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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

ToF-SIMS evaluation of PEG-related mass peaks and applications in PEG detection in cosmetic products

Polyethylene glycols (PEGs) are used in industrial, medical, health care, and personal care applications. The cycling and disposal of synthetic polymers like PEGs pose significant environmental concerns. Detecting and monitoring PEGs in the real world calls for immediate attention. This study unveils the efficacy of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) as a reliable approach for precise analysis and identification of reference PEGs and PEGs used in cosmetic products. By comparing SIMS spectra, we show remarkable sensitivity in pinpointing distinctive ion peaks inherent to various PEG compounds. Moreover, the employment of principal component analysis effectively discriminates compositions among different samples. Notably, the application of SIMS two-dimensional image analysis visually portrays the spatial distribution of various PEGs as reference materials. The same is observed in authentic cosmetic products. The application of ToF-SIMS underscores its potential in distinguishing PEGs within intricate environmental context. ToF-SIMS provides an effective solution to studying emerging environmental challenges, offering straightforward sample preparation and superior detection of synthetic organics in mass spectral analysis. These features show that SIMS can serve as a promising alternative for evaluation and assessment of PEGs in terms of the source, emission, and transport of anthropogenic organics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Essential oils used in dermocosmetics: Review about its biological activities

Abstract Introduction Currently, the demand for the use of constituents of natural origin in cosmetic formulations in detriment of synthetic compounds is noticeable. Several studies assess the potential of essential oils when incorporated into various cosmetic formulations and study their biological activities. This work intends to prepare a literature review on essential oils tested in dermocosmetic formulations and whose biological activities were evaluated through in vitro and/or in vivo tests. The main objectives for this study were as follows: to identify the essential oils that have been used in cosmetic formulations; and compile information on the main biological activities tested in cosmetic formulations. Methods A search was carried out until 2021 in the scientific databases PubMed and Web of Science, using different search terms, and several scientific articles from in vitro and in vivo studies in animals and clinical trials were selected and analyzed of involving development dermocosmetic formulations containing essential oils and the analysis of their biological activities. Results These studies demonstrate that the antimicrobial activity (antibacterial and antifungal) is the one most studied, mainly through in vitro tests. In vivo studies were also carried out either in animals or in clinical studies showing different effects, such as repellent action, inhibition of hair growth, and action against migraine. Regarding formulations, it was evident that creams are the most used. Conclusions There is enormous potential for the use of essential oils in future formulations in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry, in particular as preservatives, exploring their other biological activities.

Cunha, Cassandra↗
DOE OSTI2020

Towards renewable flavors, fragrances, and beyond

Esters demand a large space of unique molecules with broad range of applications as flavors, fragrances, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, green solvents, and advanced biofuels. Global demand of natural esters in food, household cleaner, personal care, and perfume industries is increasing while the ester supply from natural sources has been limited. Development of novel microbial cell factories for ester production from renewable feedstocks can potentially provide an alternative and sustainable source of natural esters and hence help fulfill growing demand. In this work, we highlight recent advances in microbial production of esters and provide perspectives for improving its economic feasibility. As the field matures, microbial ester production platforms will enable renewable and sustainable production of flavors, fragrances, and open new market opportunities beyond what nature can offer.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Structure, Function, and Application of Self–Healing Adhesives from Mistletoe Viscin

Berries from the European Mistletoe (Viscum album) possess a sticky tissue called viscin that facilitates adhesion and germination onto host trees. Recent studies of viscin have demonstrated its adhesive capacity on a range of natural and synthetic surfaces including wood, skin, metals, and plastic. Yet, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, an investigation of the adhesive performance of mistletoe viscin is performed, demonstrating its hygroscopic nature and ability to self-heal following adhesive failure. It is identified that adhesion originates from a water-soluble adhesive component that can be extracted, isolated, and characterized independently. Lap shear mechanical testing indicates that the mistletoe adhesive extract (MAE) outperforms native viscin tissue, as well as gum arabic and arabinogalactan—common plant-based adhesives. Furthermore, humidity uptake experiments reveal that MAE can reversibly absorb nearly 100% of its mass in water from the atmosphere. In-depth spectroscopic and mass spectrometry investigations reveal a composition consisting primarily of an atypical arabinogalactan, with additional sugar alcohols. Finally, several proof-of-concept applications are demonstrated using MAE for hygro-responsive reversible adhesion between various surfaces including skin, plastic, PDMS, and paper, revealing that MAE holds potential as a biorenewable and reusable adhesive for applications in cosmetics, packaging, and potentially, tissue engineering.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Exploiting nonionic surfactants to enhance fatty alcohol production in Rhodosporidium toruloides

Fatty alcohols (FOHs) are important feedstocks in the chemical industry to produce detergents, cosmetics, and lubricants. Microbial production of FOHs has become an attractive alternative to production in plants and animals due to growing energy demands and environmental concerns. However, inhibition of cell growth caused by intracellular FOH accumulation is one major issue that limits FOH titers in microbial hosts. In addition, identification of FOH-specific exporters remains a challenge and previous studies towards this end are limited. To alleviate the toxicity issue, we exploited nonionic surfactants to promote the export of FOHs in Rhodosporidium toruloides, an oleaginous yeast that is considered an attractive next-generation host for the production of fatty acid-derived chemicals. Our results showed FOH export efficiency was dramatically improved and the growth inhibition was alleviated in the presence of small amounts of tergitol and other surfactants. As a result, FOH titers increase by 4.3-fold at bench scale to 352.6 mg/L. With further process optimization in a 2-L bioreactor, the titer was further increased to 1.6 g/L. The method we show here can potentially be applied to other microbial hosts and may facilitate the commercialization of microbial FOH production.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

High–level β–carotene production from xylose by engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae without overexpression of a truncated HMG1 (t HMG1 )

Beta-carotene is a natural pigment and health-promoting metabolite, and has been widely used in the nutraceutical, feed, and cosmetic industries. Here, we engineered a GRAS yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to produce beta-carotene from xylose, the sec- ond most abundant and inedible sugar component of lignocellulose biomass. Specifically, a beta-carotene biosynthetic pathway containing crtYB, crtI, and crtE from Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous was introduced into a xylose-fermenting S. cerevisiae. Here, the resulting strain produced beta-carotene from xylose at a titer threefold higher than from glucose. Interestingly, overexpression of tHMG1, which has been reported as a critical genetic perturbation to enhance metabolic fluxes in the mevalonate pathway and beta-carotene production in yeast when glucose is used, did not further improve the production of beta-carotene from xylose. Through fermentation profiling, metabolites analysis, and transcriptional studies, we found the advantages of using xylose as a carbon source, instead of glucose, for beta-carotene production to be a more respiratory feature of xylose consumption, a larger cytosolic acetyl!CoA pool, and an upregulated expression level of rate-limiting genes in the beta-carotene!producing pathway, including ACS1 and HMG1. As a result, 772.8 mg/L of beta-carotene was ob- tained in a fed-batch bioreactor culture with xylose feeding. Considering the in- evitable large scale production of xylose when cellulosic biomass!based bioeconomy is implemented, our results suggest xylose utilization is a promising strategy for overproduction of carotenoids and other isoprenoids in engineered S. cerevisiae.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2024

A lipase from Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus IDCC 3201 with thermostability and pH resistance for use as a detergent additive

Lipases are important biocatalysts and ubiquitous in plants, animals, and microorganisms. The high growth rates of microorganisms with low production costs have enabled the wide application of microbial lipases in detergent, food, and cosmetic industries. Herein, a novel lipase from Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus IDCC 3201 (Lac-Rh) was isolated and its activity analyzed under a range of reaction conditions to evaluate its potential industrial application. The isolated Lac-Rh showed a molecular weight of 24 kDa and a maximum activity of 3438.5 ± 1.8 U/mg protein at 60 °C and pH 8. Additionally, Lac-Rh retained activity in alkaline conditions and in 10% v/v concentrations of organic solvents, including glycerol and acetone. Interestingly, after pre-incubation in the presence of multiple commercial detergents, Lac-Rh maintained over 80% of its activity and the stains from cotton were successfully removed under a simulated laundry setting. Overall, the purified lipase from L. rhamnosus IDCC 3201 has potential for use as a detergent in industrial applications.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Bettye Washington Greene: An Industrial Chemist and Inventor Who Lit a Path for Innovation

American civil rights pioneer John Lewis once wrote: “You are a light. You are the light. Never let anyone— any person or any force—dampen, dim or diminish your light.” At a time when the civil rights movement was shedding light on inequalities for African Americans, Dr. Bettye Washington Greene (March 20, 1935 – June 16, 1995) was forging a path that would light the way–figuratively and literally—for generations to come. She was one of the few African American women to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry in the 1960s, an era marked by the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Washington Greene’s doctoral thesis evaluated light-scattering methods to determine the size of particles, which influences molecular effectiveness, activity, and stability. The fundamental knowledge she provided critically aided the pharmaceutical, catalyst and cosmetics industries [1]. Following her doctoral defense, Bettye went on to become the first African American female employed in a scientific research role at the Dow Chemical Company, where her innovations were awarded three patents.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

A review on bacteria-derived antioxidant metabolites: their production, purification, characterization, potential applications, and limitations

Abstract Antioxidants are organic molecules that scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), thereby maintaining cellular redox balance in living organisms. The human body synthesizes endogenous antioxidants, whereas humans obtain exogenous antioxidants from other organisms such as plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. This review primarily focuses on the antioxidant potential of natural metabolites and extracts from five major bacterial phyla, including the well-studiedActinobacteriaandCyanobacteria, as well as less-studiedBacteroides,Firmicutes, andProteobacteria.The literature survey revealed that the metabolites and the extracts with antioxidant activity can be obtained from bacterial cells and their culture supernatants. The metabolites with antioxidant activity include pigments, phycobiliproteins, polysaccharides, mycosporins-like amino acids, peptides, phenolic compounds, and alkaloids. Both metabolites and extracts demonstrate in vitro antioxidant capacity through radical-scavenging, metal-reducing, and metal-chelating activity assays. In in vivo models, they can scavenge ROS and RNS directly and/or indirectly eliminate them by enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes, such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase. Due to their antioxidant activities, they may find applications in the cosmetic industry as anti-aging agents for the skin and in medicine as drugs or supplements for combating oxidative stress-related disorders, such as neurodegenerative diseases and diabetes. The literature survey also elucidated that some metabolites and extracts with antioxidant activity also exhibited strong antimicrobial properties. Therefore, we consider that they may have future applications in the treatment of infectious diseases, the preparation of pathogen-free healthy foods, and the extension of food shelf life.

Pharmacology & Pharmacy↗
DOE OSTI2021

Analysis of the cyanobacterial amino acid metabolism with a precise genome-scale metabolic reconstruction of Anabaena sp. UTEX 2576

Filamentous cyanobacteria such as Anabaena sp. UTEX 2576 (a.k.a., Nostoc sp. PCC 7120) are a sustainable platform for commodity and specialty chemical production. Anabaena is a model cyanobacterium adopted to study production of nitrogen-containing metabolites useful for chemical, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. Therefore, a precise description of the Anabaena metabolic network is desired to analyze their amino-acid metabolism and elucidate potential applications of these cyanobacteria as host organisms for biotechnological production. Secondary metabolite production depends on the metabolic availability of amino acids. We provide new insight on the biotechnological utilization of Anabaena after predicting phycocyanobilin and amino-acid production rates, using a genome-scale metabolic model (iDN1004). This metabolic reconstruction is a highly comprehensive representation of the global metabolism of Anabaena, which also contains experimental biomass equations and constraints under photoautotrophic and photodiazotrophic growth. Modelling results ranked proteinogenic amino acids based on predicted metabolic fluxes through amino-acid producing reactions. From these, l-aspartate, glycine, l-serine, l-valine, l-alanine, l-threonine, and l-leucine were selected as the best branching points to conduct metabolic engineering, where l-aspartate, l-serine, l-valine and glycine serve as potential precursors of the secondary metabolites Schizokinen (a siderophore), Sphingosine (a ceramide), Lyngbyatoxin A (an alkaloid), and Shinorine (a sunscreen).

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dynamic, hollow nanotubular networks with superadjustable pH-responsive and temperature resistant rheological characteristics

Recently, the interest in stimuli-responsive and adaptable materials has continuously grown in various fields and applications. For such responsive systems, different triggers, including pH, light, pressure, temperature, and electric field, have been utilized to control dynamics and assembly. Among these, pH is one of the most convenient, energy-efficient, and economic modalities. Besides, plenty of traditional materials have poor thermal and salt stability, limiting their applications. Herein, we report a new design of a pH-responsive viscoelastic supramolecular complex (VSC) based on commplexation of a new long-chain amino-amide and maleic acid. In this study, the system demonstrated a sol–gel-sol transition from pH 2 to 10, with the largest static viscosity occurring at pH 6 (~1000 Pa·s) and the smallest viscosity at pH 4 (~3.3 Pa·s), indicating ~ 300-fold control over the viscosity. For a given concentration, the static viscosity of VSC was about 15 times larger than that of CTAB/NaSal, a well-established dynamic viscoelastic system, and no pH-responsiveness was observed for the traditional system. In addition, the VSC demonstrated a superior temperature tolerance and lower temperature dependence. The potential of these intriguing dynamics viscoelastic systems was evaluated for hydraulic fracturing and enhanced oil recovery applications. Proppant settling velocity of DMAA/MA was 500 ~ 1000 times lower than that of CTAB/NaSal and common traditional polymers. Likewise, the oil recovery percentage could be significantly improved with the utilization of DMAA/MA compared to the CTAB/NaSal (86 % vs 52 %). Aside from applications in hydraulic fracturing and enhanced oil recovery, we anticipate that the intriguing rheological properties of this viscoelastic system can be beneficial for other chemical engineering applications including personal care products, cosmetics, lubricants, and biomedical gels.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

Overcoming barriers to medium-chain fatty alcohol production

Medium-chain fatty alcohols ( mc FaOHs) are aliphatic primary alcohols containing six to twelve carbons that are widely used in materials, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. Microbial biosynthesis has been touted as a route to less-abundant chain-length molecules and as a sustainable alternative to current petrochemical processes. Several metabolic engineering strategies for producing mc FaOHs have been demonstrated in the literature, yet processes continue to suffer from poor selectivity and mc FaOH toxicity, leading to reduced titers, rates, and yields of the desired compounds. Here, this opinion examines the current state of microbial mc FaOH biosynthesis, summarizing engineering efforts to tailor selectivity and improve product tolerance by implementing engineering strategies that circumvent or overcome mc FaOH toxicity.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Revealing the relationship between molecular weight of lignin and its color, UV-protecting property

Lignin has great potential as a natural, green, and sustainable broad-spectrum sunscreen active ingredient. However, the coexistence of dark color and sunscreen properties hinders its application in cosmetics. In this study, we focus on the effects of the molecular weight of lignin on tis UV-protecting property and color in order to prepare lignin-based sunscreen with high performance. We report a prepared sunscreen containing low molecular weight lignin (F5, <1000 g/mol) exhibits good UV-protecting property (sun protection factor (SPF) = 7.14) and light color advantages (ΔE = 46.2). Moreover, a strong synergistic effect on UV-protecting property exists between low molecular weight lignin and ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC), resulting in high SPF of F5@EHMC-based sunscreen (55.56). Additionally, added TiO 2 can efficiently mitigate the dark color of lignin-based sunscreens due to prominent covering power of TiO 2 . Moreover, lignin-based sunscreens have good biocompatibility with HaCaT cells. This work is useful for understanding the mechanism of the UV-protecting property and dark color of lignin, and for designing an efficient and safe lignin-based sunscreen.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Peeling back the layers: Investigating the effects of polyelectrolyte layering on surface structure and stability of oil-in-water nanoemulsions

Layer-by-layer deposition of polyelectrolytes is a useful technique for modifying surface functionalities. For drug delivery systems, alternating layers of biopolymers coat nanoemulsions, which house and protect the cargo until the time and destination of delivery. In this report we investigate molecular factors contributing to the stability and interfacial properties of nanoemulsions prepared by a co-adsorption of polymers poly(styrene sulfonate) and polyethylenimine (PEI), and surfactant dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide. We hypothesize the interplay between electrosteric and hydrophobic effects upon multi-polymer co-adsorption contributes to both macroscopic and molecular-level interfacial properties of nanoemulsions. To probe interfacial layering properties, we use vibrational sum frequency scattering spectroscopy with ζ -potential measurements to determine the adsorptive behavior and molecular conformational arrangement of the polymer layers. Complementing these interfacial studies are dynamic light scattering experiments measuring the nanoemulsion size distribution and polydispersity index over a 30-day period. Our light scattering, ζ -potential, and spectroscopic results of the nanoemulsion surface show that the duration of droplet stability and the degree of molecular orientation of adsorbed polymers can be tuned by surfactant concentration, PEI concentration, and pH. These results illustrate how molecular surface properties of multi-polymer coated nanoemulsions contribute to synergistic effects and droplet stability, enabling advancements in applications surrounding biopharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and food sciences.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗