Terpeneless Sesquiterpeneless Lemon Oil

#### Lemon Oil, terpeneless and sesquiterpene less. Expressed **Lemon**** ****Oil**** **can be deterpenized totally by the methods described in Part One of this work (see Terpeneless Oils). It should be remembered that the commercially available "terpeneless" oils frequently contain substantial amounts of terpenes. The author found 43% monoterpenes in a "terpeneless lemon oil" from a well known supplier. This amount is too high, and does not assure the customer of an alcohol-soluble product. A totally terpeneless, sesquiterpeneless lemon oil is a yellow or pale yellow to almost colorless liquid with an intensely sweet, almost rosy-fruity odor, only faintly reminiscent of the odor of lemon peel. However, when used in flavors, it takes only a slight amount of added citric acid to convince the customer that this flavor is lemon. Many soft drinks are flavored this way (lemon sodas, etc.). Concentrated lemon oils (see the previous monograph) can be compounded to present suitable lemon flavor effects even without added citric acid. This is how ice cream is flavored with lemon (acid can not be included in emulsified milk products). The flavor effect of a totally terpeneless and sesquiterpeneless lemon oil is somewhere between 15 and 25 times as strong as that of the natural oil. Theoretically, one would expect it to be about 40 times as strong since the yield of oxygenated components (non-hydrocarbon odor-flavor principles) is about 2.4% up to 3.2% by weight of a good quality expressed lemon oil. But there is a small loss in the terpene fraction, and the terpenes themselves do supply some fresh flavor effect. In the figures given below the author has used a virtually terpeneless, sesquiterpeneless lemon oil. This oil was produced by countercurrent (liquid- liquid) extraction with selective solvents. The loss of oxygenated components is negligible by this method. The suggested use level was estimated at 0.10 to 0.50 mg% and the **Minimum**** ****Perceptible**** **was 0.01 to 0.02 mg%. It appears from these figures that the flavor effect *in** **actual** **use** *is only 15 to 20 times stronger than that of a good, expressed lemon oil. However, the calculated increase in strength by the total deterpenation is clearly pictured in the minimum perceptible, which is 50 times smaller for the deterpenized oil than it is for the natural, expressed oil. One could say, that the power is maintained but that the loss is that of a decrease in "flavor body" or "flavor volume". **Terpeneless, Sesquiterpeneless Lemon Oil **is very stable but it should not be kept in alcoholic solution. Dilutions for flavor experiments should be made fresh every time they are needed, or they should be kept in neutral oil solution (edible, odorless solvent of non-alcoholic type). The terpeneless, sesquiterpeneless lemon oil contains 60 to 72% aldehydes, mainly citral. Citral decomposes rapidly when dissolved in ethyl alcohol under the formation of acetaldehyde, etc. The progressive decomposition is distinctly perceptible in the odor of alcoholic citral-solutions through the appearance of "coffee-like", "breadcrust-like" off-odors.