Cichorium endivia

Lactucin is a bitter principle of the leaf vegetable chicory (Cichorium endivia), which is cooked or used for salads in western Europe.152 It is also contained in the form of j>-hydroxyphenyl acetate as lactucopicrin, which is known to have a sedative effect on the central nervous system.153 On the contrary, a bitter-tasting sesquiterpene... 

The main caffeic acid derivative in the aerial parts of Echinacea purpurea is cichor-ic acid (2R,3R-0-dicaffeoyl-tartaric acid). It was first isolated from the leaves of . purpurea by Becker and Hsieh [83]. Hsieh [106] reported no data on the optical activity of cichoric acid. The cichoric acid isolated later from . purpurea by Remiger [84] and by Soicke et al. [107] had an optical rotation [a] of ca. -370 . In contrast, the cichoric acid first isolated by Scarpati and Oriente [108] from Cichorium intybus displayed a rotation of +383.5 . Cichoric acid from lettuce Lac-tuca sativa) [109] and from endives (Cichorium endivia) [110] was also dextrorotatory. Synthetic studies by Scarpati and Oriente [108] showed that cichoric acid from Cichorium intybus contains a residue of (2S,3S)-(-)-tartaric acid. Conversely, that in... 

Woldecke M, Hermann K (1974) D-(+)-Dikaffeoyl-Weinsaure aus Endivien (Cichorium endivia L.). Z Naturforsch 29c 360-361... 

Cichoriumsaure = Dicaffeyl-S,S-( —)-weinsaure, Schmp. 204—206°, ao=+383° (Methanol) (224). Vorkommen Cichorienblatter (Cichorium intybus) (224), Endivien (Cichorium endivia) (306) und Salat (Lactuca sativa) (79). Scarpati und Oriente (224) synthetisierten neben den beiden optisch aktiven Dicaffeyl-weinsauren auch die Dicaffeyl-... 

A number of vegetables from the family Asteraceae have a bitter taste, such as endive Cichorium endivia), the aerial part (leaf rosette) of which is eaten as a salad. Lettuce Lactuca sativa) sometimes has a bitter taste, particularly the stalk and the white milky juice. Chicory (C. intybus var. foliosum) is slightly bitter, and is cultivated for salad leaves called chicons (etiolated buds) growing from the root vertex in the dark. Roasted chicory root (C. i. var. sativum) is used in the manufacture of coffee surrogates. Bitter substances of these vegetables are primarily sesquiterpenic... 

Grape musts and wines contain depsides of some phenolic acids with L-tartaric acid. Common esters are depsides of caffeic (8-89), 4-coumaric and vanillic acids. For example, the vanilloyltartaric acid content in musts and wines ranges from 1.4 to 11.7 mg/1, and of 4-coumaroyltartaric (cutaric) acid and calFeoyltartaric (caftaric) acid is 0.6-5.5 and 10.2-26.9 mg/1, respectively. In all these depsides, (E)-isomers dominate. 2,3-Di-O-caffeoyl-L-tartaric acid, known as cichoric acid (8-90), is an example of diesters of i-tartaric acid, which occur in plants of the Asteraceae family. Cichoric acid is situated in the root and leaves of chicory Cichorium intybus), endive (C. endivia) and lettuce Lactuca sativa). 

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