Abstract
This paper reports the differentiation between the enantiomers of theaspiranes and theaspirones, potent flavor compounds widely used in the flavor industry. Optically pure reference compounds of isomeric theaspiranes were obtained by enantioselective synthesis. Enantiomerically pure reference theaspirones were isolated from quince fruit; their absolute stereochemistry was assigned by CD spectroscopy. For both types of compounds the order of elution was elucidated by using authentic reference compounds. These data enabled the determination of the enantiomeric distribution of both types of compounds in a variety of plant tissues.
Because of the complexity of the natural flavor isolates, compounds were identified by mass spectrometry after multidimensional gas chromatography employing a Sichromat 2 double oven chromatograph. After separation of the target compounds on the first, achiral, column (DBβ5), they were transferred to a chiral column (CβDex B) for determination of the enantiomeric distribution. Multiple ion detection (MID) enabled the determination of the enantiomeric distribution even for complex mixtures containing the target compounds at extremely low levels.