1.

(a)Discuss the application of phenolic acids in food industries [10]

- phenolic compounds are well known for their health benefits related to anti-oxidant activity.

-phenolic compounds have their important characteristics which include anti-microbial activity
because phenolic have the capacity of retarding the microbial invasion of some products and
avoiding the petrification of others, hence their use as preservatives in foods.

-phenolic anti-oxidants such as BHA, BHT, TBHQ, and PG all act as excellent anti-oxidants
because their hydrogen bond dissociation is low making them efficient hydrogen or electron
donors, and also the phenoxy radicals generated after the donation to the lipid free radicals do
not themselves generate other free radicals. In essence they act as free radical terminators.

-phenolic anti-oxidants prolong life of foods by increasing the oxidative resistance of the base
oil, thus they prevent the formation of free radicals during oxidation.

-have good carry through properties, which determine their ability to withstand various
processing steps such as baking and frying and maintain their functionality.

-they are also insoluble in water due to the presence of the phenolic groups, thus they are not
easily lost.

-they are also used for enhancing the organoleptic (flavor, astringency, and hardness), color,
sensory qualities, nutritional and anti-oxidant properties in food items.
(b) Define an antioxidant using a chemical equation [5

OH
C (C H 3 ) 3

OC H3

R , RO  , or ROO 
O
. O
3 3
C (C H 3) ( C
C H )
RH, ROH +
.
or ROOH
O C
H C H
O
3 3

O O

. C (C H 3)
C (C H 3 ) 3

.
O CH3
O C
H
3

(c) Discus reasons for and against synthetic antioxidants

-they require more effort in metabolism

- They have low water solubility

- Some of them are stored in adipose tissue

-they need regulation

- High degree of toxicity

-they don’t offer nutritional qualities.

2.Describe the chemistry behind the anticancer activity of the compounds below

OH OH
C(CH 3)3 (H 3C) 3C C(CH 3)3

OCH 3 CH3 [4]

Solution

-Butylated Hydroxyl Anisole and Butylated hydroxyl toluene (BHT) prevent cancer by terminating
free radicals obtained during auto oxidation of unsaturated lipids.

3.Discuss terpenes under the following headings

(a) Structure

- terpenes are compounds made up of 5-carbon units, often called isoprene units, put together in
a regular pattern, usually head-to-tail in terpenes up to 25 carbons.

CH3 CH3
CH3

CH3 H3C OPP

H2C
e g . m o n o te rp e n e s
is o p re n e u n it g e r a n ly p y r o p h o s p h a te
-Terpenes containing 30 carbons or more are usually formed by the fusion of two smaller terpene
precursors such that the head-to-tail "rule" appears to be violated.

(b) Extraction and detection methods

- non-volatile terpenes can be extracted using a very non-polar organic solvent such as hexane.
They can be detected by using silica as a stationary phase in gas chromatography.

-terpenes with 15 carbons or less may be volatile due to their small size and low polarity. These
can be detected using other suitable methods eg HPLC

(c) Chemistry behind their anti germ activity [4 x3]