I have read a lot of really interesting articles over the past couple of weeks, and I am learning about some really interesting chemistry. Unfortunately I will not be writing about it as I feel it would give too much information away for the project I’m working on. Coupled with my time spare time going towards studying for GREs has made it difficult to keep up on reading articles.

In lieu of a full write-up, something I noticed is that acetaldehyde has use in the flavor industry as a added value to fruit flavors, where it adds the feeling of freshness and juiciness. Thanks to acetaldehyde’s low boiling point of 20°C, a lot of effort has gone into encapsulation of acetaldehyde for use in products. After co-oping at Acorda, my first reaction to encapsulation is spray drying, but that’s not a good idea as it’d just vaporize. An older IFF patent solves this by using carefully controlled freeze drying to maximize acetaldehyde concentration by avoiding paraldehyde and crotonaldehyde side products. On the other hand, a newer Firmenich patent avoids this issue entirely by using an acetaldehyde precursor that breaks apart in water to release acetaldehyde.

Firmenich precursor.PNG
Acetaldyhe precursor in Firmenich patent US20170369461A1

I have to say, I liked the IFF patent more. At least after I finished reading it, I understood what the process was, how it was novel, and what it accomplished. The Firmenich one (not to single them out, this seems to be all newer patents) are so frustratingly tedious, wordy, and obtuse. Paragraph 52 is:

In another embodiment, the compounds provided herein are provided in an amount in a flavored article such that the powders release a compound provided herein that further release acetaldehyde in the flavored article when exposed to an aqueous solution wherein the acetaldehyde is released in an amount that ranges from about 1 ppm to about 20 ppm, more particularly from about 1 ppm to about 10 ppm, more particularly from 4 ppm to about 10 ppm, even more particularly from about 4 ppm to about 5 ppm of the total weight of the article.

I think it’s trying to say that the technology can release acetaldehyde in concentrations from 1 — 20 ppm, but intend it use it for 4 — 5 ppm. I’m uncertain if maybe it’s related to the list given in the previous paragraph. Maybe by the end of this co-op I’ll learn how to decipher patents. There’s a lot of time left.