Preparation of Tea Aroma Precursor Glycosides: An Efficient and Sustainable Approach via Chemical Glycosidation

Abstract

Tea aroma precursor glycosides are plant-derived natural products with great economic value. However, the preparation of these glycosides remains largely overlooked in the past decades. Herein, we report a mild, efficient, and sustainable chemocatalytic procedure for the production of tea aroma precursor glycosides. During the study of the glycosidation, the catalysts were found to be decisive in the product formation favoring different reaction pathways; in addition, the influence of molecular sieves was elucidated. With regard to these findings, the serious problem of the competing orthoester formation side reaction was successfully overcome with low catalyst loading (1 mol %) and the use of 5 Å molecular sieves, leading to the preparation of a variety of tea aroma precursor β-D-glucopyranosides and β-primeverosides on a gram scale in high yields in an economical way. Taken together, the current approach features catalytic glycosidation with non-toxic and low-cost catalysts, demonstrates highly favorable greenness and sustainability, and promises industrial production of tea aroma precursor glycosides.

The Effects of Nitrogen Fertilizer on the Aroma of Fresh Tea Leaves from Camellia sinensis cv. Jin Xuan in Summer and Autumn

“…Nitrogen (N) plays a pivotal role in tea plant growth and development as a key component of proteins, nucleic acids, phospholipids, chlorophyll, and hormones essential for tea plant growth and development and is closely tied to tea quality [ 13 ]. Studies suggest that appropriate N fertilizer application regulates lipid metabolism, enhances aroma compound formation, and improves tea leaf quality [ 14 ]. However, excessive N fertilization may elevate herbaceous flavor precursors in tea, potentially diminishing tea aroma quality [ 15 ].…”