The effect of solvent interactions on α-, β-, and γ-cyclodextrin/flavor molecular inclusion complexes

Three commonly used flavor industry solvents (propylene glycol, triacetin, and triethyl citrate) were tested for their capacity to interfere with the ability of α-, β-, and γ-cyclodextrin to form molecular inclusion complexes with flavors. Six flavor compounds (ethyl butyrate, ethyl heptanoate, L-menthol, methyl anthranilate, neral, and geranial) were measured by headspace gas chromatography above 2:1 water/ethanol containing appropriate additions of cyclodextrin and flavor solvent. The smallest and most polar solvent molecule represented by propylene glycol had the least effect on cyclodextrin/flavorant complex formation. In contrast, triacetin, intermediate in size among the three flavor diluents studied, had the greatest effect, even though, based on at least some computed molecular parameters, it appears to be more polar than triethyl citrate. The explanation for this apparent anomaly may lie in differences in the extent to which triacetin and triethyl citrate are able to interact with cyclodextrins by means of partial interaction with the hydrophobic cavities of the latter.