• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.163-168
• /
• 2018

Biomass waste-derived carbon is an attractive alternative with environmental benignity to obtain carbon material. In this study, we prepare carbon from coffee grounds as a biomass precursor using a simple, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly method through physical activation using only steam. The coffee-derived carbon, having a micropore-rich structure and a low extent of graphitization of disordered carbon, is developed and directly applied to lithium-ion battery anode material. Compared with the introduction of the Ketjenblack (KB) conducting agent (i.e., coffee-derived carbon with KB), the coffee-derived carbon itself achieves a reversible capacity of ~200 mAh/g (0.54 lithium per 6 carbons) at a current density of 100 mA/g after 100 cycles, along with excellent cycle stability. The origin of highly reversible lithium storage is attributed to the consistent diffusion-controlled intercalation/de-intercalation reaction in cycle life, which suggests that the bulk diffusion of lithium is favorable in the coffee-derived carbon itself, in the absence of a conducting agent. This study presents the preparation of carbon material through physical activation without the use of chemical activation agents and demonstrates an application of coffee-derived carbon in energy storage devices.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.32 no.2 s.89
• /
• pp.164-170
• /
• 2006

Ethylene oxide is a genotoxic carcinogen with widespread uses as industrial chemical intermediate and gaseous sterilant. 2-hydroxyethylated N-terminal valine in Hb is a good biomarker for biological monitoring of ethylene oxide exposure, because of its stability. For measuring the hemoglobin adduct formed by exposure of ethylene oxide, we studied the determination of (N-2-hydroxy-ethyl)valine(HEV) in hemoglobin adduct by using GC/MS. Firstly we synthesized HEV with 2-amino-ethanol and bromoisovaleric acid(BIVA) and confirmed it with GC/MS-FID. Its fragmentations were m/z 116(base ion, M+-45) and m/z 130(M+-31). For measuring HEV with higher sensitivity, we use derivatives which were PFPITH(pentafluorophenylisothiocianate) and TBDMS (tributyldimethylsilylation) by using Edman procedure. Its fragmentation were m/z 425(M+-57), m/z 383(M+-99) and m/z 172(M+-310) by using GC/MS. We did biological monitoring for mice inhalation exposure with 400 ppm ethylene oxide. The concentrations of hemoglobin adduct were $168{\pm}3.8\;and\;512{\pm}04$(nmol g-1 globin) at 0.5 hr/day 400 ppm ethylene oxide inhalation exposure group, and $631{\pm}17\;and\;2265{\pm}9.4$(nmol g-1 globin) at 1.0 hr/day 400 ppm ethylene oxide inhalation exposure for 1 and 4 weeks, respectively. We confirmed that (N-2-hydroxy-ethyl)valine(HEV) of hemoglobin was a good biomarker for biomonitoring of ethylene oxide exposure, and can measured with derivatives such as PFPITH(pentafluorophenylisothiocianate) and TBDMS(tributyldimethylsilylation) by using GC/MS.

• Journal of Aquaculture
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.99-108
• /
• 2006

Sex of the Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus is mainly determined by an XX/XY system. However, accumulating evidences suggest the existence of additional sex modifying factors including environmental, autosomal and parental influences. In order to investigate the possibility of parental effects on sex ratios of tilapia progenies, in this study, a series of crosses was carried out using gynogenetic clonal fish, neomales, normal males and females, and YY fish. Crosses between clonal XX male and clonal female have yielded only female progenies and no parental influences were observed. However, in the crosses between clonal males and normal females, female parents were significantly associated with the progeny sex ratios ($X^2$=20.046, 7 d.f., p<0.01). Progeny sex ratios from the crosses between neomales and normal females ($X^2$=60.491, 5 d.f and $X^2$=28.072, 2 d.f.) also showed significant association with female parents (P<0.001). The stability of progeny sex ratios from repeated spawns were confirmed by using 6 different parental pairs. In 16 crosses between normal males and normal females, sex ratios of progenies showed clear maternal influences, and further analysis of the results revealed a negative correlation ($r^2$=0.7718, p<0.05) between the sex ratios of progenies from two different males, indicating a strong paternal influence. No statistically significant relationship between survival rates and sex ratios of progenies was observed in any genotypic groups. Taken together, the influence of parental pairs on progeny sex ratios in this species is evident although the cause of this influence is not clear.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.31 no.3
• /
• pp.274-283
• /
• 1988

Aqualysin I is an alkaline serine protease which is secretet into the culture medium by Thermus aquaticus YT-1, an extreme thermophile. Aqualysin I was purified, and its partial amino acid sequence was determined. The gene encoding aqualysin I was cloned into E. coli using synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides as hybridization probes. The nucleotide sequence of the cloned DNA was determined. The primary structure of aqualysin I, deduced from the nucleotide sequenc, agreed with the determid amino acid sequences, including the $NH_2-$ and COOH terminal sequence of the tryptides derived from aqualysin I. Aqualysin I comprised 281 amino acid residues and its molecular mass was determined to be 28350. On alignment of the whole amino acid sequence, aqualysin I showed high sequence homology with the subtilisin type serine protease, and 43% identity with proteinase K, 37-30% with subtilisins and 34% with thermitase. Extremely high sequence identity was observed in the regions containing the active-site residues, corresponding to Asp32, His64 and Ser221 of subtilisin BPN'. Aqualysin I contains two disulfide bonds, Cys67-Cys99 and Cys163-Cys194, and these disulfide bonds seem to contribute to the heat stability of the enzyme. The determined positions of the twe disulfide bonds of aqualysin I agreed with those predicted previously on the basis of computer graphics of the crystallographic data for subtilisin BPN'. Therefore, these findings sugests that the three-dimensional structure of aqualysin I is similar to that of subtilisin BPN' Aqualysin I is produced as a lage precursor, which contains $NH_2-$ and COOH- terminal portions besides the mature protease sequence.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.174-179
• /
• 1991

Protoplast fusion was carried out between Brevibacterium flavum and Corynebacterium glutamicum. For the protoplast fusion, various mutants were isolated from Brevibacterium flavum ATCC 21493 and Corynebacteriurn glutamicum ATCC 21831. The optimum conditions for protoplast fusion of these mutants were examined. In the present work, the authors obtained a fusant, MWF 9031, by the intergeneric protoplast fusion between Brevibacterium flavum 108-125 and Corynebacterium glutamicum 41-214A, which was excellent in L-arginine fermentation. Fusant MWF 9031 was found to accumulate a large amount of L-arginine reached 32.5 mg/ml with a medium containing 10% glucose. The fusant possessed intermediate characteristics between the parental strains and the stability was found to retain for 60 days.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.14 no.1
• /
• pp.1-7
• /
• 1971

In order to develop an enzyme preparation for clarification of fruit juices, a microbial strain having a strong pectolytic activity was selected and a crude enzyme preparation from this strain was examined for the effects in the preparation of grape juice and wine. The results are summarized as follows: 1) A strain of Aspergillus niger was selected as having the highest productivity of pectolytic enzymes among many species of Aspergillus and Rhizopus. 2) A pectolytic enzyme preparation was purified from this selected strain and the effects of pH and temperature on its enzyme activity and stability were investigated. 3) The use of the enzyme preparation brought about the increase in the free run yield and clarity of grape juice. 4) Whereas the use of the enzyme preparation did not exhibit any effect in the brewing of red wine, its use showed a good effect on the rates of filtration and clarity in the case of white wine.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.29-39
• /
• 1981

Cooked spaghetti soaked in 10%, 20%, and 40% aqueous glycerine solutions for ten minutes absorbed sufficient glycerine to plasticize that spaghetti during and after subsequent drying. The plasticizing action of the glycerine prevented fissuring(checking) and surface corrugation of the spaghetti at elevated drying temperature and large wet-bulb dry-bulb temperature difference. The drying temperature and the wet-bulb dry-bulb differences up to which such protection was provided as the glycerine soak concentration increased. Despite the reduction in drying rate, the drying time required to produce spaghetti with a water activity of 0.65 (the level normally required for stability) decreased as glycerine content increased. At high frying temperatures glycerine addition increased the extent of browning and shortened the period required to induce detectale browning, but in all instances browning started well after the product $a_w$ reached the 0.65 value required for the completion of drying. Because glycerine addition reduced drying times at any given set of drying conditions and permitted the use of higher drying temperatures, relatively low levels of glycerine addition (e.g. 0.15 kg glycerine/kg dry spagetti) can shorten spagnetti drying times by roughly 80% and perhaps by as much as 93%.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.183-191
• /
• 2005

Ionic liquids, composed of organic cations and either organic or inorganic anions remain liquid over a wide range of temperature. ionic liquids are a new group of solvents or extractants of great interest as a potential 'green solvent'. Ionic liquids are gaining wide recognition as novel solvents in many research fields, such as chemistry, chemical engineering, electrochemitry, etc. However, not much researches have been done related to biotechnology using ionic liquids, while a lot of researches have been performed in chemistry. The merits of ionic liquids in bioseparation technology are originated from some unique properties of ionic liquids, such as negligible vapor pressure, good thermal stability, controllable viscosity and miscibility with water and organic solvents. An appropriate selection of ionic liquid for bioprocesses requires basic knowledge on physicochemical properties of ionic liquids. This review gives a brief overview on the application of ionic liquids in biotechnology, including bioconversion and bioseparation.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.213-217
• /
• 2007

It has been reported that hydrophobic additives generally decrease the release rate of protein drugs from drug delivery systems (DDS) and hydrophilic additives increase the release rate. In many cases, however, the addition of hydrophilic molecule is necessary for improving the stability of protein drugs. In the present work, the effects of hydrophilic additives on the release profiles, and micelle formation of protein drug formulations were investigated to develop a novel method for protein drug delivery. For model protein drug, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was employed and several hydrophilic additives were used in the release experiments. Hydrophilic additive D-sorbitol showed the lower release rates of BSA than other hydrophobic additives due to the gel strengthening ability of the additive and the optimum concentration of D-sorbitol was 3 w/v % for the retarded release rate. In addition, it was found that the addition of D-sorbitol was very effective for obtaining homogeneous and stable DDS. The results were discussed in terms of the micelle formation and the micelle structure, i.e., the differences in gel structure and the distribution of drugs in micelles.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.404-409
• /
• 2007

Polyurethane nanocomposites with inorganic nano fillers for the improvement thermal stability were prepared by the urethane reaction. Fire retardation properties of polyurethane nanocomposites were investigated by cone calorimeter and limited oxygen index (LOI). Maximum heat release rate of MMT-PU and $Bi_2O_3-PU$ polyurethane nanocomposites were decreased as 50% than polyurethane matrix and fire retardation properties of $MMT/Bi_2O_3-PU$ nanocomposte had the best improvement. The LOI of polyurethane nanocomposites also were improved as filling fillers in the nanocomposites over 20. The maximum heat release rates of MMT-PU, $Bi_2O_3-PU\;and\;MMT/Bi_2O_3-PU$ polyurethane nanocomposites were 764, 707, $635kW/m^2$, respectively and $MMT/Bi_2O_3-PU$ polyurethane nanocomposite exhibited the highest value of fire-retardant. We confirmed that polyurethane nanocomposites improved the fire retardation properties.