Abstract The environmental and health risks associated with the application of synthetic chemical inputs in agriculture increased the demand for technologies that allow higher performance and quality of vegetable crops by implementing synergistic materials with the principles of sustainability. In this work, the seed coating with the biomass of Dunaliella salina incorporated in a bioplastic film of Manihot esculenta (cassava) was evaluated as an initial growth and secondary compounds stimulator of Coriandrum sativum (coriander) plants. The obtained results demonstrated that the coating stimulated an increase in the germination percentage (28.75%) and also in concentration of bioactive compounds, such as the six-fold increment of caffeic acid (13.33 mg 100 g-1). The carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins present in the microalgae biomass seem to be responsible for these increments once they are known for providing energy to the seedling development and coordinating the secondary metabolites synthesis. As conclusion, we consider the coating with biomass of D. salina an alternative for crop improvement that contributes to the development of sustainable agricultural practices.

Abstract The aim of this work was to investigate the phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of infusions of commercial herb samples (fennel, anise, peppermint, lemon grass and lemon balm) popularly consumed in Brazil. The infusion preparation for phenolic extraction was optimized using multivariate planning. Spectrophotometric methods were used to determine in vitro antioxidant activity and total phenolic and flavonoid content. Peppermint infusions had higher phenolic content and antioxidant potential. It was developed and validated a method by HPLC-DAD for the determination of caffeine, phenolic acids and flavonoids and applied for the analysis of the composition of the infusions. Higher concentrations were obtained for chlorogenic and p-coumaric phenolic acids and for flavonoids rutin and catechin. Principal Components Analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis were applied for the comparative evaluation of the phenolic composition of the infusions. The multivariate analyzes indicate that the phenolic profile for the samples of the same species tend to present greater similarities in relation to other herbs and one of the analyzed samples, commercialized as anise, does not belong to the P. anisum species.

ABSTRACT A method was developed for determination of total antimony in hair samples from patients undergoing chemotherapy against Leishmaniasis based on the administration of pentavalent antimonial drugs. The method is based on microwave assisted digestion of the samples in a pressurized system, reduction of Sb5+ to Sb3+ with KI solution (10% w/v) in ascorbic acid (2%, w/v) and its subsequent determination by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS). The proportions of each component (HCl, HNO3 and water) used in the digestion were studied applying a constrained mixtures design. The optimal proportions found were 50% water, 25% HNO3 and 25% HCl. Variables involved in the generation of antimony hydride were optimized using a Doehlert design revealing that good sensitivity is found when using 2.0% w/v NaBH4 and 4.4 mol L-1 HCl. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the method allows the determination of antimony in hair samples with detection and quantification limits of 1.4 and 4.6 ng g-1, respectively, and precision expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD) of 2.8% (n = 10 to 10.0 mg L-1). The developed method was applied in the analysis of hair samples from patients who take medication against Leishmaniasis.

ABSTRACT The atemoya is a hybrid fruit obtained by crossing of cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) with sweet sop (Annona squamosa L.). The information about chemical composition of atemoya is scarce. The mineral composition was evaluated employing Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP OES) and the centesimal composition and the physico-chemical parameters were assessed employing procedures described in the AOAC methods. The total phenolic compounds (TPC) and total flavonoids (TF) were determined using spectroanalytical methods. Considering the Reference Daily Intake (RDI), the concentrations of K, Cu and Vitamin C found in atemoya were the highest, representing about 32, 23 and 37% of the RDI, respectively. The total carbohydrates were 32 g 100g-1 and the soluble solids was equivalent to (32.50 ± 0.03) °Brix. The result for TPC was 540.47 ± 2.32 mgGAE 100 g-1 and the TF was 11.56 ± 1.36 mgQE 100 g-1. The exploratory evaluation of 42 atemoya samples was performed through Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which discriminated green and ripe fruits according to their mineral composition. The elements that contributed most for the variability between green and ripe fruits were: Ba, Ca, Cu, K, Mg and P.