Posted on 05/08/2008 6:10:17 AM PDT by Red Badger
Indispensable in hot kitchens: the nanotube
Oxford chemists have found a way of using carbon nanotubes to judge the heat of chilli sauces. The technology might soon be available commercially as a cheap, disposable sensor for use in the food industry.
Professor Richard Compton and his team at Oxford University have developed a sensitive technique to measure the levels of capsaicinoids, the substances that make chillies hot, in samples of chilli sauce. They report their findings in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal The Analyst.
The current industry procedure is to use a panel of taste-testers, and is highly subjective. Compton’s new method unambiguously determines the precise amount of capsaicinoids, and is not only quicker and cheaper than taste-testers but more reliable for purposes of food standards; tests could be rapidly carried out on the production line.They tested a range of chilli sauces, from the mild 'Tabasco Green Pepper' sauce to 'Mad Dog’s Revenge', which sports an extensive health warning and liability disclaimer.
The well-established Scoville method – currently the industry standard – involves diluting a sample until five trained taste testers cannot detect any heat from the chilli. The number of dilutions is called the Scoville rating; the relatively mild Jalapeño ranges from around 2,500-8,000, whereas the hottest chilli in the world, the 'Naga Jolokia', has a rating of 1,000,000. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) can also be used but this requires bulky, expensive equipment and detailed analysis of the capsaicinoids.
In Compton’s method, the capsaicinoids are adsorbed onto multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) electrodes. The team measures the current change as the capsaicinoids are oxidised by an electrochemical reaction, and this reading can be translated into Scoville units. The technique is called adsorptive stripping voltammetry (ASV), and is a relatively simple electrochemical method.
Professor Compton said: ‘ASV is a fantastic detection technique for capsaicinoids because it’s so simple - it integrates over all of the heat creating constituents because all of the capsaicinoids have essentially the same electrochemical response.’
Professor Compton has applied for a patent on the technology, and Oxford University’s technology transfer subsidiary ISIS Innovation is actively seeking backers to commercialise the technique.
OOOH! That looks great! Probably not sold around here......
Ping.
That’s probably why the UK non-Asian birthrate is falling........
Hot peppers the world over can trace their origins to the Caribbean.
If their hygiene in other places is the same as their dental I can believe that!
That’s just messed up.
Cool, send some of that my way!
Yes, many food plants were discovered in the New World and are now "staples" the world over. Tomatoes, Potatoes, Peppers, Corn, Vanilla, Chocolate, Sugarcane, and many types of beans. Makes you wonder what there was to eat before Columbus! Onions and Cabbage?...........
Top of the scale.......
HPLC is still the method of choice, IMHO.
It’s new technology. We’ll haveta give it a chance to play out........
Wow...there just isn’t much you can’t do with nanotubes these days.
True. But I'm basing my opinion on forty years as a practicing analytical chemist. Electrochemical sensors historically have suffered from a lack of specificity, and are most successful when coupled with liquid chromatography, with the EC detector providing high sensitivity, and the LC providing the needed selectivity. LC-EC is a majorly successful analytical tool. Not as successful is gas chromatography, but certainly hugely useful.
I think this particular technology’s claim to fame will be:
Cheap, quick, easy, disposable..........
I have no use for the kind of macho hotter-than-thou posturing prevalent these days; I am a native Texan and chiles are just part of everyday cooking as far as I am concerned. I love Habaneros, though — not just for their tongue-punishing heat, but for their delicious, almost fruity flavor.
My second favorite peppers are Hatch chiles chipotle. Sabroso...
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