, temperature and substrate concentration. The activation energy for free and bound CHO was 13.6 and 9.3 kJ/mol, respectively. This indicated that the energy barrier of CHO activity was reduced upon binding onto Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The improvements observed in activity, stability, and functionality of CHO resulted from structural and conformational changes of the bound enzyme. The study indicates that the stability and activity of CHO could be enhanced via attachment to magnetic nanoparticles and subsequently will contribute to better uses of this enzyme in various biological and clinical applications.

Analysis of mono- and disaccharides in milk-based formulae by high-performance liquid chromatography with refractive index detection

A simple and reproducible method for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of free mono- and disaccharides (fructose, glucose, galactose, sucrose, lactulose and lactose) in milk-based formulae by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with refractive index (RI) detection was developed and validated. The method showed good linearity with determination coefficients exceeding 0.99. The limits of detection (DL) in these sugars were 0.17, 0.13, 0.06, 0.16, 0.05 and 0.25 mg/ml, respectively; and the limits of quantification (QL), 0.27, 0.24, 0.20, 0.26, 0.22 and 0.38 mg/ml. The relative standard deviations (R.S.D.s) for repeatability in fructose, sucrose, lactulose and lactose were 0.78, 0.99, 2.91 and 0.46 and the R.S.D.s for reproducibility were 4.8, 6.15, 7.04 and 2.49, respectively. Recoveries in all sugars were between 93 and 113%.