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Antioxidant activity of oligosaccharides is very discussed, and the relationship between their chemical structure and functionality is not clear. In this work, XOS, with different degrees of polymerization, acetylation and purity were produced starting from commercial xylans by enzymatic hydrolysis coupled with tangential ultrafiltration. A purified mixture containing DP 6–9 XOS was also produced. A detailed molecular characterization of all the XOS mixtures was performed by LC-MS, HPSEC-RID and 1H NMR. In vitro antioxidant activity was then tested against the stable DPPH free-radical. It was found that standard pure xylose and DP 2–6 XOS had very low scavenging capacity, while DP 6–9 XOS had a great one. In general, unsubstituted XOS are more antioxidant than acetylated ones, and a higher DP favours an increase in this functionality at first, then a decrease when molecular weights become higher.

The presence of a dam on a river is believed to have a key role in affecting changes in the components of the chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in reservoirs. However, questions remain about the mechanisms that control these changes. In this study, we used tangential ultrafiltration, fluorescence spectrum and phytoplankton cell density detection to explore the impacts of a dam on the CDOM components in the Shanzai Reservoir, a source of drinking water. The results demonstrated each CDOM size fraction comprised two main components, namely C1 (protein-like substance) and C2 (humic-like substance). The C1 content had a higher value in areas with slow flow than in the normal river channel, while the C2 contents were generally stable in the flow direction. The topography of the reservoir site affected the structure of the CDOM components based on changes in the hydraulic conditions caused by the dam. The variations in the CDOM components, hydraulic parameters and fluorescence indices in the river flow direction indicated that the contribution of the phytoplankton to the CDOM content increased as the distance to the dam decreased, phytoplankton metabolism enhanced C1 content of the 1-10kDa molecular weights range fraction. Further, the contributions of different phytoplankton biomass to C1 proved that the dam changed the hydraulic conditions, had secondary effects on the metabolism of the phytoplankton, and resulted in changes in the structure of the CDOM components., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this work we propose a trace metal speciation methodology to determine the total, free and ultrafiltered (<1 KDa) metal fractions using electrochemical methods (SCP and AGNES) and tangential ultrafiltration (UF) experiments that can easily be carried out on-site. We tested our methodology spiking Cadmium ions into two natural waters samples from Itapanhau and Sorocabinha rivers in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The limits of detection (LOD) was 1.6×10(-9) M for the total Cd(2+) determination performed by Stripping Chronopotentiometry (SCP) in the source and acidified ultrafiltered solution and 1.9×10(-9) M for the free Cd(2+) determination using Absence of gradients and Nernstian equilibrium stripping (AGNES), using a thin mercury film electrode. The total metal determination was performed by SCP in acidified samples and the results compared with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy (GF-AAS). The SCP results were adequate with a 96% of recovery from the known metal spike for the 12 samples tested. For the Itapanhau sample the free metal determined by AGNES and the ultrafiltered fraction are identical, while for the Sorocabinha the free metal in the source is significantly smaller than the ultrafiltered fraction, indicating that this sample must be rich in metal complexes with small inorganic ligands that are able to permeate the 1kDa membrane. The proposed metal speciation methodology validated in the laboratory combining UF and SCP/AGNES is able to be used in on-site experiments providing valid information regarding the total and free metal concentrations and additionally some insight on the role of small inorganic ligands to the metal complexation., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)