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Mango seed kernel, a by-product of the processing industry, can be valorized as a potential source of bioactive compounds. Binary mixtures of ethanol and water, used in solid-liquid extraction (SLE), have drawn interest as an effective means of recovering phytochemicals from plant materials because these solvents can be used in food applications and their synergistic effect makes them a superior solvent over their pure counterparts. Total phenolic content (TPC) and HPLC chromatograms of each ethanolic extract revealed that ethanol concentration had a significant effect on phenolic compound recovery, wherein, TPC of mango kernel varied from 18.19 to 101.68 mg gallic acid equivalence (GAE) per gram of sample. Subsequently, the antioxidant activities (AOAc) of the extracts, measured by scavenging activities with the DPPH ? (1,1diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) radical and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay, ranged from 8.19 to 85.45 mmol/L and 3.82-55.61 mmol/L Trolox equivalence, respectively. The solvent containing 50% (w/w) ethanol-water had the highest TPC and exhibited the most potent reducing and radical scavenging activities. With the use of an HPLC-UV/Vis, gallic acid, caffeic acid, rutin and penta-O-galloyl-b-D-glucose were identified to be present in the mango seed kernel. Results show that the mango seed kernel is a viable source of bioactive compounds which can be recovered with water-ethanol binary solvent systems.

Cellulose-based nanofiber membrane fabrication remains a global challenge, especially the use of alternative and sustainable sources of cellulosic materials. Herein, an easy and highly scalable cellulose-based nanofiber membrane was successfully fabricated using a solution blow spinning (SBS) method. Such membrane fabrication was carried out with the assistance of an easy-to-spin precursor polymer (i.e. polyacrylonitrile (PAN)). Through this strategy, cellulose acetate (CA) was successfully spun into a ready-to-use membrane. The formation of CA with the PAN nanofiber is concentration-dependent and requires high air pressure to effectively overcome the composite precursor’s surface tension and eventually produce nanofibers. Favourable CA concentration in PAN (i.e. 50%–65% v/v CAN/PAN) is important to the formation of sufficient molecular entanglement with PAN in solution. Upon fulfilling the optimized CA concentration, high air pressure (i.e. ≥3 bars) is used to produce jet-like polymeric fibers of PAN dragging off CA, forming numerous nanofibers which are then collected into a substrate forming a membrane. Characterizations of the CA/PAN composite nanofiber were carried out using scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared, thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Such unique composite nanofiber membranes have potential as filters and adsorbent membranes for air and water/wastewater applications, as well as for biorefinery applications.

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Noncovalent interactions are ubiquitous in our daily living. Nature employs hydrophobic effects, π–π interactions, hydrogen bonding, van der Waals forces, and electrostatic interactions in many biological processes such as protein folding. In the same manner, scientists exploit this plethora of inherently reversible noncovalent interactions as dials to design robust and smart materials. Electrostatic interaction is particularly interesting due to the simplicity of its concept, i.e., opposite charges attract. However, to our knowledge, the electrostatic interaction between two different 2D nanomaterials has not been investigated in literature. A myriad of natural and synthetic 2D nanomaterials should be explored for what may be an exciting cocktail of synergistic and tunable properties brought about by their charges and physical properties. This contribution highlights an interesting phenomena when organic, negatively charged graphene oxide and inorganic, positively charged montmorillonite (MMT) clay edges are brought into contact.

Mango seed kernel (MSK) is a waste material of the mango processing industry and is reported to significantly contain phenolic compounds with anti-oxidative properties. In this work, these compounds are isolated via solid-liquid extraction (SLE) in which solvent mixture design approach was used to evaluate the optimal quaternary solvent ratio in relation to the phenolics content of extracts from MSK. The quaternary solvent is composed of ethanol (E), methanol (M), acetone (A), and water (W). The extraction process was implemented at 40°C for 60 minutes with the ratio between solid and solvent at 1:25. Response surface methodology coupled with simplex lattice design was developed to evaluate the optimal solvent system and their interaction effects on the phenolic compounds content. The linear, two-way, and three-way interaction, except for methanol-acetonewater system, resulted in positive effects on the phenolic compounds content. The response model shows that a quaternary mixture with approximately 3:3:3:1 E:M:A:W ratio provided the highest phenolic content. A Scheffé cubic model sufficiently described the extraction process. The results of this study showed that the extraction of phenolic compounds in MSK via SLE using a mixture of solvents is possible. Higher extraction efficiencies can be achieved by optimizing the SLE process, and the optimum conditions can be applied to produce phenolic extracts with positive antioxidant activity.

Synthesis of ceramic nanofibers is commonly carried out through electrospinning method. However, with the emergence of solution blow spinning (SBS) technology, spinning of nanofiber and its composites has resulted in a more straightforward and commercially scalable process. In this study, ceramic nanofibers (i.e., TiO2 nanofibers) were synthesized through SBS followed by calcination. Three critical parameters were investigated (i.e., precursor concentration, calcination temperature and time) to produce ready-to-use composite membranes and pure ceramic nanofibers. Characterizations of ceramic membranes and pure nanofibers include scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis and energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) for elemental component analysis. Insights on the transformation of composite membranes into pure ceramic nanofibers and the role of calcination are also discussed.