Article

The use of “purified” cooling agents in pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations only dates back to the late 1880s with the commercial production of menthol from Japanese peppermint (Mentha arvensis) oil in Japan (1). The cultivation of peppermint in Japan before the Christian era appears to predate any other country, and menthol is reputed to have been used medicinally for almost as long (2). In the Western world, it was about 1770 that the Dutch botanist, H. David Gaubius, first isolated menthol from the oil of Mentha piperita in Utrecht (2,3).

This review describes the synthesis and reactions of cyanoacetic acid hydrazide as building block for the synthesis of polyfunctionalized heterocyclic compounds with pharmacological interest.

Bubble nucleation in weakly supersaturated solutions of carbon dioxide—such as champagne, sparkling wines and carbonated beers—is well understood. Bubbles grow and detach from nucleation sites: gas pockets trapped within hollow cellulose fibres. This mechanism appears not to be active in stout beers that are supersaturated solutions of nitrogen and carbon dioxide. In their canned forms these beers require additional technology (widgets) to release the bubbles which will form the head of the beer.

New sintered Nd-Fe-B near net-shape magnets with a high remanent polarization of 1.47 T, a coercivity HcJ of 9.6 kA/cm (12 kOe) and a maximum energy density of 420 kJ/m3 (53 MGOe) can be manufactured by rubber isostatic pressing. The optimization of the remanent polarization by an improved alignment process of the powder particles results in a decrease of the coercivity by 0.4 kA/cm per 1 % ∆fφ for alignment coefficients fφ in the range 96 to 98 %. For alignment coefficients between 98 to 99 % the decrease of the coercivity even increases to about –1 kA/cm per % 1 ∆fφ.

Polymer electronics plays more and more important role nowadays, especially in flexible electronics. The progress is also reflected in packaging materials and technologies. Metallic solders are replaced by electrically conductive adhesives based on polymer’s matrix. Very high volume production also requires new methods of adhesive deposition. The ink-jet printing technology seems to be very promising for bumps making in Flip- Chip type interconnections. Unfortunately, the technology is only in its infancy.

A gentle sterilisation process has been commercialised for the sterilisaition of advanced biomaterials. This article describes the technique and relevant applications.

Microorganisms produce secondary metabolites like trichloroanisole (2,4,6-TCA), but also other unpleasant substances, which cause the typical “cork taint” in wine. This has led to serious problems for the cork industry in recent years and market share of cork stoppers decreased continuously. Conventional processes to reduce TCA content were only partly successful. Therefore a research program was started using supercritical CO2 in order to reduce the TCA content below the detectable limit.