nootkatone

English

Structure diagram of nootkatone

Etymology

Nootka (cypress) + ketone

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnuːtkətəʊn/

Noun

nootkatone (usually uncountable, plural nootkatones)

1. (organic chemistry) An aromatic organic compound that contributes to the smell and flavour of grapefruit, and is both a sesquiterpene and a ketone.
   • 1967, Canning Trade, Volume 89, Issue 1 − Volume 90, Issue 26, page 458:

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

   • 1973, Chemoreception Abstracts, volume 1, page 25:

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

   • 1999, Joe Schwarcz, Radar, Hula Hoops, and Playful Pigs, unnumbered page:

     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.

   • 1972, Walton B. Sinclair, The Grapefruit: Its Composition, Physiology, and Products, page 252:

     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).

   • 2010, Milind Ladaniya, Citrus Fruit: Biology, Technology and Evaluation, page 176:

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

Related terms

• nootkatane