The degradation of caffeic acid under ultrasound treatment in a model system was investigated. The type of solvent and temperature were important factors in determining the outcome of the degradation reactions. Liquid height, ultrasonic intensity and duty cycle only affected degradation rate, but did not change the nature of the degradation. The degradation rate of caffeic acid decreased with increasing temperature. Degradation kinetics of caffeic acid under ultrasound fitted a zero-order reaction from −5 to 25 °C. Caffeic acid underwent decomposition and oligomerization reactions under ultrasound. The degradation products were tentatively identified by FT-IR and HPLC-UV-ESIMS to include the corresponding decarboxylation products and their dimers.

Little is known about the efficacy of pulsed ultrasound compared with continuous ultrasound. Previous studies on the efficacy of pulsed ultrasound were not systematic and gave different results. In this study, the effects of pulse length, pulse interval, pulse length × pulse intervals, and treatment time on sonochemical activity were investigated using a simple oxidation of iodide method and a comparison of the efficacy of pulsed ultrasound and continuous ultrasound is made. The results showed that the main factor in the efficacy of pulsed ultrasound was pulse length when pulse length varied from 0.1 to 1 s. However, the main factors were pulse length, the pulse length × pulse interval, and pulse interval when pulse length varied from 1 to 9 s. Pulsed ultrasound had no effect when the pulse length was 0.1 s; however, the sonochemical activity of pulsed ultrasound decreased compared to continuous ultrasound as the pulse length varied from 0.1 to 1 s. The sonochemical activity of pulsed ultrasound either increased or decreased compared to continuous ultrasound when pulse length varied from 1 to 9 s, but the increase or decrease had no clear trend. The sonochemical activity was constant at T_on/T_off = 2 s/2 s and slightly decreased at T_on/T_off = 3 s/2 s with time, whereas the sonochemical activity of continuous ultrasound significantly decreased with time. Enhancement or reduction of sonochemical activity of pulsed ultrasound compared to continuous ultrasound depended on the pulse length and pulse interval.