Carotenoid derivatives from tobacco

Carotenes and Carotenoid Derivatives From Tobacco and Tobacco Smoke... 

Tobacco, unlike most other commodities, is not produced as a food crop, but it is used for manufacture of smoking materials and other products. The essential oils in tobacco are important for impact and balance in smoking (11). Smoking pleasure is derived from a balance of nicotine and volatile components. Tobacco chemists and flavorists are certain that carotenoid derivatives contribute to smoke flavor and aroma (5) Over a hundred compounds related to carotenoids have been isolated from tobacco and tobacco smoke. 

Several hundred compounds from tobacco have been characterized. Many of these are clearly derived from cyclic or acyclic carotenoids or related compounds. Black tea is also a source of ionones. Parmone from violet flowers has now been shown to be (-I- )-a-ionone (56). "... 

Some examples of successful commercial selective extractions are the removal of caffeine from coffee or the solubilization of nicotine from tobacco both accomplished on moist matrices to aid in selectively solubilizing the alkaloid component. Selective extraction has been demonstrated for the segregation of essential oil from other lipid components in natural extracts derived from fruits and for the separation of aroma components in cocoa butter from the base oil. Other enrichment SEE schemes that have been reported include the fractionation of carotenoid from leaf protein concentrate [25], the fortification of sterols in seed oils [26], and the isolation of lecithin (phospholipid-containing fraction) from triglycerides [27]. 

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