| Description | gamma-Hexalactone has a warm, powerful, herbaceous, sweet odor and a sweet, coumarin-caramel taste. May be prepared by reduction of sorbic acid using Zn, Sn, or SnCl2 and concentrated HCL in acetic acid solution at 85°C; from ethylene oxide and sodio-malonic ester; also from propyl alcohol and methylacrylate in the presence of di-tert-butyl peroxide. |
| Chemical Properties | γ-Hexalactone has a sweet, herbaceous, warm, powerful, odor, with a sweet, coumarin-caramel taste. This compound is also described to have odor as sweet, creamy, lactonic, tobacco and coumarin-like with green coconut nuances. |
| Chemical Properties | 4-Hexanolide is clear colorless liquid |
| Occurrence | Reported found in apple juice, apricot, orange juice, guava, raisin, papaya, peach, pineapple, berries, asparagus, peas, potato, tomato, breads, cheeses, butter, milk, chicken fat, cooked beef, cooked pork, beer, cognac, grape wines, cocoa, tea, filberts, pecans, passion fruit, Japanese plum, beans, mushroom, starfruit, mango, dried fig, prickly pear, licorice, soursop, Cape gooseberry, nectarines, quince, pawpaw and other sources. |
| Uses | 4-Hexanolide was used as curing agent for diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A with ytterbium triflate as an initiator. |
| Uses | γ-Caprolactone was used as curing agent for diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A with ytterbium triflate as an initiator. |
| Uses | γ-Hexalactone may be used as an analytical standard for the determination of the analyte in wine, fruits, biological samples, meat products, and e-cigarette refill solutions by various chromatography techniques. |
| Preparation | By reduction of sorbic acid using Zn, Sn or SnCl2 and concentrated HCl in acetic acid solution at 85°C; from ethylene oxide and sodio-malonic ester; also from propyl alcohol and methylacrylate in the presence of di-tert-butyl peroxide |
| Definition | 4-Hexanolide is a gamma-lactone that is oxolan-2-one substituted by an ethyl group at position 5. |
| Aroma threshold values | Detection: 1.6 ppm |
| Taste threshold values | Taste characteristics at 75 ppm: sweet, creamy, vanilla-like with green lactonic powdery nuances |
| Synthesis Reference(s) | Tetrahedron Letters, 28, p. 2111, 1987 DOI: 10.1016/S0040-4039(00)96056-8 |
| General Description | γ-Hexalactone is a volatile flavoring compound largely present in food and beverage products, fruits, vegetables, etc. |
| Biochem/physiol Actions | Taste at 5-10ppm |
