Natural aroma chemicals for use in foods and beverages - Natural Food Additives, Ingredients and Flavourings - page 210

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Natural aroma chemicals for use in foods
and beverages
D. J. Rowe, Riverside Aromatics Ltd, UK

Abstract: The origins of organic chemistry are contiguous with the isolation of natural
materials, including what we now term aroma chemicals. The development of isolation
techniques has enabled materials to be isolated from sources in which they are at low
concentrations and to obtain them at purities that match those of synthetic origin.
Methodologies include isolation from essential oils, isolation as by-products of other
processing, 'soft chemistry' and biotechnology (including fermentation). The commercial
importance of natural materials has led to the advances in the techniques used to
investigate the authenticity of such materials.

Key words: natural aroma chemicals, isolation, by-products, 'soft chemistry',
biotechnology, isotope ratios.

10.1 Natural aroma chemicals and the origins of
organic chemistry
To the general public, this title is a contradiction in terms! Some of the most
important natural aroma chemicals were among the fi rst organic chemicals to be
purifi ed and characterised, beginning with menthol in 1771 (Table 10.1). The
fundamental difference, of course, is that in the early days of organic chemistry, it
was believed that life was essential to the creation of complex molecules, the
so-called 'vital force' or 'vitalism'. We understand now that the reverse is true, i.e.
it's the complexity of organic chemistry that is the mechanism of life (Byrne and
Rowe 2009).
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw the development of chemistry to
the level that most organic molecules can be made in vitro ; despite this, recent
years have seen continually growing interest in natural materials.

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