Functional and In Vitro Antioxidant Properties of Wild and Insect-Cultured Cordyceps Cicadae Polysaccharides

Cordyceps cicadae is an entomogenous fungus, which is used as both medicine and food due to the presence of rich bioactive substances. Currently, most studies focus on the pharmacological effects of the bioactive components of C. cicadae, but the research on their processing is still in its infancy. In this study, polysaccharides were extracted from insect-cultivated C. cicadae (tussah pupae C. cicadae and domestic silkworm pupae C. cicadae) and wild C. cicadae. The functional properties of C. cicadae polysaccharides were evaluated. At the same time, the in vitro antioxidant activity of the insect-cultivated C. cicadae was determined and compared with the wild C. cicadae. The results showed that the cultivated C. cicadae polysaccharides and the wild one had similar structures, and both had appreciable water solubility, oilholding capacity, thermal stability, and emulsifying property compared to foaming property and foaming stability. Further, the C. cicadae polysaccharides cultured on silkworm pupae and tussah pupae showed comparable antioxidant and reducing power to the wild C. cicadae. Our data indicates that the C. cicadae polysaccharides have the potential as a food additive, among which the domestic silkworm pupae C. cicadae showed the best outcome, and the C. cicadae polysaccharides cultured by bionic method have the same antioxidant activity as the wild one.

Synthesis and Performance Evaluation of Green Anionic Polymeric Surfactant for Detergent Application

The main role of this study is to prepare the green polymer based anionic surfactant as an alternative to non-biodegradable surfactant for detergent applications. The detergent properties i.e., surface tension measurements, foaming property, emulsifying ability, dispersing property, FTIR analysis and wetting behaviour were studied using several rheological techniques. The critical micelle concentration (CMC) value was obtained at 6 mg/L of surfactant concentration showing no further remarkable changes in surface tension with increases in concentration. Low surface tension value was correlated with decrease in cohesive force exist between the molecules and allowed the surfactant easily adsorbed on the pore surface. The low surface tension value, reliable wetting characteristic, excellent emulsifying power, benchmark dispersing behaviour and suitable foaming property assuring the successful utilization of polymer based anionic surfactant for detergent applications

Formulation of Herbal Shampoo against Head Louse (Pediculus humanus capitis De Geer)

Background: Natural herbal shampoos are appealing to the consumers as they contain natural herbs without any harmful effects. The shampoo is used to remove dirt or other debris from hairs. Natural herbs are used in a herbal shampoo, which becomes more beneficial, safe, or efficacious than synthetic ones. Aim: The present study aims to formulate and evaluate a herbal shampoo containing various herbal extracts for anti-lice activity. Materials and Methods: Natural herbs such as neem, hibiscus, henna leaves, amla fruit and reetha epicarp are the components of the natural herbal shampoos used in this study. Soxhlet apparatus was used for water-based extraction of these natural herbs, whereas the maceration process was used for alcohol-based extraction. Nine formulations were prepared and evaluated by using different parameters like physical appearance, viscosity, surface tension, foam volume, pH, solid content, dirt dispersion and wetting time. Results: All nine shampoo formulations were successfully prepared at the pH range of 5.86-6.06. The physical appearance was observed to be between light brown to greenish-brown for F1 to F9 batches. The viscosity of the formulations was found to be between 1.05±0.011 to 0.96±0.011. Mortality of head lice (Lethal time (LT50)) for all the formulations was found in the range of 7.5 min- 52.5 min. Formulation F5 was found to be the best in the context of all the parameters. Formulation F5 showed good foaming property. The wetting ability was found to be good due to reduced surface tension (33.05±0.86); solid content was found to be 1.74% so that it would be easy to wash out from the hair. Conclusion: All the shampoo formulations showed good quality and could be used safely and effectively. These formulations also showed anti-lice activity so they can be used for the problem of head lice.

Effect of pH and Dodecylamine Concentration on the Properties of Dodecylamine Two-Phase foam

Over-stabilized foam has always been a problem that plagues the dodecylamine (DDA) flotation system. In this study, a new device, “automatic foam analyzer”, was successfully used to characterize the behavior of foam in DDA solution. The effects of pH and DDA dosage on the foam properties were investigated from four aspects: bubble diffusion capacity, Bikerman coefficient, half-life period and solution conductivity, and the mechanism of pH and DDA concentration on foam properties was analyzed by solution chemistry and surface tension of DDA, then the change process of foam structure was deduced. The results showed that the foaming property and stability of DDA bubbles were the best at pH=8. Simultaneously, with the increase of DDA dosage, the foaming property of bubbles was enhanced, the half-life was prolonged, and the foam stability was also improved.

Synergistic lignin construction of a long-chain branched polypropylene and its properties

Polypropylene with long chain branching behavior was constructed by lignin, which foaming property and polarity were improved.

Effects of foaming agent on properties of foamed gel

To improve foam expansion and the stability of the foamed gel selected as the starting point, three foaming agents with relatively higher foam expansion and three foam stabilizers were used to determine optimum gradient and composition of the gel. Sodium laurate and dodecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide at a proportion of 2:3 were observed to produce the desirable foaming property and also created the largest foaming volume after the addition of 0.2% polyethylene glycol as the foam stabilizer. Different concentrations of gelatinizing and cross-linking agents were added to the foamed gel containing the foaming agent and the foam stabilizer. The most suitable ratio of the gelatinizing agent and the cross-linking agent determined on the basis of volume of foam dewatering after the addition of foam stabilizer for 6 h was 0.6%:0.5%. The resulting foamed gel was evaluated for rheological and plugging properties and a decrease in the viscosity of the gel and better plugging effect on coal seam were observed.