Study of production and pyrolysis characteristics of sweet orange flavor-β-cyclodextrin inclusion complex

• A sweet orange flavor-β-CD inclusion complex was prepared.
• TGA was applied to the study of flavor inclusion complex.
• Kinetic and thermodynamic parameters were determined.
• Pyrolysis characteristics of β-CD and flavor-β-CD inclusion complex were obtained.

Flavor plays an important role and has been widely used in foods. Encapsulation can prevent the loss of volatile aromatic ingredients, provide protection and enhance the stability of the flavor. Kinetic and thermodynamic parameters are helpful in understanding the mechanism of molecular recognition between hosts and guests. This work focused on the study of production of a sweet orange flavor-β-cyclodextrin (CD) inclusion complex, and investigated the combination of flavor and β-CD by thermogravimetric analysis. Pyrolysis characteristics, kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the flavor-β-CD inclusion complex were determined. The results showed that the flavor-β-CD inclusion complexes can form large aggregates in water. During thermal degradation of blank β-CD and flavor-β-CD inclusion complex, three main stages can be distinguished. The thermogravimetric (TG) curve of blank β-CD shows a leveling-off from room temperature to 250 °C, while the TG curve of flavor-β-CD inclusion complex is downward sloping in this temperature range.