Cocoa bean amine

The active ingredient that makes tea and coffee valuable to humans is caffeine. Caffeine is an alkaloid, a class of naturally occurring compounds containing nitrogen and having the properties of an organic amine base (alkaline, hence, alkaloid). Tea and coffee are not the only plant sources of caffeine. Others include kola nuts, mate leaves, guarana seeds, and, in small amount, cocoa beans. The pure alkaloid was first isolated from coffee in 1821 by the French chemist Pierre Jean Robiquet. 

Strecker aldehydes is not very significant, but some Strecker acids are important aroma components of cooked foods. The levels of amines formed by Strecker degradation, such as during roasting of cocoa beans, exceeds by several orders the amount of identical amines that are formed during fermentation and is comparable to the level of Strecker aldehydes generated. 

Amin, 1., Jinap, S., and Jamilah, B. (1998) Rroteolytic activity (aspartic endoproteinase and carboxypeptidase) of cocoa beans during fermentation. J Sci FoodAgric 76, 123—128. 

It has been revealed that reactions of sugars with amino adds are responsible for the development of such spedfic aromas as those of roasted cocoa, coffee beans, baked bread, processed tobacco, baked potatoes, and protein hydrolyzates. Such reactions, and related reactions of saccharides with amines, have been intensively studied as a way of obtaining aromas, unless amino acids and amines, respectively, are applied in catalytic amounts. 

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