Nootkatone

A series of taste tests compared natural nootkatone with 2 synthetic nootkatones, one more highly purified than the other.

Significant differences, both in odor strength and in odor character, have been found between all enantiomeric pairs and are particularly large for the nootkatones.

One of the main flavor compounds in grapefruit is nootkatone, which is found in the fruit in very small amounts and is hard to extract.

A constituent which corresponded to an unidentified GLC (gas-liquid chromatographic) peak in cold-pressed grapefruit oil was isolated and identified as nootkatone (figure 71).

The sesquiterpene ketone, nootkatone, which gives the characteristic aroma to grapefruit, has the same skeleton as valencene, the major sesquiterpene of oranges (Macleod, 1965).