JP2023055027A - Flavor composition and method for producing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a method for producing a flavor composition containing a sufficient level of an alkaloid component.SOLUTION: A method for producing a flavor composition includes a step 1 for preparing liquid containing a cigarette flavor extract, a medium, and an acid with a pH of 4 or more and less than 8 and a step 2 for heating the liquid to remove all or a part of the medium.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to flavor compositions and methods for producing the same.

Conventionally, there has been proposed a technique of extracting a flavor component (for example, an alkaloid containing a nicotine component) that contributes to tobacco flavor and taste from tobacco raw materials and supporting the extracted flavor component on a flavor source base material. Patent Literature 1 discloses a technique for efficiently extracting flavor and taste components using a simple device.

Patent No. 6101860

Since some of the alkaloids in the flavor and taste components are likely to volatilize, there is a problem that the amount of these components is reduced during preparation of the composition. In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing a flavor composition sufficiently containing alkaloid components.

The inventors have found that the protonated state of the alkaloid can reduce the vapor pressure, thereby reducing volatilization loss of the alkaloid. That is, the above problems are solved by the present invention described below.
Aspect 1
Step 1 of preparing a liquid containing a tobacco flavor extract, a medium, and an acid and having a pH of 4 or more and less than 8, and Step 2 of heating the liquid to remove all or part of the medium;
A method for producing a flavor composition, comprising:
Aspect 2
The production method according to aspect 1, wherein the step 1 comprises a step of treating the tobacco raw material with an alkali and collecting flavor components obtained by the treatment.
Aspect 3
The production method according to aspect 1 or 2, wherein the pH of the liquid prepared in step 1 is 7 or less.
Aspect 4
The production method according to any one of aspects 1 to 3, wherein the liquid prepared in step 1 contains 0.5 to 3 mol of the acid per 1 mol of nicotine in the tobacco flavor extract.
Aspect 5
The production method according to any one of aspects 1 to 4, wherein the medium comprises water.
Aspect 6
The production method according to any one of aspects 1 to 5, wherein in the step 2, the liquid is heated to 30 to 100°C.
Aspect 7
The production method according to any one of aspects 3 to 6, wherein the step 2 comprises converting at least part of nicotine in the tobacco flavor extract to monovalent cations.
Aspect 8
A flavor composition obtained by the method of aspects 1 to 7.
Aspect 9
9. The flavor composition of aspect 8, comprising no more than 30% by weight of said vehicle in said composition.
Aspect 10
10. The flavor composition of aspect 9, comprising 1% or less by weight of said medium in said composition.
Aspect 11
The flavor composition according to any of aspects 8-10, which is a viscous liquid or waxy.
Aspect 12
A tobacco material comprising a flavor composition according to any one of aspects 8-11.
Aspect 13
13. The tobacco material of aspect 12, comprising a base material and the flavor composition added to the base material.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION By this invention, the manufacturing method of the flavor composition which fully contains an alkaloid component can be provided.

Diagram showing the outline of the present invention Diagram showing one aspect of the extraction device The figure which shows the one aspect|mode of a collection apparatus

The present invention will be described in detail below. In the present invention, "X to Y" includes X and Y which are the end values.

1. Method for producing flavor composition The method for producing the flavor composition comprises the following steps.
Step 1: Step of preparing a liquid containing a tobacco flavor extract, a medium, and an acid and having a pH of 4 or more and less than 8 Step 2: Step of heating the liquid to remove all or part of the medium

(1) Process 1
In this step, a liquid having a pH of 4 or more and less than 8 is prepared, which contains a tobacco flavor extract, a medium, and an acid. Tobacco flavor extract is a substance or composition exhibiting flavor extracted from tobacco raw materials. Extraction can be performed by a known method, and water or an organic solvent such as glycerin or ethanol can be used for the extraction, but water is preferred in consideration of workability and the like. Moreover, an acid or an alkali can also be used for extraction as needed.

As the tobacco raw material, for example, raw materials belonging to the Nicotiana genus such as Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rustica can be used. As Nicotiana tabacum, varieties such as burley and yellow can be used, for example. In addition, tobacco materials other than burley or flue may be used.

The tobacco raw material may be shredded or powdered tobacco raw material (hereinafter also referred to as "raw material pieces"). In such a case, the grain size of the raw material pieces is preferably 0.5 to 1.18 mm. Such raw material pieces are obtained by sieving according to JIS Z 8815 using a stainless steel sieve according to JIS Z 8801, for example. For example, 1) Using a stainless steel sieve with an opening of 1.18 mm, a stainless sieve with an opening of 1.18 mm is sieved by sieving raw material pieces for 20 minutes by a dry and mechanical shaking method. A passing raw material piece is obtained. 2) Subsequently, using a stainless steel sieve with an opening of 0.50 mm, the raw material pieces are sieved for 20 minutes by a dry mechanical shaking method to obtain a stainless steel sieve with an opening of 0.50 mm. remove the pieces of raw material that pass through. By doing so, it is possible to prepare a raw material piece that passes through a stainless sieve (opening=1.18 mm) that defines the upper limit but does not pass through a stainless sieve (opening=0.50 mm) that defines the lower limit.

In this step, a liquid containing the tobacco flavor extract, the medium, and the acid may be prepared at once (first embodiment, FIG. 1 (1)), or a liquid containing the tobacco flavor extract and the medium may be prepared at once. After preparation, the acid may be added to the liquid (second embodiment, FIG. 1(2)). Each aspect will be described below.

[First aspect]
In a first aspect, the tobacco raw material is treated with an alkali. Flavor components are generated through the treatment and collected to prepare a liquid containing the tobacco flavor extract, medium and acid. In this case, it is preferable to extract the flavor component as a gas from the alkali-treated tobacco raw material and introduce the gas into the acid-added liquid to transfer the flavor component to the liquid. That is, in this embodiment, the liquid containing the tobacco flavor extract, the medium and the acid is prepared at once. FIG. 1(1) shows this aspect. Figures 2 and 3 show an example of the apparatus used in this embodiment. The extraction device 10 comprises a container 11, spray means 12 and heating means (not shown). Tobacco material 50 is loaded into container 11 . The container 11 is made of, for example, a heat-resistant and pressure-resistant member (such as SUS). The container 11 preferably constitutes a closed space. This is because volatilization of the flavor component contained in the tobacco raw material 50 to the outside of the container 11 can be suppressed.

In this embodiment, the tobacco raw material 50 is put into the container 11 and the alkaline substance is supplied from the atomizer 12 . As the alkaline substance, for example, an alkaline liquid such as an aqueous solution of potassium carbonate is preferable. At this time, the alkaline substance is supplied until the pH of the tobacco raw material 50 reaches a specific range. At this time, the alkaline substance may be added at once or may be added in multiple batches. In particular, when the alkaline substance is added in multiple batches, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the raw material from lowering and shorten the heating time. Also, the amount of TSNA is reduced by shortening the processing time. The pH is preferably 8.0 or higher, more preferably 8.9 to 9.7. The pH of the tobacco material is the pH of water when the tobacco material is mixed with 10 times the amount of water. Further, in order to efficiently release the flavor component from the tobacco material 50 into the gas, the water content of the tobacco material 50 after being sprayed with the alkaline substance is preferably 10% by weight or more, more preferably 30% by weight or more. More preferred. Although the upper limit of the water content of the tobacco raw material 50 is not limited, it is preferably 50% by weight or less in order to efficiently heat the tobacco raw material 50, for example.

The content of the flavor component (alkaloid such as nicotine) contained in the tobacco raw material 50 before the alkali treatment is preferably 2.0% by weight or more, more preferably 2.0% by weight or more, relative to the total weight of the tobacco raw material 50 in a dry state. 4.0% by weight or more.

Thus, the tobacco raw material 50 is subjected to alkali treatment. The treatment is performed at about room temperature (10 to 40° C.). After treatment, the alkaline liquid is drained from the container 11 . Next, the extraction device 10 and the collection device 20 described later are connected, and the tobacco raw material 50 is heated using the heating means of the extraction device 10 . Although the temperature at this time is not limited, it is preferably 80 to 200°C, more preferably 100 to 150°C. By heating, the flavor component of the tobacco raw material 50 can be taken out as a gas. The gas is then sent to the collection device 20 .

FIG. 3 shows one aspect of the collection device 20 . The collection device 20 comprises a container 21 , a pipe 22 , a discharge portion 23 and a pipe 24 . A pipe 22 is connected with the extraction device 10 . Container 21 contains collection solvent 70 . The container 21 is made of glass, for example. The container 21 preferably constitutes a closed space.

The collection solvent 70 is not limited as long as it can dissolve the flavor component, but water or an aqueous organic solvent such as glycerin or ethanol can be used. The temperature of the collection solvent 70 is, for example, room temperature. The lower limit of room temperature is, for example, a temperature at which the collection solvent 70 does not solidify, preferably 10° C. or higher. The upper limit of normal temperature is, for example, 40° C. or less. By setting the temperature of the collection solvent 70 within this range, it is possible to efficiently remove volatile contaminants such as ammonium ions and pyridine from the collection solution while suppressing volatilization of flavor components from the collection solution. can. The collected solution thus obtained is also called "VB collected solution".

Release component 61 includes at least a nicotine component indicative of a flavor component. The emission part 23 is provided at the tip of the pipe 22 and is immersed in the collection solvent 70 . Emission portion 23 has a plurality of openings 23A. Released component 61 guided by pipe 22 is released into collection solvent 70 as foamed released component 62 from a plurality of openings 23A. The pipe 24 guides the remaining components 63 that have not been captured by the collecting solvent 70 to the outside of the container 21 .

Since the released component 62 is a component released into the gas phase by heating the tobacco material 50 , the released component 62 may raise the temperature of the collection solvent 70 . Therefore, the collection device 20 may have a function of cooling the collection solvent 70 in order to maintain the temperature of the collection solvent 70 at room temperature.

The collection solvent 70 is preferably preloaded with an acid, its salt, or a combination thereof. The acid is not limited, but may be Bronsted acid that donates protons or Lewis acid that is an electron acceptor, inorganic acids or salts thereof, organic acids or salts thereof that are allowed to be added to foods. is mentioned. Alternatively, more preferred such acids include acids selected from the group consisting of aliphatic hydroxy acids, aromatic carboxylic acids, and combinations thereof. Alkaloids such as nicotine that have migrated from the gas can be rapidly protonated by the acid, and the volatility of the alkaloids can be reduced.

Acids that are allowed to be added to foods include, for example, acids listed in Table 1 of the Enforcement Regulations of the Food Sanitation Law. Preferred examples of inorganic acids include phosphoric acid. Preferred examples of salts of inorganic acids include sodium salts and potassium salts of the above inorganic acids, and specific examples thereof include sodium dihydrogen phosphate and potassium dihydrogen phosphate. Preferred examples of organic acids include malic acid, citric acid, succinic acid, levulinic acid, pyruvic acid, tartaric acid, adipic acid, lactic acid, butyric acid, acetic acid, formic acid, benzoic acid, and L-ascorbic acid. Preferred examples of salts of organic acids include sodium salts and potassium salts of the above organic acids, and specific examples thereof include trisodium citrate and sodium benzoate.

An aliphatic hydroxy acid is a fatty acid having a hydroxyl group. Preferably, the ratio of the number of carbon atoms to the number of hydroxyl groups (number of carbon atoms/number of hydroxyl groups) is 2 or less. Aliphatic hydroxy acids that are permitted to be added to foods are particularly preferred. Such acids include lactic acid, tartaric acid, and the like.

Aromatic carboxylic acids are carboxylic acids having an aromatic ring, and those that are allowed to be added to foods are particularly preferred. Examples of such aromatic carboxylic acids include benzoic acid and the like.

The amount of acid to be added is adjusted so that the pH of the liquid is 4 or more and less than 8. When the pH of the solution is less than 8, nicotine, a typical alkaloid, can be protonated and form a salt in the presence of a counterion. From this point of view, the pH of the liquid is preferably 7 or less. Although the lower limit of pH is not limited, it is preferably 4.2 or higher, more preferably 4.5 or higher.

However, if the amount of acid is excessive, the resulting flavor composition may have an unpleasant taste. Therefore, in one embodiment, the amount of acid (the total amount when multiple types are used; the same shall apply hereinafter) is about 0.5 to 3 mol per 1 mol of nicotine in the tobacco flavor extract. In another embodiment, the amount of aromatic carboxylic acid is about 0.5 to 1.5 mol per 1 mol of nicotine in the tobacco flavor extract, and the amount of aliphatic hydroxy acid is about 0.5 to 1.5 mol in the tobacco flavor extract. It is about 0.5 to 2.5 mol per 1 mol of nicotine. Aromatic carboxylic acids and aliphatic hydroxy acids may be used in combination.

[Second aspect]
In a second aspect, a liquid containing a tobacco flavor extract and a medium is prepared. Specifically, the tobacco raw material is subjected to extraction using a liquid to prepare an extract. Extraction can be performed according to a known method (for example, a method according to the first aspect) as described above. An acid is then added to the liquid. The type and amount of acid to be added and the pH of the liquid in this case are as described in the first aspect.

(3) Process 2
In this step, the liquid containing the tobacco flavor extract, medium and acid obtained in step 1 is heated to remove all or part of the medium. This step is hereinafter also referred to as a “concentration step”. Concentration can be carried out by a known method, and examples thereof include concentration under reduced pressure using an evaporator or the like. Although the temperature during concentration is not limited, it is preferable to set the temperature of the liquid to 30 to 100°C. In this production method, since the alkaloid is protonated by the acid, it is possible to suppress volatilization of the alkaloid during concentration. As a result, a flavor composition with an increased alkaloid content can be obtained.

At least part of the nicotine in the flavor extract obtained in this step is preferably present as monovalent cations. For example, by maintaining the pH of the flavor composition at 4 or more and less than 8, at least a portion of nicotine can be converted to monovalent cations. By using monovalent cations for at least part of nicotine, it is possible to suppress the sorption of the flavor component to a storage member such as a resin.

(4) Other Steps This manufacturing method can further include a step of removing burnt components before or after step 2. The burnt component is mainly produced by heating the sugar contained in the tobacco raw material. The burnt component can be removed by, for example, ultrafiltration membrane, reverse osmosis membrane, column chromatography, or the like. By removing the burnt component, the flavor and taste of the flavor composition are improved, and the storage stability is also improved.

2. Flavor Composition The flavor composition contains flavor components including alkaloids derived from tobacco materials. The amount of the medium in the flavor composition is appropriately adjusted depending on the application, and is preferably 30% by weight or less, more preferably 10% by weight or less, and still more preferably 1% by weight or less in the composition. be. The flavor compositions thus obtained may be viscous liquids or waxy.

3. Tobacco Materials Flavor compositions are useful as additives. For example, a flavor composition-containing tobacco material can be prepared by adding the flavor composition to a base material such as shredded tobacco, tobacco sheets, or chipping paper. Specifically, the tobacco material can be prepared by coating or spraying the flavor composition on the base material. In addition, the flavor composition itself can be combined with a reinforcing material or the like, if necessary, and formed into powder or granules to obtain a tobacco material.

The flavor composition can also be dissolved or dispersed in a solvent to form a flavor liquid for non-combustion heating type flavor inhalation articles. Preferred solvents are those used in the art as aerosol-generating substrates. Aerosol-forming substrates include polyhydric alcohols such as glycerin or polyethylene glycol.

[Preparation of VB collecting solution]
An extraction apparatus as shown in FIG. 2 was prepared. The apparatus has a spraying means and a heating means, and has heat resistance and pressure resistance. 500 g of tobacco leaves as a tobacco raw material were put into the inside of the apparatus, and the apparatus was sealed. Next, an alkali treatment was performed by spraying an aqueous potassium carbonate solution from a sprayer. The potassium carbonate aqueous solution was added until the pH of the water obtained by adding 10 times the amount of water to the tobacco material was in the range of 8.9 to 9.7. Alkaline treatment was performed at room temperature (25° C.). The liquid was then drained from the extractor. A collection container shown in FIG. 3 was prepared, and the pipe 22 of the collection container and the extraction device were connected. The tobacco material inside was heated by the extractor, and the generated gas was collected in the collection container to obtain a VB collected liquid.
Detailed conditions were as follows.
pH of tobacco raw material after alkali treatment: 9.6
Heating temperature of tobacco raw material: 120°C
Collection solvent: Water Temperature of collection solvent: 20°C
Amount of collection solvent: 60 g
Ventilation flow rate during bubbling treatment (ventilation treatment and collection treatment): 15 L / min
The concentration of nicotine in the VB collected liquid measured by GC/MS by the method shown below was 3.5% by weight. Moreover, the pH of the VB collection liquid was 9.39.

[Extraction of nicotine]
A sample of 100 mg±5 mg was weighed into a vial.
3.75 mL of sodium hydroxide aqueous solution (10 w/w%) and 5 mL of hexane were added to the bottle and shaken (200 rpm, 1 h) for extraction. Hexane was added with 0.05 w/v% n-heptadecane as an internal standard.
After shaking, the hexane layer was dispensed into vials and analyzed for nicotine by GC-FID.

[GC conditions]
As shown in the table below.

[Comparative Example 1]
24.9 g of the VB collection liquid prepared as described above was weighed into a 100 mL eggplant flask. The VB collected liquid was concentrated using a rotary evaporator. The conditions were as follows.
Water bath temperature: 50°C
Decompression degree: about 6mmHg
End conditions: until no weight change The concentrate thus obtained was a mixture of oil and white solid. The nicotine yield was determined from the nicotine concentration of the concentrate.

[Example 1]
83.9 g of the VB collection liquid prepared as described above was weighed into a 300 mL eggplant flask. Then, 3.29 g of DL lactic acid (one molar amount of nicotine) was added to the eggplant flask and dissolved by stirring. The VB collected liquid was concentrated under the same conditions as in Comparative Example 1. The concentrate thus obtained was in the form of a yellow starch syrup. The nicotine yield was determined from the nicotine concentration of the concentrate.

[Example 2]
84.8 g of the VB collection liquid prepared as described above was weighed into a 300 mL eggplant flask. Next, 2.25 g of benzoic acid (one molar amount of nicotine) was added to the round-bottomed flask and stirred to dissolve. The VB collected liquid was concentrated under the same conditions as in Comparative Example 1. The concentrate obtained in this way was in a waxy semi-solid form. The nicotine yield was determined from the nicotine concentration of the concentrate. These results are shown in Table 2. In the table, WB means wet base and DB means dry base.

Both the VB collected liquid and the concentrated liquid obtained in Example 1 had a pH of 4.30, and the VB collected liquid and the concentrated liquid obtained in Example 2 both had a pH of 6.74. It was suggested that most nicotine exists as a monovalent ion (or salt) at relevant pH. On the other hand, the pH of the VB collection liquid and the concentrate obtained in Comparative Example 1 were 9.39 and 9.66, respectively, and nicotine was presumed to exist in a free state. From the above, it is considered that nicotine was protonated (or existed in the form of a salt with the corresponding acid) in the examples, and the vapor pressure was lowered, resulting in an improved yield of nicotine.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 extraction device 11 container 12 spraying means 50 tobacco material 20 collection device 21 container 21
22 pipe 22
23 emission part 23
24 pipe 24
23A opening 61 release component 62 foamy release component 63 residual component 70 collection solvent

Claims (13)

Step 1 of preparing a liquid containing a tobacco flavor extract, a medium, and an acid and having a pH of 4 or more and less than 8, and Step 2 of heating the liquid to remove all or part of the medium;
A method for producing a flavor composition, comprising: 2. The production method according to claim 1, wherein said step 1 comprises a step of subjecting tobacco raw materials to alkali treatment and collecting flavor components obtained by said treatment. 3. The production method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the pH of the liquid prepared in step 1 is 7 or less. The production method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the liquid prepared in step 1 contains 0.5 to 3 mol of the acid per 1 mol of nicotine in the tobacco flavor extract. The production method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the medium contains water. The production method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein in said step 2, said liquid is heated to 30 to 100°C. The production method according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the step 2 comprises converting at least part of nicotine in the tobacco flavor extract to monovalent cations. A flavor composition obtained by the method of any one of claims 1 to 7. 9. The flavor composition of claim 8, comprising no more than 30% by weight of said medium in said composition. 10. The flavor composition of claim 9, comprising no more than 1% by weight of said medium in said composition. The flavor composition according to any one of claims 8 to 10, which is viscous liquid or waxy. A tobacco material comprising the flavor composition according to any one of claims 8-11. 13. The tobacco material of claim 12, comprising a base material and the flavor composition added to the base material.

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