Abstract
IT is stated by Knapp1 in his standard text-book on “Cacao Fermentation” that caffeine, the minor alkaloid of cocoa, occurs in fresh cacao beans as an L-epicatechin–caffeine complex. This statement would appear to be based on the work of Ultée and Van Dorssen2, who isolated such a complex from aqueous extracts of beans, and on the mainly unpublished work of Adam3,4, who showed that simple mixing of aqueous solutions of the two substances produced the sparingly soluble complex.
Similar content being viewed by others
Article PDF
References
Knapp, A. W., “Cacao Fermentation” (Bale, Sons and Curnow, Ltd., 1937).
Ultée, A. J., and Van Dorssen, W., Cultuurgids, 2, 529 (1909).
Adam, W. B., Analyst, 53, 369 (1928).
Adam, W. B. (private communication, 1951).
Markham, R., and Smith, J. D., Biochem. J., 45, 294 (1949).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
FORSYTH, W. Caffeine in Cacao Beans. Nature 169, 33 (1952). https://doi.org/10.1038/169033a0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/169033a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.