With the help of a new technology, beer in the near future
may be able to stay fresher for longer than anyone previously imagined. This is
possible due to breakthroughs in a process called molecular imprinting, which
scientists hope will keep your beer staying as fresh as the day it was made for
long afterwards.
Why Does Beer Lose
Its Freshness?
The main reason beer loses freshness is that it contains the
vitamin riboflavin, which breaks down molecularly when exposed to light. As it
degrades, riboflavin molecules give off free atoms called radicals, which start
chain reactions among the molecules surrounding them. Eventually, these
reactions affect the molecules of the beer's other ingredients enough that the
flavor is noticeably altered, leading to a beverage with a less than ideal
taste.
How Can We Stop This?
The easiest ways to prevent this process from occurring are
simply to either store beer in dark places, or else store it in opaque
containers, like aluminum cans instead of glass bottles. However, for brands
and individuals who demand a translucent bottle, the only remaining solution is
to get rid of the riboflavin. Fortunately, thanks to molecular imprinting, this
is now possible.
So What Is Molecular
Imprinting?
Through a process similar to how antibodies in your immune
system have specific sites for bonding to specific pathogenic molecules, new
polymers are being made with molecular sites designed to bond specifically to
riboflavin molecules. As a common analogy for this process goes, think of each
molecular site as a lock, and riboflavin molecules as the only keys which will
fit it.
Forming polymers with these sites is accomplished
essentially by bonding riboflavin to the polymer as it is created, which
"imprints" the specific shape of a riboflavin molecule into the surface, hence
the name molecular imprinting. When these riboflavin molecules are then removed
later in the production process, an open site is left behind which is designed
to bond only to riboflavin.
Once brought into contact with beer, the open polymer sites
attract new riboflavin molecules out of the liquid, which get trapped there and
are prevented from degrading. Ideally, this stops the flavor-altering chain
reactions before they can start, leading to a beer that always stays fresh, even
in the most light-intensive situations.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_imprinting
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8183124.stm
http://www.nanoword.net/library/weekly/010121a.php
http://www.scitopics.com/Molecular_Imprinting.html
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