Sulfur compound, odor threshold value

Of the few known terpene compounds that contain heteroatoms such as nitrogen or sulfur, the thiol 8-mercapto-p-menthan-3-one described below has qualitatively important applications as a fragrance and flavor substance. The second thiol, -p-menthene-8-thiol, is described because its odor threshold value is far lower than that of most other fragrance and flavor materials. 

In summary, model studies are very efficient for the identification and structure elucidation of important flavor components. Most of the compounds reported here have not been identified in meat and have not yet been reported as constituents of food volatiles. Nevertheless, there are good reasons to believe that minute traces of these sulfur-containing components are present in roasted and/or cooked meat volatiles because our model system was based solely on naturally occurring precursors. We believe that only minute trace amounts of these types of components need to be present in natural products to be of prime significance due to their extremely low odor threshold values. 

Yeast extracts represent an important source of volatile sulfur compounds, many of which possess low odor threshold values. They are used as sources of flavor for a range of savory foods, especially when a meaty note is required. In spite of the usefulness of yeast extracts, there are very few reports of their volatile flavor components. The production of yeast extracts is briefly reviewed, and the volatile sulfur compounds which have been identified are discussed. A recent study is presented in which the aroma components of some yeast extracts were analyzed. A total of 268 compounds were identified, including 67 sulfur compounds. The 34 sulfur compounds reported for the first time comprised 3 aliphatic sulfur compounds, one sulfur-substituted benzene derivative, 10 thiophenes, 18 thiazoles and 2 alicyclic sulfur compounds. Their importance as components of flavors and routes to their formation are considered. 

Some of the compounds identified in YEs which are formed either by the thermal degradation of thiamine or on the interaction of thiamine degradation products with other components are shown in Fig. 2. They include aliphatic sulfur compounds, furans, thiophenes and thiazoles. 2-Methyl-3-furanthiol and 2-methyl-3-thiophenethiol have been identified in YEs 9,13 14) and are well known thermal degradation products of thiamine (29). As well as possessing meaty aromas and low odor threshold values 34), these compounds are key precursors of several other sulfur-substituted furans and thiophenes, including the derivatives in Fig. 2. Most possess meaty aromas at low concentrations and several have been identified in YEs (see Tables I and III). 

Enantiomers of the same compound may have differing threshold values. This property was observed for a new, strong and high impact, flavor compound, 3-thio-2-methylpentan-l-ol, first detected in thermally processed materials but that is actually present in raw onions.54 First of all, there is a marked concentration effect at 1 ppm in 5% saltwater, the odor is described as sulfuric, burnt gum, sweaty, onion and at 0.5 ppb as meat broth, sweaty, onion, leek . Since there are two chiral centers (both dependent on carbon) there are four stereoisomers, all of which have been prepared 18a, 18b, 19a, 19b (Scheme 7). For this compound, enantiomers have the following marked differences in odor thresholds (but apparently all have the same general odor). 

Methanethiol has a very low flavor threshold value (0.02 ppb in water 15), and possesses a strong, offensive, fecal-like odor (18). It also is readily converted to very unpleasant oxidized sulfurous off-flavor compounds with low detection thresholds, such as dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide (18,25). Thus, suppression or modulation of methanethiol formation in cruciferous vegetables would le to a reduction of off-flavors associated with methanethiol-related compounds, and enhance the utility of controlled and modified atmosphere storage technologies for these vegetables. 

Methionine and riboflavin, that is vitamin B2, are important nutrients. However, these components are well-known to produce several sulfur compounds during irradiation with light (1 4). In general, the sulfur compounds have a characteristic odor and extremely low threshold for producing off-odors as well as being an important odor in foods (5). Therefore, it is important to prevent the off-odor formation as well as the decrease of nutritive value under the light irradiation. Some studies using dark containers to inhibit the... 

Some volatile sulfur compounds were obtained from methionine and riboflavin after light irradiation under acidic conditions (Table I). Methyl mercaptan seems to be one of the important off-odor components. At this time, because of using the solvent extraction with dichloromethane, the amount of highly volatile methyl mercaptan seemed to be low. Therefore, we focused the other off-odor components, that is, methional, dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) and methyl methanethiosulfonate (MMTS). In particular, DMTS is considered to be significant because of its extremely low threshold value. Figure 1 shows that the amount of DMDS and DMTS increased with decreasing pH value. 

Sulfur compound Yield Odor description Threshold value... 

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