SWEETENING AGENTS OF PLANT-ORIGIN - PHENYLPROPANOID CONSTITUENTS OF 7 SWEET-TASTING PLANTS

Field inquiries and organoleptic tests for sweet taste led to the procurement of samples of Piper marginatum (dried leaves), Tagetes filicifolia (fresh whole plants), Osmorhiza longistylis (fresh roots), Foeniculum vulgare (fresh aerial parts), Myrrhis odorata (fresh whole plants), Ocimum basilicum (fresh aerial parts), and Illicium verum (dried fruits). Follow-up laboratory studies of the leaves of Piper marginatum demonstrated that trans-anethole (a phenylpropanoid) was the major sweet constituent of this species. In the remaining six species, GC/MS analysis also enabled us to demonstrate that sweetness is attributable, in each case, to the presence of high concentrations of the phenylpropanoids, trans-anethole and estragole, either alone or in combination. © 1990 The New York Botanical Garden.