Synthetic ethyl vanillin

Vanilla flavoring in bakery goods, confectionery, and many fro2en desserts need not be natural vanilla. The artificial and synthetic vanilla flavors that are used include vanillin [121-33-5] from lignin (wood pulp), ethyl vanillin [121 -32-4] and vanitrope [94-86-0], the latter two are synthetics. Over 90% of the U.S. market for vanilla flavor contains vanillin. These synthetics continue to dominate the market because of availabiUty, quahty, and relatively low and stable prices. 

Ethyl vanillin is a synthetic compound that is three and a half times stronger in flavor than real vanilla, although the flavor is not quite the same. Because it is less expensive and keeps better during storage and transport, ethyl vanillin is used as a substitute for vanilla in foods and perfumes. 

Natural and artificial flavors are also added, usually in the form of vanilla extract or synthetic vanillin or ethyl vanillin. 

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... 

In most European countries, flavors that occur naturally or are generated during healing or processing by enzymatic reactions or modification generally arc considered natural flavors. Flavors that arc often referred to in the United Stales as synthetic are usually termed "artificial" in Europe. These would include such compounds as ethyl vanillin, allyl-of-iononc, and ethyl maltol. However, substances that are synthesized but chemically identical to the naturally occurring substances arc classified as "natural-identical." This class would include diacetyl, benzaldehyde, antsyl acetate, and benzophenone. 

The import of vanillin and ethyl vanillin together to India during 2000/01 was 4041. Even if only 10% of import of these synthetic substitutes was replaced by natural product, the requirement of vanilla beans would be 20201 at the rate of 2% vanillin content. This is almost one half of the entire global production of vanilla beans, indicating the great potential for vanilla development in India (http //www.hinduonnet. com/businessline/2003/03/03/). 

Unlike natural flavoring agents, synthetic flavors are usually stable. The development of synthetic flavors paralleled the development of instrumental analysis, in which active ingredients in natural flavors are identified and reconstructed synthetically with reasonable accuracy. Exact duplication of a natural flavor is, however, difficult because often minor components are the most important contributors to the overall flavor profile. These minor components are not easily identified. For example, the major components of vanilla are vanillin and ethyl vanillin. However, the flavor nuances of the vanilla bean have never been successfully matched in artificial (synthetic) vanilla. 

Unlike vanillin, ethyl vanillin does not occur naturally. It may be prepared synthetically by the same methods as vanillin, using guethol instead of guaiacol as a starting material see Vanillin. 

As vanilla, as a result of its high price, is often adulterated or diluted, a number of publications deal with the detection of piperonal, coumarin, ethyl vanillin, vanitrop and others. Whereas these adulterations can be detected rather easily, the addition of synthetic vanillin, as long as it remains within certain proportions, can only be certified by the expensive isotope analysis (deuterium, C content) [296, 297, 298, 299[. 

However, a list of flavouring ingredients and where they can be used was compiled, resulting in a new public health standard GB 2760-86 (18.9.1986). The list comprises 121 natural flavourings, 257 synthetic flavouring substances, and 118 temporary permitted flavourings (e.g. nutmeg oil, onion oil, ethyl vanillin, allyl hexanoate, etc.). 

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. 

Ethyl valerate Ethyl vanillin Eucalyptol flavoring agent, synthetic food Eugenol Eugenyl acetate Eugenyl benzoate Eugenyl formate Farnesol... 

Ethyl vanillin is a closely related compound, 3-ethoxy-4-hydroxy-benzaldehyde, which is not found in nature but is prepared synthetically from safrole. It has an intense vanilla-like odor and is about three to four times more powerful than vanillin as a flavoring agent. Like vanillin, it is widely used in the preparation of imitation vanilla flavorings but can give a somewhat harsh chemical character in higher dosage levels. In practice, a maximum of 10% of vanillin may be replaced by ethyl vanillin without this objectionable note being obvious. 

However, despite the sound reasons for artificial flavorings dominating the market, natural flavorings comprise the major portion of the market, and artificial flavoring materials find limited use. Today, artificial flavorings tend to be used when there is no natural flavoring material counterpart (e.g., most meat top notes, some components of fruit flavors, ethyl vanillin, ethyl maltol, etc.) or when the consumer product is of low cost and will not carry the additional expense of a natural flavoring. Thus, the market for synthetic flavor chemicals has shrunk over time. 

Some synthetic flavorings which do not occur in food materials are compiled in Table 5.42. Except for ethyl vanillin, they are of little importance in the aromatization of foods. 

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