Dihydroactinidiolide from thermal degradation of β-carotene

Abstract

The formation of dihydroactinidiolide by thermal degradation of β-carotene was studied. A comparison of yields of dihydroactinidiolide in commercial β-carotene and β-carotene derived from crude palm oil was investigated. Thermal degradation of commercial β-carotene promoted the formation of dihydroactinidiolide with the highest yield, 61.21%. Thermal degradation of recovered β-carotene yielded 29.23% of dihydroactinidiolide. The lower recovery of β-carotene was due to the mixture of compounds in the extract. Further investigation indicated some other useful aroma compounds formed from this thermal degradation were β-ionone, 3-oxo-β-ionone, and β-cyclocitral.The outcome provided wide opportunities in utilizing crude palm oil as natural source of β-carotene to produce aroma compound.