SUMMAEY. Proteolysis in aseptic, chemically acidified (GDL) cheese and in starter cheese made under controlled bacteriological conditions (i.e. free of non-starter micro-organisms) was measured by gel electrophoresis, the formation of pH 4-6-and 12% TCA-soluble N, gel nitration and the liberation of free amino acids. The results show that rennet was mainly responsible for the level of proteolysis detected by gel electrophoresis, pH 4-6-soluble N and gel filtration i.e. large, medium and small peptides. However, rennet alone was capable of producing only a limited range of free amino acids; only methionine, histidine, glycine, serine and glutamic acid were produced at quantifiable levels ( > 0-2 /*moles/g) in GDL cheese; it is suggested that free amino acids in Cheddar cheese are mainly the result of microbial peptidase activity. The levels of free amino acids in the starter cheese were considerably lower than values reported for commercial Cheddar.Proteolysis plays an important part in the conversion of Ca para-caseinate curd to mature Cheddar cheese. Perhaps the main consequence of proteolysis is the conversion of the rubbery texture of green curd into the smooth-bodied finished cheese, but proteolysis also influences flavour since free amino acids have typical flavour characteristics (Mulder, 1952) and probably contribute to background flavour (Mabbitt, 1961). Proteolysis products are also implicated in certain defects, especially bitterness (cf. Lowrie & Lawrence, 1972).The proteins of Cheddar cheese undergo extensive proteolysis during ripening: 30 % and ~ 5 % of the total protein in mature Cheddar is soluble at pH 4-6 and in 12% TCA respectively. Gel-electrophoretic analysis has shown that a

SummaryData are presented which show that the use of glucono-δ-lactone as a chemical acidulant in cheese manufacture results in a much more rapid decrease in pH than that occurring in biologically acidified cheese. One of the consequences of the excessive early acid development was a very marked increase in the level of proteolysis during cheese-manufacturing operations. Consequently, chemically acidified cheese, as manufactured by the technique of Mabbitt, Chapman & Berridge (1955) (expt 17), does not appear to be a suitable ‘reference cheese’, especially for studies in which proteolysis during ripening is under investigation. The technique of Mabbitt et al. Avas modified to simulate the pH development pattern of starter cheese more closely; the level of proteolysis in curd made by the modified method was approximately equal to that in starter curd.An attempt was made to link the propensity to develop bitterness of cheese made with fast acid-producing cultures with excessive early proteolysis in such cheese. The results show that fast- and slow-culture strains differed significantly in their acid-producing capability only after the cooking stage and consequently such cheeses differed little with respect to early proteolysis. Further, cheeses made with 0·5, 1·0, 2·0 or 4·0% of ML8 culture which differed considerably in rate of acid development and consequently in the level of early proteolysis did not develop bitterness, even when 4·0% starter was used.It is concluded that gross proteolysis and bitterness are not correlated.

No abstract

The start-up and steady-state operation of a full-scale fixed bed digester treating citric acid production wastewater with an estimated COD/sulphate ratio of approximately 4 are described. Parallel studies at laboratory-scale with two reactors, one of which received the same high influent sulphate concentration as the full-scale plant, confirmed the finding that methanogenesis was not inhibited by the level of sulphate reduction shown to occur. After long-term operation on a high sulphate influent, the retained biomass in the laboratory and full-scale reactors displayed a very low specific methanogenic activity against propionate and butyrate. Since propionate and butyrate were barely detectable in the effluents at steady-state, their oxidation under high influent sulphate conditions may be completely or incompletely mediated by fatty-acid-utilising SRB.

A combined high-throughput screening and reaction profiling approach to the telescoping of two reductions in the synthesis of Salbutamol is described. Optimization studies revealed the beneficial effect of mildly acidic conditions, and the use of water as a cosolvent. Persistent formation of deoxygenated impurities using a Pd/C catalyst led to the initiation of reaction profiling studies, which revealed that the ketone intermediate formed after rapid debenzylation is the sole source of deoxygenated impurities, indicating that more rapid ketone hydrogenation should minimize this deoxygenation. A dual catalyst approach based on these insights has been developed, with both Pd/Pt and Ru/Pt catalyst systems as more selective than Pd-only systems. Based on reaction profiles that indicate the deoxygenation side reaction is first-order in the concentration of debenzylated ketone intermediate, Pt catalysts for rapid and selective ketone hydrogenation were paired with Pd and Ru catalysts known to perform selective debenzylation. Optimization of these dual catalyst processes led to conditions that were demonstrated on 20 g scale to prepare Salbutamol in 49% isolated yield after recrystallization.