Single Origin Coffee Aroma: From Optimized Flavor Protocols and Coffee Customization to Instrumental Volatile Characterization and Chemometrics.

In this study, the aroma profile of 10 single origin Arabica coffees originating from eight different growing locations, from Central America to Indonesia, was analyzed using Headspace SPME-GC-MS as the analytical method. Their roasting was performed under temperature-time conditions, customized for each sample to reach specific sensory brew characteristics in an attempt to underline the customization of roast profiles and implementation of separate roastings followed by subsequent blending as a means to tailor cup quality. A total of 138 volatile compounds were identified in all coffee samples, mainly furan (~24-41%) and pyrazine (~25-39%) derivatives, many of which are recognized as coffee key odorants, while the main formation mechanism was the Maillard reaction. Volatile compounds' composition data were also chemometrically processed using the HCA Heatmap, PCA and HCA aiming to explore if they meet the expected aroma quality attributes and if they can be an indicator of coffee origin. The desired brew characteristics of the samples were satisfactorily captured from the volatile compounds formed, contributing to the aroma potential of each sample. Furthermore, the volatile compounds presented a strong variation with the applied roasting conditions, meaning lighter roasted samples were efficiently differentiated from darker roasted samples, while roasting degree exceeded the geographical origin of the coffee. The coffee samples were distinguished into two groups, with the first two PCs accounting for 73.66% of the total variation, attributed mainly to the presence of higher quantities of furans and pyrazines, as well as to other chemical classes (e.g., dihydrofuranone and phenol derivatives), while HCA confirmed the above results rendering roasting conditions as the underlying criterion for differentiation.

Structural Features for Furan-Derived Fruity and Meaty Aroma Impressions.

Furan derivatives are part of nearly all food aromas. They are mainly formed by thermal degradation of carbohydrates and ascorbic acid and from sugar-amino acid interactions during food processing. Caramel-like, sweet, fruity, nutty, meaty, and burnt odor impressions are associated with this class of compounds. In the presented work, structure-activity relationship (SAR) investigations are performed on a series of furan derivatives in order to find structural subunits, which are responsible for the particular characteristic flavors. Therefore, artificial neural networks are applied on a set of 35 furans with the aroma categories "meaty" or "fruity" to calculate a classification rule and class boundaries for these two aroma impressions. By training a multilayer perceptron network architecture with a backpropagation algorithm, a correct classification rate of 100% is obtained. The neural network is able to distinguish between the two studied groups by using the following significant descriptors as inputs: number of sulfur atoms, Looping Centric Information Index, Folding Degree Index and Petitjean Shape Indices. Finally, the results clearly demonstrate that artificial neural networks are successful tools to investigate non-linear qualitative structure-odor relationships of aroma compounds.

A new geranylbenzofuranone from Zanthoxylum armatum.

A new geranylbenzofuranone, zantholide (1), and eight known compounds, dodeca-2E,4E-dienoic acid isobutylamide (2), dodeca-2E,4E,8Z,11-tetraenoic acid isobutyl amide (3), zanthoxylin (4), sesamin (5), kobusin (6), asarinin (7), fargesin (8) and armatamide (9), have been isolated from the bark of Zanthoxylum armatum. The structures of the isolated compounds were determined on the basis of spectroscopic (1D, 2D NMR) and HR-ESI-MS data. This is the first report on the isolation of 2 and 3 from the Rutaceae family and 4 from Z. armatum.

Compounds with neuroprotective activity from the medicinal plant Machilus thunbergii.

The dichloromethane fraction of the bark of Machilus thunbergii Sieb. et Zucc. (Lauraceae) significantly protected primary cultures of rat cortical cells exposed to the excitotoxic amino acid, L-glutamate. Through the activity-guided isolation from the CH(2)Cl(2) fraction, (+)-9'-hydroxygalbelgin (1), isogalcatin B (2), (7S,8S,8'R)-3',4'-dimethoxy-3,4,-methylenedioxylignan-7-ol (3), 1-hydroxy-7-hydroxymethyl-6-methoxyxanthone (4), 5,7-dimethoxy-3',4'-methylenedioxyflavan-3-ol (5), (+)-(3S,4S,6R)-3,6-dihydroxypiperitone (6), protocatechuic acid methyl ester (7) and tyrosol (8) were obtained. All of them had significant neuroprotective activities against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity in primary cultures of rat cortical cells at concentrations ranging from 0.1 microM to 10.0 microM and were comparable to MK-801, a well-known inhibitor of glutamate receptor.

Enhancement of hyperthermia-induced apoptosis by a new synthesized class of furan-fused tetracyclic compounds.

The combined effects of hyperthermia (44 degrees C, 20 min) or X-rays (10 Gy) and a new class of furan-fused tetracyclic synthesized compounds (DFs), on apoptosis in human lymphoma U937 cells were investigated. Among the tested compounds (DF1 approximately 6), the combined treatment of 10 microM DF with TIPS (triisopropylsilyloxy) (Designated #3 DF3) and hyperthermia showed the largest potency to induce DNA fragmentation at 6 h after hyperthermia but no enhancement was observed if it was combined with X-rays. Enhancement of hyperthermia-induced apoptosis by DF3 in a dose-dependent manner was observed. When the cells were treated first with DF3 at a nontoxic concentration of 20 microM, and exposed to hyperthermia afterwards, a significant enhancement of heat-induced apoptosis was evidenced by DNA fragmentation, morphological changes and phosphatidylserine externalization. The activation of Bid, but no change of Bax and Bcl-2 were observed after the combined treatment. The release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to cytosol, which was induced by hyperthermia, was enhanced by DF3. Mitochondrial transmembrane potential was decreased and the activation of caspase-3 and caspase-8 was enhanced in the cells treated with the combination. Externalization of Fas was observed following the combined treatment. Flow cytometry revealed rapid and sustained increase of intracellular superoxide due to DF3, and showed subsequent and transient increase in the formation of intracellular hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), which was further increased when hyperthermia was combined. These results indicate that the intracellular superoxide and H(2)O(2) generated by DF3 enhance the hyperthermia-induced apoptosis via the Fas-mediated mitochondrial caspase-dependent pathway.