Raman spectroscopy of chocolate bloom
Raman spectroscopy has been widely applied to the chemical analysis of food quality and, in particular, of chocolate. We perform Raman analysis of bloom formation in white and dark chocolates. We show evidence of sugar and fat bloom and investigate spectroscopic signatures of polymorphic changes in different phases.
The Materials Science of Chocolate
Chocolate is a common confectionery material throughout the world that has seen generally increasing production trends over the last 10 years. Making chocolate requires an understanding of how the consumer perceives it. The preferred type of chocolate varies from country to country; for example, common U.S. and U.K. chocolate tastes are mutually incomprehensible, while the rest of Europe hates both of them! The different tastes and uses for chocolate reflect the histories of the industry in different places.
Design and synthesis of water-soluble prodrugs of rifabutin for intraveneous administration.
Acinetobacter baumannii is a gram-negative bacterium causing severe hospital-acquired infections such as bloodstream infections or pneumonia. Moreover, multidrug resistant A. baumannii becomes prevalent in many hospitals. Consequently, the World Health Organization made this bacterium a critical priority for the research and development of new antibiotics. Rifabutin, a semisynthetic product from the rifamycin class, was recently found to be very active in nutrient-limited eukaryotic cell culture medium against various A. baumannii strains, including extremely drug-resistant strains, with minimal inhibitory concentrations as low as 0.008 μg/mL. Moreover, this in vitro potency translates into in vivo efficacy. Thus, rifabutin appears to be an attractive novel antibiotic against A. baumannii. In this work, our objective was to design and synthetize rifabutin prodrugs with increased aqueous solubility to allow intraveneous use. Synthetic methodologies were developed to selectively functionalize the hydroxyl group in position 21 and to afford 17 prodrugs. We measured the water solubility of the prodrugs, the stability in human and mouse plasma and their antimicrobial activity against A. baumannii after incubation in human serum. Finally, a pharmacokinetic release study of rifabutin was performed in CD1 mice with three selected prodrugs as a proof of concept.