Effects of processing technology on essential oil and pharmacological action of frankincense

Background:According to the traditional Chinese medicine theory,the common processing methods for Ruxiang(frankincense)include stir-frying processing and vinegar processing.Methods:With network pharmacology and thermal analysis methods,we selected and identified the main and irritating ingredients,established the pyrolysis characteristic parameters for identifying frankincense quality,quantified the starting and optimum temperature limits for processing frankincense,and analyzed the influences of processing adjuvants(vinegar)on combustion pyrolysis characteristics of frankincense.By applying Fourier transformation infrared spectrometry,high performance liquid chromatography,gas chromatography and UV-visible spectrometry,we evaluated the processing technology developed in our study of frankincense and its processed products.Results:Based on network pharmacology,we can find that the classical compounds of essential oil are the main pharmacodynamics components of frankincense possessing the anti-inflammatory,analgesia,anti-tumor,anti-ulcer and ant-inflammatory bowel disease effects.The pyrolysis combustion rate peaks of frankincense at 285.27±7.05℃and 476.99±13.46℃were the characteristic peaks used to identify frankincense quality.The specific temperature of slow-fire processing,including the vinegar processing and stir-frying processing,was 148.72±5.09℃.Heating for 5.67±0.98 min after reaching processing temperature was needed for processing frankincense with vinegar.The kinetics analysis showed that both frankincense and its vinegar mixture exhibited good linear relationships.The feasibility and practicability for our processing technology were verified through the determination of medicinal compounds by Fourier transformation infrared spectrometry,high performance liquid chromatography,gas chromatography and UV.Conclusion:Frankincense essential oils were the main active components of frankincense,which also can be taken as the internal chemical control indexes to judge the quality control and to optimize the processing technology of frankincense.The pyrolysis combustion rate peaks of frankincense at 285.27±7.05℃and 476.99±13.46℃were the characteristic peaks that can be used to identify frankincense quality.The optimum processing conditions of vinegar-processed frankincense with were as follows:with vinegar,20%;heating temperature,148.72±5.09℃;and heating time,5.67±0.98 min.Under these conditions,frankincense essential oil could cause a moderate effect on combustion pyrolysis characteristics to exert its corresponding pharmacological effects.

Thermal Kinetics and Decomposition Mechanism of 1-Amino-1,2,3-triazolium Nitrate

The thermal decomposition kinetics of 1-amino-l,2,3-triazolium nitrate（ATZ-NO3） was investigated by non-isothermal TG-DTG at various heating rates（2,5,10,15 and 20 ℃/min）.The results show that the thermal decomposition of ATZ-NO3 consists of two stages corresponding to the losing of nitrate anion,substituent group and the splitting of triazole ring respectively.The kinetic triplets of the two stages were described by a three-step method.First,the differential Kissinger and intergral Ozawa methods were used to calculate the apparent activation energies（E） and pre-exponential factors（A） of the two decomposition stages.Second,two calculation methods（intergral （S）atava-（S）esták and differential Achar methods） were used to obtain several probable decomposition mechanism functions.Third,three judgment methods（average,double-extrapolation and Popescu methods） were used to confirm the most probable decomposition mechanism functions.Both reaction models of the two stages were randominto-nucleation and random-growth mechanisms with n=3/2 for the first stage and n=1/3,m=3 for the second stage.The kinetic equations for the two decomposition stages of ATZ-NO3 may be expressed as da/dt=1013.60·e-128970/RT（1-α）[-1n（1-α）]-1/2 and da/dt=1011.41·e-117370/RT（1-α）[-1n（1-α）]-2/3.The thermodynamic parameters including Gibbs free energy of activation（△G≠）,entropy of activation（△S≠） and enthalpy of activation（△H≠）,for the thermal decomposition reaction were also derived.

Temperature dependency of VOCs release characteristics of asphalt materials under varying test conditions

Asphalt pavement is increasingly used in paving and roofing.However,the release of volatile organic compounds(VOCs)from asphalt harm both the environment and humans.Various methods were applied to characterize the VOCs for better understanding and inhibiting.However,asphalt VOCs have huge heating temperature dependency,which makes the asphalt VOCs’characterization complicated.In this research,three kinds of heating conditions,thermal gravimetric(TG)analyzer,pyrolysis(PY)analyzer,and thermal desorber(TD),were compared to determine the temperature dependency of VOC release characteristics.Gas chromatography and mass spectrometer(GC-MS)were then coupled for VOC detection.Results indicated that the TG heating condition can surely simulate the volatilization of VOCs from some asphalt that is not in contact with air(no oxygen)during the actual construction process,while PY and TD represent the substances released by the asphalt due to the boiling point at a certain temperature and under the actual construction process,respectively.The components detected by TG heating condition are both large and small molecules,while PY and TD heating condition will detect large molecules or small molecules,respectively.The VOC composition results under various heating conditions reflect the chemical reaction law of asphalt molecules in the heating process.When heating asphalt binders to a higher temperature,macromolecular substances will gradually crack and oxidize into small molecular substances,sulfides and nitrides.With the increase of temperature,the change trend of VOC components under different conditions is different.