Violeta+Nasto+Log

= = = = =December 5, 2009= Finished revising my final draft of the paper and fully formatted references correctly. Submitted complete draft of paper.

=December 2, 2009= Did in-citations using RefWorks Write-N-Cite. At first it worked fine, but when I try it now, it gives random text characters and just the bibliography at the end, not the actual body with in-citations. Not sure what is wrong so far, but I am still continuing to Write-N-Cite with RefWorks. Hopefully, I can figure something out, so I don't have to go back and redo every in-citations again.

=December 1, 2009= Read several of the articles and summarized key points from them. The body of my paper will be on the focus of flavor and the color of red wine. I have roughly 1000 words so far, though I haven't written the actual paragraphs with in-citations yet. Thinking of writing the paper in ACS format. The bibliography is in that format as of right now. Haven't decided if I should include an abstract or not. = = =November 28, 2009= Continuing to find more references and started to read my articles. I am trying to look at the compounds and tannins and in more specifically red wine for my paper. Looking at different antioxidants and even thinking of how they relate to breast cancer prevention. Also, some of the references I have, I think I have to manually put in RefWorks, because the source doesn't have the option to export the citation. Still learning more about RefWorks.

=November 27, 2009= Imported most of the citations on RefWorks. Trying to find more references on something more specific and formulate a complete outline of the paper.

=November 25, 2009=

Learning how to work RefWorks, so I can use it for my references.

= = =**November 12, 2009**=


 * [Full Marks JCB]**

__Boiling Point__
210.8 °C at 760 mmHg [|ChemSpider Predicted] 214.00 to 215.00 °C. at 760.00 mm Hg [|thegoodscentscompany] 237 °C [|WolframAlpha] 210.8±35.0 °C at 760 Torr (calculated) [|SciFinder] 236.45C (estimation) [|EPI (estimated)] 237(assumed °C) ( [|ChemicalBook])

__Specific Gravity (Density)__
 0.983-1.003 g/cm3 [|ChemSpider][|JECFA] 1 g/cm3 [|ChemSpider Predicted] 0.99000 to 0.99500 g/cm3 @ 25.00 °C. [|thegoodscentscompany] 0.990 g/cm3 [|FishcerSci MSDS] 0.990 g/cm3 (20 C) [|ChemicalBook]

__Refraction Index__
1.488 [|ChemSpider Predicted]  1.487-1.497 [|ChemSpider][|JECFA] 1.488 ± 0.02 [|thegoodscentscompany] 1.49 [|SigmaAldrich] 1.49 [|WolframAlpha]

__Vapor Pressure__
0.614 mmHg at 25°C [|ChemSpider Predicted] 0.4 mmHg (at 25°C assumed) [|ChemSpider][|NIOSH] 4.653 mmHg (at STP) [|WolframAlpha] 0.36 mmHg at 20 °C [|SigmaAldrich] 0.35 mm Hg at 25 °C [|AvogadroMSDS] 0.35 mm Hg at 35 °C [|OSHA]

__Melting Point__
40-43 (assumed in °C) [|ChemSpider] 41°C [|WolframAlpha] 40-42°C(lit.) [|SigmaAldrich] 43°C [|OSHA] 43°C [|AvagadroMSDS]

=**October 28, 2009**=

I found out that they don't allow me to view the first article that I found out before: [|ACS Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry]. I need to be an ACS member to see that article now, which surprised me and disappointed me because before it was opened and I had already started to read it. Also, I found out that many of the articles that were pretty specific on my topic on SciFinder do not include the full text, so I have to continue to find some more articles.
 * [You don't need to be an ACS member - if you are on Drexel campus you should get access - at home use VPN JCB]**

From reading the below article, I was thinking of focusing on some of those specific compounds that are found and strongly thought to be related to the flavor and aroma of wine and see the reasons why. I found another critical review article that goes to many more details to wine flavor and its chemical components: [|DOI]

(Assignment 2)
//Article Summary://

"Scientia Vitis: Decanting the Chemistry of Wine Flavor"

The Department of Viticulture and Enology at University of California is researching the flavor and aroma in wine. Part of the research includes tastings of wine in dark lighting, where the taste and smell of the wine is the main focus. The wine flavor comes from different molecules and compounds. The many variety of flavors are originated from aromatic organic molecules such as phenol compounds and sugars where the astringent mouth-feel and sweetness of the wine comes from.Everyone defines flavor differently, which is shown in this research when two people taste two different things when they sample the same bottle of wine in Hildegarde Heymann's lab.

Uses of analytical instruments such as spectrometers and chromatographs are being used during fermentation to find molecules that correlate with a specific flavor. Methoxypyrazines were found as a family molecules that are mostly in cabernet grapes and only trace amounts are acceptable in wine, due to the bell pepper taste that it gives to wine. Also, it is seen that the molecule breaks down under light, so grapes have been exposed to more light and even leaves are pulled off for comparison. The way the grapes are grown is shows also high importance in taste.

It is hard to connect the taste to a particular molecule because many compounds have shown low detection thresholds. The nose can only detect very small amounts that are hard to be identified as compounds by chemistry equipments. A few compounds such as short-chain volatile aldehydes contribule to flavors and turpines show aroma. Acids, tannins, and sugars are the main focuses in wine and flavor and even pairing wine with food, where tannin levels are compared. Tannins are polymers of phenols and its relation to flavor has been hard to distinguish, but it has a strong impact on the mouth when a glass of tannin-rich wine is sipped. Acids like tannins, relate to the clarity of a wine and help balance out the sweetness, but their role in flavor is still not clear. Sugars though influence wine in many aspects and the amount of sugar levels have been hard to control because they depend on the complex metabolic cycle of yeast and the ripeness of the grape.

The fermentation process is a way to control and predict results in the making of wine where yeast is used as a model organism by many studies. In a study it was found that the change in wine's color during fermentation is due to the tannins that come off from the grape skins early in the vatting process and if the juice was let to sit beyond this peak, there would be too many tannins and no additional color. One goal in the future is to identify the threshold that tannins stop contributing to color but still affect the feel of the mouth.

There have been ways to quantitatively measure different aspects of wine production such as transducer sensors that can monitor sugar during fermentation. Furthermore, they replace hydrometers that have been used to monitor the density of fermenting juices and have not shown efficiency and accuracy compared to the sensors. The sensors though still do not lead to the production of a higher quality than the hydrometers, but wide-scale patterns in fermentation can be better understood. The development of biosensors are other methods that would help in measuring esters and alcohols at the molecular levels. Overall, it has shown hard to find the structure of wine flavor because even though new molecules have been discovered, they do not directly relate to the flavor or aroma of it.

Reference: "Scientia Vitis: Decanting the Chemistry of Wine Flavor" (Chemical Heritage Foundation)
 * [Full Marks JCB]**

=**October 20, 2009**=

I installed Cisco VPN and also solved the small SciFinder problem I had. I did the SciFinder general search as suggested and the first page that came up was the previous link I had found. Other topics that came up there included mass spec in grape and wine chemistry, polyphenols, NMR studies of it and wine bacteria, antioxidants in grapes, health effects, wine chemistry and microbiology, different techniques, progress and research, etc.

Doing the SciFinder search showed that there are many areas I can focus on this subject. I need to decide how specific I will get and what area to choose. I have also found several other links that I plan to read to see if they can help me decide.
 * [Good - glad to see problem solved JCB]**

=**October 1, 2009**=

Today I came up with my research topic: Wine and Flavor Chemistry I was thinking of looking at some of the compounds and new analytical techniques used by first looking at the [|ACS Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry] **[Good idea - just make sure to do a general search as well on SciFinder JCB]**