Analysis and identification of irradiated Spirulina powder by a three-step infrared macro-fingerprint spectroscopy

Microwave-assisted enzymatic extraction brings a notably high yield of polysaccharides from mountain Zizania latifolia

Mountain Zizania latifolia is produced at scale in China, and the edible swollen culm is exported to many countries, but little attention has been paid to its functional components. In this work, microwave-assisted enzymatic extraction (MAEE) is used for the first time to extract polysaccharides from mountain Z. latifolia swollen culm (PMZL). MAEE conditions optimized by Box-Behnken design-response surface methodology were as follows: 2.4% cellulase, microwaving for 6.0 min at 607 W, with a liquid-to-solid ratio of 63:1 ml g^-1 . Under these conditions, a notably high yield of 60.43% ± 1.12% for PMZL was achieved, which was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than from plain-grown varieties. PMZL are naturally occurring sulfated polysaccharide-protein complexes containing 8.46% ± 0.18% proteins and 7.86% ± 0.73% sulfates. PMZL comprises mannose, glucosamine, rhamnose, glucose, galactose, and arabinose at molar ratios of 3.80:2.68:1.00:17.41:5.12:2.91, with a weight-average molecular weight of 1569,219 Da and a number-average molecular weight of 364,088 Da. The surface morphology of PMZL is composed of tightly packed oval particles, and this kind of promising polysaccharides preferentially scavenges reactive nitrogen species. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Due to global warming, the land available for planting vegetables is likely to expand to higher areas, so greater attention should now be paid to mountain-grown vegetables. This study provides an efficient way to obtain novel polysaccharides from mountain Zizania latifolia using microwave-assisted enzymatic extraction with a remarkably high yield of 60.4%. This promising source of natural carbohydrates has potential uses in pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, functional foods, cosmetics, and functional materials industries.

Synthesis and Characterization of the Conducting Polymer Micro-Helix Based on the Spirulina Template

As one of the most interesting naturally-occurring geometries, micro-helical structures have attracted attention due to their potential applications in fabricating biomedical and microelectronic devices. Conventional processing techniques for manufacturing micro-helices are likely to be limited in cost and mass-productivity, while Spirulina, which shows natural fine micro-helical forms, can be easily mass-reproduced at an extremely low cost. Furthermore, considering the extensive utility of conducting polymers, it is intriguing to synthesize conducting polymer micro-helices. In this study, PPy (polypyrrole), PANI (polyaniline), and PEDOT (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)) micro-helices were fabricated using Spirulinaplatensis as a bio-template. The successful formations of the conducting polymer micro-helix were confirmed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were employed to characterize the molecular structures of the conducting polymer in micro-helical forms. In the electrochemical characterization, the optimized specific capacitances for the PPy micro-helix, the PANI micro-helix, and the PEDOT micro-helix were found to be 234 F/g, 238 F/g at the scan rate of 5 mV/s, and 106.4 F/g at the scan rate of 10 mV/s, respectively. Therefore, it could be expected that other conducting polymer micro-helices with Spirulina as a bio-template could be also easily synthesized for various applications.

Rapid discrimination of Herba Cistanches by multi-step infrared macro-fingerprinting combined with soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA)

Herba Cistanche, an important Chinese herbal medicine, has common four species, Cistanche deserticola (CD), Cistanche tubulosa (CT), Cistanche salsa (CS) and Cistanche sinensis (CSN) which have been frequent mixed used. To clarify the sources of Herba Cistanches and ensure the clinical efficacy and safety, a method combing IR macro-fingerprinting with statistical pattern recognition was developed to analyze and discriminate the four species of Herba Cistanche. By comparing FT-IR, second derivative spectral fingerprints via group-peak matching, the similarity to CD and total saccharides (TS) followed an increasing sequence, CT<CSN<CS<CD, whereas that to total glycosides (TG) followed a decreasing order, CT>CSN>CS>CD. Characteristic fingerprints of their 2D-IR correlation spectra in 1750-1000 cm(-1) have confirmed the above findings in a more intuitive way. In terms of sources for phenylethanoid glycosides (PhGs), CT can be an ideal alternative species. However, in terms of using them as a whole, more pharmacological study should be conducted due to the different ratios of their chemical constituents, which is also applicable to CSN and CS. Moreover, the four species (179 samples) has been objectively classified by SIMCA based on IR macro-fingerprints.