JPS61139360A - Lemon-grass oil clathrate compound and production thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a non-toxic lemon-grass oil clathrate almost free from the sharp smell and stimulation of lemon-grass oil, by clathrating lemon-grass oil with beta-cyclodextrin. CONSTITUTION:Lemon-grass oil prepared by the steam distillation of lemon grass is used in an amount of 5-15wt% based on the whole lemon-grass oil clathrate. The lemon-grass oil is mixed with beta-cyclodextrin, and the mixture is heated at 50-95 deg.C in the presence of an aqueous solvent, and cooled at 0-10%oC to crystallize the clathrate compound. The crystal is washed with water, and dried.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] This invention relates to lemongrass, which is mainly cultivated in tropical regions and used as a fragrance and spice.
Lemongrass oil obtained from
.

The present invention relates to an easy-to-drink clathrate of il) and a method for producing the clathrate.

[Conventional technology]

Lemongrass is a plant belonging to the Poaceae family that is native to India.
Because it is a type of odorifera, its leaves emit a lemon odor when cut into pieces, and it grows mainly in the tropics and subtropics.

The oil obtained by steam distilling this lemongrass (about 0.3 to 0.5% by weight based on the whole plant) is known as lemongrass oil.

The chemical composition of lemongrass oil varies slightly depending on the region of production, but the main component is citral, and it also contains citronellol.
l), geraniol (Getaniol), nerol (
D-Limonen
, (X-Terpineol (, cr-Terptneo
l), and several types of monoterpene alcohols (Mono
terpenal cohol), aldehyde (Ald
Traditionally, lemongrass and lemongrass oil obtained from it have been used as fragrances for soaps and other spices, and as raw materials for synthesizing artificial violet and vitamin A from citral. There is.

On the other hand, lemongrass has been used by people since ancient times in its place of origin as having a tonic and tonic effect, and can be soaked in water or hot water as in oriental herbal medicine, or even dried to make a kind of tea. It is commonly consumed, but there is little scientific support for it.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

As mentioned above, lemongrass is useful as a fragrance and spice, and is also drunk as a tonic in its native region, but lemongrass originally has a very strong lemon odor, so it is used as a spice. There is a considerable amount of reluctance to drink it.

The inventors of the present invention studied ways to make lemongrass easier to drink, and focused on using lemongrass oil obtained by steam distilling lemongrass as a health-conscious food.

However, lemongrass oil obtained by steam distillation of lemongrass, which originally has a strong lemon odor, also has a strong odor and is irritating in the mouth, making it extremely difficult to drink. Furthermore, since it is volatile, it causes problems such as bad breath after drinking and the odor of gas emitted from the stomach.

[Means for solving problems]

This invention solves the above-mentioned problems by including lemongrass oil in a specific substance.
A lemongrass oil clathrate characterized in that lemongrass oil obtained from lemongrass is clathrated with β-cyclodextrin (β-cyc 1odextrin) is defined as a specified invention, and a method for producing the same is defined as a dependent invention. be.

The β-cyclodextrin used in this invention is a cyclodextrin in which the glucobylanose group is α-1.
, 4-glucosidic bonds, is stable against heat and light, and is non-toxic.
- It is relatively easy to obtain compared to cyclodextrin, T-cyclodextrin, etc.

The inclusion of lemongrass oil in β-cyclodextrin is preferably in the range of 5 to 15% (by weight; the same applies hereinafter) based on the total amount of the inclusion body.

If the inclusion amount of lemongrass oil is small (less than 5%), the required amount of lemongrass oil will decrease, and as a result, it will be difficult to expect the intended effect as a health-conscious food.
If the amount exceeds 5%, it is difficult to completely eliminate the lemongrass oil odor and irritation, and the yield during production tends to decrease.

The lemongrass oil clathrate in this invention is produced as follows.

That is, lemongrass oil and β-cyclodextrin
The mixture is stirred and heated in the presence of an aqueous medium, then cooled and crystallized.

As the aqueous solvent used in this case, water or organic solvents such as isopropyl alcohol and acetone are preferably used. Other usable organic solvents include methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, and propyl alcohol.

The amounts of these aqueous solvents used are lemongrass oil, β-
The amount may be sufficient as long as it is sufficient to dissolve the cyclodextrin.
Heating is at 50~50℃ to avoid decomposition of lemongrass oil.
A range of 95°C is desirable.

Such heating is carried out while the mixture is refluxing.
．． It is desirable to carry out for 5 to 2 hours.

The thus obtained solvent solution of lemongrass oil and β-cyclodextrin is crystallized by cooling it to 0 to 10°C, and the obtained crystals are washed with water and dried to form a powder clathrate. be able to.

The usefulness of the clathrate thus obtained can be further enhanced by adding sweeteners and other additives as desired, and by making it into granules to make it easier to take if necessary.

[For production]

In general, clathrate compounds (Inclusion compounds)
nd) is a three-dimensional skeletal structure formed by a series of atoms or molecules, and other atoms or molecules are specified at a constant composition in the spaces in the lattice created by this structure. It is said to have formed a crystal structure, and the selected combination of atoms or molecules forming the three-dimensional skeleton structure and other atoms or molecules forming the crystal in that space may be any kind. This does not mean that it is good, and there are many combinations that cannot be included.

In this invention, β-
By selecting cyclodextrin, lemongrass oil could be easily included, and β-
Cyclodextrin can clathrate citral, which is considered to be the main active ingredient in lemongrass oil, with high efficiency, and also contains other substances considered to be effective, such as citronellol, geraniol, nerol, and D-limonene α-terpineol. The components can also be easily included.

This is also clear from the gas chromatographic analysis results of the inclusion bodies in the Examples described below.

As a result, the drawbacks of lemongrass oil such as odor and irritation can be eliminated without impairing its effectiveness, and it can be made easier to drink and handle.

〔Example〕

The present invention will be explained below with reference to Examples.

Example 1 Lemongrass oil Ig obtained by steam distilling lemongrass from Hawaii at the University of Hawaii and 20g of β-cyclodextrin were mixed with 400ts of 50% isopropyl alcohol.
1 and heated to about 65° C. with stirring. After refluxing for 1 hour, heating was stopped and the mixture was gradually cooled to about 5° C. while stirring.

The time required for this was approximately 4 hours.

The crystals precipitated by cooling are collected by filtration, and the collected crystals are mixed with about 100 mj of 50% isopropyl alcohol!
The mixture was washed with water and dried under reduced pressure to obtain a lemongrass oil clathrate.

This clathrate had no odor peculiar to lemongrass oil, and no irritation in the mouth was felt at all.

Example 2 20 β-cyclodextrin in 300+ml distilled water
1 g of lemongrass oil dissolved in about 51111 acetone was gradually added with stirring, and the mixture was heated to about 90°C while stirring. Cooling was performed in the same manner as in 1 to obtain crystals. The crystal is about 1
The mixture was washed with 00ml of distilled water and dried under reduced pressure to obtain a lemongrass oil clathrate. The yield obtained was 12.
It was 1g.

When the components of this lemongrass oil clathrate and the lemongrass oil before clathration were compared by gas chromatography analysis, the results were as shown in FIG.

According to this, it is found that most of the constituent components in lemongrass oil are almost certainly included.

Note that this clathrate had no odor peculiar to lemongrass oil, and no irritation was felt during the day when drinking it.

Examples 3 to 13 Lemongrass oil and β were prepared in the same manner as in Examples 1 and 2.
- Lemongrass oil clathrates were obtained by varying the amounts of cyclodextrin and aqueous solvent used, the type of solvent, clathration conditions, etc.

The yield and other results of these clathrates are shown in Examples 1 and 2.
The results are shown in Table 1.

[Below, remainder white]

[Effect of the invention] In this invention, β-
Cyclodextrin almost completely includes citral, the main active ingredient in lemongrass oil, as well as other active ingredients such as citronellal, geraniol,
Nerol, 0-limonene α-terpineol, etc. can also be easily included, and the inclusion of β-cyclodextrin can almost eliminate the intense depth and stimulant properties of lemongrass oil. It is possible.

In addition, this β-cyclodextrin itself is originally non-toxic and has a wide range of food applications.
There is no adverse effect on the human body due to drinking.

This invention is also excellent in that lemongrass oil clathrates can be easily and inexpensively produced simply by heating and dissolving lemongrass oil and β-cyclodextrin in the presence of an aqueous solvent and cooling. This invention has extremely high utility value in that it can expand the usefulness of lemongrass oil, which has traditionally been considered difficult to drink.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows gas chromatography charts of the lemongrass oil clathrate obtained according to Example 2 of the present invention and the lemongrass oil before clathration, in which (a) shows the clathrate before clathration, and (b) shows the clathrate before clathration. It shows the tangent. Patent applicant Lemon Grass Food Co., Ltd. Figure 1 (G) FR-Kaku Figure 1 (b)

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) Lemongrass oil obtained from lemongrass is β
- A lemongrass oil clathrate characterized by being clathrated with cyclodextrin. (2) The first aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the lemongrass oil is clathrated in an amount of 5 to 15% by weight based on the total amount of lemongrass oil clathrates.
Lemongrass oil clathrates listed in section. (3) A lemongrass oil clathrate characterized by adding β-cyclodextrin to lemongrass oil obtained by steam distilling lemongrass, heating it in the presence of an aqueous solvent, cooling and crystallizing it. Manufacturing method.