From sci.chem Wed Dec 11 09:12:34 1996 From: Pete Simpson Newsgroups: sci.chem Subject: Re: Lab Accidents....... As a first year undergraduate, I remember doing a project which involved isolati ng capsaicin, the hot component of the common chilli pepper. I had no problems with the practical, but I had the misfortune of working with a guy who was all thumbs. After a couple of hours work with a soxhl et extractor, I had obtained a relatively strong solution of the compound, which I left to evaporate in an open beaker on my desk. Enter, stage left: Lab Partner. He stretches out to grab something off the bench. Dink! Over goes the beaker, ti pping its contents over my work, my books and me. Frantic rush to the sink to wash it off. The problem with this compound, as anyone who has prepared chillis can guess, is that it gets everywhere and it causes excruciating irritation. No matter how hard you scrub to get it of f. Ever wondered why organic chemists wash their hands before they go to the loo... ? -- Pete Simpson, Langwith College, University of York, England. Email: pjs103@unix.york.ac.uk Homepage: http://www.york.ac.uk/~pjs103/ ========================================================== From sci.chem Mon Dec 9 17:18:32 1996 From: Alan \"Uncle Al\" Schwartz Subject: Re: Chemicals responsible for hot taste icimhh@aol.com wrote: >Where can I find information on what specific chemicals are responsible >for the hot taste of peppers, spices, etc? http://www.search.com/ , or you ask Uncle Al. -- Alan "Uncle Al" Schwartz UncleAl0@ix.netcom.com ("zero" before @) http://www.ultra.net.au/~wisby/uncleal.htm (Toxic URL! Unsafe for children, Democrats, and most mammals) "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" The Net! A FIRE BURNS ETERNAL (C)1995 Alan M. Schwartz I was 12 weeks boarding in Vancouver, Canada while pursuing research. In anticipation of my repatriation with my kind and replacement by a Korean student, the kind (and rather wealthier) landlady offered a classical Korean dinner as a fairwell gift. If even pablum makes your ulcer scream, Canadian food will bore it to sleep. I, the Korean, she, her beau, and her son repaired to an authentically ethnic eating establishment. We started with a round of kimchi. The Korean and I grasped in each of our paired chopsticks a mound of pickled cabbage hiding beneath a blanket of cayenne pepper, filled our mouths, and crunched away in ecstasy. The simple-hearted Canadians jabbed in their forks, loaded their mouths... and I think the waiters and waitresses are yet doubled over, helpless with laughter. Have you ever seen a human being simultaneously combust, melt, unravel, and explode? Today's erudite palpation scrutinizes the chemical heat of seasonings. This will be a technical seminar punctilious in endeavor and rigorous in covenant. Welcome to hell! I like it. Hot peppers: Dozens of varieties of chili, hot, or capsicum peppers exist. The jalapeno is a popular object of awe. On the Scoville Index (an organoleptic assay), jalapenos score a few thousand. Scotch bonnets and habanero peppers pluck the magic twanger at 100,000+! The heat derives from a single chemical, capsaicin, which releases Substance P (for pain, an undecapeptide of the tachykinin class) from intracellular storage granules. Capsaicin also exhibits sympathomimetic nervous system activity - chili eaters are contented folk - and perceptible vermifuge activity (not being absorbed from your gastrointestinal tract, and making the critters at its lower end burn as well). Yum! Garlic: Allium sativum grew in the Devil's footprints when He strode the Earth; onions too. Garlic (garlic, elephant garlic, wild garlic, Chinese chive) contains the amino acids alline and methionine sulfoxide. Bruising garlic releases allinase enzymes which convert these sulfoxide precursors to intermediate (allyl, methyl, and 1-propenyl) sulfenic acids which then condense to form odorous allylic and vinylic thiosulfinates. Allicin is the major flavor component. The higher oligomer ajoene is a potent blood platelet anti-aggregation factor. Onion: Allium cepa shares garlic's prosaic folk origin. Onion (onion, shallot, leek, chive, scallion) contains similar but mostly saturated precursors to give (methyl, propyl and 1- propenyl) thiosulfinates. The lacrimator is propylsulfenic acid, whose saturated sulfoxide precursor dihydroalline is absent from garlic. Horseradish: Radicula armoracia is abundant with sinigrin, a thioglucopyranose which upon bruising of the root's tissue and release of horseradish peroxidase yields allyl isothiocyanate. Japanese wasabi likewise. Said chemical is classified as a war gas and chemical weapon, giving the War on Drugs an excuse to destroy you if the troops can't find anything else of interest when they break into your domicile. Pepper: Piper nigrum contains piperine, chavicine, piperidine (War on Drugs-controlled substance), and piperettine. The stinging heat of black pepper mostly derives from the first substance, which can serve as a starting material for Angel Dust and XTC manufacture. (Just because you don't have horseradish in the house doesn't mean you are safe from Federal onslaught). Ginger: Zingiber officinale hosts the principle flavorant l- zingiberene and the pungent principle zingerone (related to vanillin and capsaicin; and cathinone from khat, another War on Drugs target). Saffron: The brightly colored stamens of Crocus sativa owe their musky heat to picrocrocin, which is a sex-determining substance in the plant itself. One contrasts the French passion for the masculinity of heavily saffroned bouillabaisse with the Oriental obsession with coagulated soy protein oozing natural estrogen mimics genisein, daidzein, and coumesterol. Belly up to the fire, boys! The cooks in the kitchen are wearing rubber gloves lest their hands touch tonight's repast and the skin be seared clean off. A flock of birds flying by the ventilation duct spontaneously combusted in mid-air. The beer is cold, the food is hot, and we shall squirm in delicious agony one mouthful at a time. When we are flushed red with our pleasures, when the last chemical glimmer has slithered down our gullets, when the dregs of the buffet smolder and die, we will smile with contentment, round up our women, and ponder more private inclinations. Feel the burn.