Microwave-assisted digestion using diluted HNO3 and H2O2 for macro and microelements determination in guarana samples by ICP OES.

A microwave-assisted digestion procedure using diluted HNO3 and H2O2 was developed for multi-element determination in guarana samples by ICP OES. Optimization step was performed employing a mixture design with pseudocomponents using HNO3, H2O2 and H2O. The analytical signal of each element, residual acidity and residual carbon content were optimized simultaneously using the desirability function. The best condition for digestion of a 250 mg sample mass resulted from a mixture constituted by 1.0 mL of HNO3, 3.0 mL of H2O2 and 6.0 mL of H2O. This condition allowed final digests with residual acidity and residual carbon content of 0.4 mol L-1 and 6.5%, respectively. The method was validated and applied for the determination of K, Ca, Mg, S, P, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn in 72 guarana seed samples from Bahia state. This work presents unpublished results about the mineral composition of guarana seed samples produced in Bahia state, Brazil.

Physicochemical and antimicrobial properties of copaiba oil: implications on product quality control.

BACKGROUND: The copaiba oil is a common natural product used in cosmetic industry and as a nutraceutical product. However, lack of quality control and scarce knowledge about its antimicrobial activity is a point of concern. The proposal of this study was to investigate the physicochemical properties and the antimicrobial activity of five commercial brands of copaiba oil. METHODS: Acidity and ester index, refractory index, solubility in alcohol, and thin layer chromatography were performed to verify the physicochemical properties of five commercial copaiba oils sold in local pharmacies. Ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode-array detection and electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-DAD/ESI-Q-TOF-MS) was used to investigate diterpene acids while the volatile compounds were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Antibacterial and antifungal activities were also evaluated by agar diffusion technique; and minimal inhibitory concentration and maximal bactericidal concentration were defined for each sample and bacteria. RESULTS: The physical-chemical analysis revealed heterogeneity between all samples analysed. The A1 sample showed characteristics of copaiba oil and was mainly composed by hydrocarbon sesquiterpenes (29.95% ß-bisabolene, 25.65% Z-α-bergamotene and 10.27% ß-cariophyllene). Among diterpene acids, the UPLCDAD/ESI-Q-TOF-MS data are compatible with presence of copalic and/or kolavenic acid (m/z 305 [M + H]+). Candida albicans was sensitive to almost all samples at high concentration and Saccaromyces. Cerevisiae showed sensitivity to A1 sample at 100 mg/mL. Although variable, all samples showed antibacterial activity. Significant activity was seen for A3 (19.0 ±0 and 15.6 ±0.5 mm), A4 (16.6 ±0.5 and 15.6 ±0 mm), and A5 (17.1 ±0 and 17.1 ±0 mm) on Staphylococcus saprophyticus and S. aureus, respectively. All samples were active against Klebsiella pneumoniae showing ≥15 mm diameter halo inhibition; and only A2 was active against Eschirichia coli. Phytopatogens tested revealed resistance of Ralstonia solanacearum CGH12 to all samples and susceptibility of Xcv 112 strain of Xanthomonas campestris pv campestris to almost all samples. MIC and MMC showed bacteriostatic effect against clinical interest bacteria and bactericidal effect against phytopatogens. CONCLUSIONS: The results from physicochemical analysis reinforce the fact that it is imperative to include simple conventional methods in the analysis of oil products. The analysis of copaiba oil gives safe products and purity which ensure products with quality. Also, since copaiba oil is an over-the-counter product the results indicate that pharmacosurveillance must be improved by the governmental regulation agency to avoid microorganism resistance selection and to achieve better international quality products.

ESTs from Seeds to Assist the Selective Breeding of Jatropha curcas L. for Oil and Active Compounds.

We report here on the characterization of a cDNA library from seeds of Jatropha curcas L. at three stages of fruit maturation before yellowing. We sequenced a total of 2200 clones and obtained a set of 931 non-redundant sequences (unigenes) after trimming and quality control, ie, 140 contigs and 791 singlets with PHRED quality ≥10. We found low levels of sequence redundancy and extensive metabolic coverage by homology comparison to GO. After comparison of 5841 non-redundant ESTs from a total of 13193 reads from GenBank with KEGG, we identified tags with nucleotide variations among J. curcas accessions for genes of fatty acid, terpene, alkaloid, quinone and hormone pathways of biosynthesis. More specifically, the expression level of four genes (palmitoyl-acyl carrier protein thioesterase, 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase B, lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase and geranyl pyrophosphate synthase) measured by real-time PCR proved to be significantly different between leaves and fruits. Since the nucleotide polymorphism of these tags is associated to higher level of gene expression in fruits compared to leaves, we propose this approach to speed up the search for quantitative traits in selective breeding of J. curcas. We also discuss its potential utility for the selective breeding of economically important traits in J. curcas.