Artificial vanilla

These are materials that are synthetic but are the same compound as is present in a natural flavouring material. From time to time it emerges that one substance produces a given flavour. Most chemists know that benzaldehyde has a smell of almonds. Some chemists know that hydrogen cyanide smells of bitter almonds. If a natural flavouring can be represented by a single substance and that substance can be synthesised then the flavour is likely to be available as a nature identical flavour. Vanilla flavour is a good example. Vanilla flavour can be all natural and derived from vanilla pods or nature identical or artificial. The nature identical product would be based on vanillin, which is in vanilla pods and has a flavour of vanilla. An artificial vanilla flavour would be ethyl vanillin, which is not present in vanilla pods but has a flavour two and a... 

Sometimes chemists analyze a compound that is found in nature to learn how to produce it more cheaply in a laboratory. For example, consider the flavour used in vanilla ice cream, which may come from natural or artificial vanilla extract. Natural vanilla extract is made from vanilla seed pods, shown on the left. The seed pods must be harvested and processed before being sold as vanilla extract. The scent and flavour of synthetic vanilla come from a compound called vanillin, which can be produced chemically in bulk. Therefore its production is much cheaper. Similarly, many medicinal chemicals that are found in nature can be produced more cheaply and efficiently in a laboratory. 

Artificial vanilla flavoring is a solution of pure synthesized vanillin, 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde. Mixtures of vanillin with other toxicants enhance mutagenic effects 31 and produce synergistic inhibition of lignocellulose degradation when mixed with catechol. 32 Vanillin potentiates the hepatotoxicity of carbon tetrachloride. 331 Mixtures of vanillin and cigarette smoke condensates induce sister-chromatid exchanges. 34 ... 

In the USA a standard of identity exists for ice-cream vanilla flavours. This standard of identity contains three categories. Category 1 vanilla-flavoured ice-cream can contain only all natural vanilla flavour. Category 2 can contain a blend of natural vanilla flavour plus an equal fold of artificial vanillin per gallon. A fold of vanillin is equal to 1 oz of vanillin per gallon of natural vanilla flavour. Category 3 is the general realm of artificial vanilla flavours. 

Many aldehydes and ketones are produced industrially as food and fragrance chemicals, medicinals, and agricultural chemicals. They are particularly important to the food industry, in which they are used as artificial and/or natural additives to food. Vanillin, a principal component of natural vanilla, is shown in Figure 14.3. Artificial vanilla flavoring is a dilute solution of synthetic vanillin dissolved in ethanol. Figure 14.3 also shows other examples of important aldehydes and ketones. 

Yelvanilla. [Crompton Knowles] Blend of natural and artificial vanillas. 

The Remier-Tiemann reaction is also used to produce another form of vanillin called ethyl vanillin. Ethyl vanillin is the ethyl ether of 4-hydroxybenzoic acid, 4-hydroxy-3-ethoxybenzaldehyde ((CH3CH20)(0H)C6H3CH0). It is a close chemical relative of natural vanillin in which the methyl ( CH3) group of natural vanillin is replaced by an ethyl ( CH2CH3) group. Ethyl vanillin is also known as artificial vanilla or synthetic vanilla. Its flavor is about three times as strong as that of methyl vanillin and is used to fortify or replace natural vanillin and lignin vanillin. 

The difference between calling a molecule artificial or natural is a legal definition, not a chemicfd or biological one. If a molecule of vanillin is isolated in a lab by extraction of a particular seed pod, the chemical is called natural vanilla. If that same molecule is made from lignin, which is a polymer found in naturally in wood, that substance is called artificial vanilla. The difference is that transforming lignin to vanillin requires chemical steps not covered by the legal definition of the word natural. To be clear, the natural and artificial versions of a molecule are exactly the same chemical species (same atoms, same bonds, same stereochemistry, etc.), but there may be other chemicals present that may differ in the natural and artificial versions of a product. 

There are situations where the inclusion of an oil phase does not significantly change the perceived flavor, only the flavor intensity. These situations exist when flavor character is carried by a small number of aroma compounds that have similar oiliwater partition coefficients. One may consider vanilla flavor in this category. Vanilla flavor is largely carried by vanillin and ethyl vanillin (artificial vanilla flavors). These two compounds have similar stractures and thus partition similarly. If one changes the fat content of an ice cream, for example, the vanilla character may change slightly but is seldom a problem. One simply increases the amount of flavor used as the fat content is increased. 

PRACTICE EXAMPLE A Vanillin is a natural constituent of vanilla. It is also manufactured for use in artificial vanilla flavoring. The combustion of 1.013 g of vanillin, CgHsOs, in the same bomb calorimeter as in Example 7-3 causes the temperature to rise from 24.89 to 30.09 °C. What is the heat of combustion of vanillin, expressed in kilojoules p>er mole ... 

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