Vanillin is an organic compound containing an aldehyde, methoxy and phenolic groups on
an aromatic ring, known for its characteristic scent, and is frequently used in the perfume
and food industries. Due to its structure, it allows the synthesis of various derivatives,
including acetals. Vanillin acetals have specific properties that may differ based on the type
of reagents used.
In this thesis, we focused on the synthesis of O-alkyl and O-acyl vanillin acetals, which were
obtained by reactions with various alcohols. The synthesis proceeded in two steps, first
esterification or the synthesis of ethers with acyl chlorides or alkyl halides, followed by the
formation of acetals. All the products were purified by column adsorption chromatography,
the structures and purity of the compounds was determined by spectroscopic methods such
as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and infrared spectroscopy (IR).
Further, we conducted olfactory evaluations of the synthesized compounds, where
volunteers assessed the pleasantness of the scent, intensity, and scent associations. The
results showed that vanillin acetals have different olfactory properties, depending on their
structure. Among all the samples, sample OTK 8 was rated the most pleasant, with a
pronounced sweet, fruity, and slightly alcoholic scent, while sample OTK 7 was rated the
least pleasant due to its strong acetone and solvent-like odor. We confirmed the hypothesis
that most vanillin acetals have a pleasant smell and could be used in cosmetic products.
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