After ethanol (BM-E and RW-E) and hot-water (BM-HW and RW-HW) extracts were fractionated from two herbal mixtures (BM and RW), their physiological activities were investigated. All extracts consisted of more than 50% of neutral sugar, with their total polyphenol levels higher than flavonoid levels. Radical scavenging activities of EtOH extracts remained significantly higher compared to that of hot-water extracts, and in particular, RW-E showed consistently higher antioxidant activity than BM-E. When anti-inflammatory activities of the extracts were evaluated by LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells at 10~500 μg/mL non-cytotoxicity doses, BM-E showed significantly higher levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and nitric oxide inhibitory activity than those of hot-water extracts and RW-E. Murine peritoneal macrophage cells were shown to be enhanced in crude polysaccharides (BM-CP and RW-CP fractionated from BM-HW and RW-HW) compared to hot-water extracts and polysaccharide K (PSK, positive control). Especially, RW-CP exhibited higher activity than BM-CP, and component sugar analysis showed that BM-CP mainly contained galacturonic acid, glucose, arabinose, galactose, and xylose (34.5%, 33.9%, 16.1%, 7.1%, and 6.3%, respectively), whereas RW-CP showed different measurements (29.5%, 59.2%, 5.0%, 4.5%, and 0.2%). In conclusion, two herbal mixtures could contain varying sets of physiological activities dependent on different extraction and fractionation methods.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this research is to develop additives for the modification of Solvent DeAsphalting Residue (SDAR) to be used as pavement materials, and evaluate the performance of asphalt mixture manufactured using the SDAR modified by developed additives. METHODS: The SDAR generally consists of more asphaltenes and less oil components compared to the conventional asphalt binder, and hence, the chemical/physical properties of SDAR are different from that of conventional asphalt binder. In this research, the additives are developed using the low molecular oil-based plasticizer to improve the properties of SDAR. First, the chemical property of two SDARs is analyzed using SARA (saturate, aromatic, resin, and asphaltene) method. The physical/rheological properties of SDARs and SDARs containing additives are also evaluated based on PG-grade method and dynamic shear-modulus master curve. Second, various laboratory tests are conducted for the asphalt mixture manufactured using the SDAR modified with additives. The laboratory tests conducted in this study include the mix design, compactibility analysis, indirect tensile test for moisture susceptibility, dynamic modulus test for rheological property, wheeltracking test for rutting performance, and direct tension fatigue test for cracking performance. RESULTS : The PG-grade of SDARs is higher than PG 76 in high temperature grades and immeasurable in low temperature grades. The dynamic shear modulus of SDARs is much higher than that of conventional asphalt, but the modified SDARs with additives show similar modulus compared to that of conventional asphalt. The moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixture with modified SDARs is good if, the antistripping agent is included. The performance (dynamic modulus, rutting resistance, and fatigue resistance) of asphalt mixture with modified SDARs is comparable to that of conventional asphalt mixture when appropriate amount of additives is added. CONCLUSIONS: The saturate component of SDARs is much less than that of conventional asphalt, and hence, it is too hard and brittle to be used as pavement materials. However, the modified SDARs with developed additives show comparable or better rheological/physical properties compared to that of conventional asphalt depending on the type of SDAR and the amount of additives used.

Competitive solvent extraction of the mixure of alkali metal and alkaline earth cation from water into organic solvent containing the crown ether carboxylic acid and anlogous crown ether phosphonic acid was investigated as follows. The lipophilic group is found to strongly influence to the selective extraction in the mixed systems from only alkali metal cation for sym-(n-decyldibenzo)-16-crown-5-oxyacetic acid _1 to mostly alkaline earth metal cation for sym-bis[4(5)-tert-butylbenzo]-16-crown-5-oxyacetic acid _3. Monoethyl sym-(n-decyldibenzo)-16-crown-5-oxymethylphosphonic acid _2. and monoethyl-sym- bis]4(5)-tert-butylbenzo]-16-crown-5-oxymethylphosphonic acid _4 showed good selectivity for Na+ over Mg2+, the second extracted ion. Structural variation in the crown ether phosphonic acid somewhat was influenced to the extraction selectivity in the mixed systems. when variation of the ionized group is influenced in the mixed systems, the selectivity of Na+ as the second extracted ion was much better crown ether carboxylic acid _1 than crown ether phosphonic acid _2, while the efficiency of Na+ extraction was better _2 (83% total loading) than _1 (32%).