Vanillin

Vanillin

Vanillin, is a phenolic aldehyde, which is an organic compound with the molecular formula  C8H8O3. Its functional groups include aldehyde, hydroxyl, and ether. It is the primary component of the extract of the vanilla bean.

Features :-

 Other Name : 4-Hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde

 CAS Number : 121-33-5

 Color and Appearance: Off-white needle like crystals.

 Odor: Dense odor like vanilla bean. 

The largest use of vanillin is as a flavoring, usually in sweet foods. The ice cream and chocolate industries together comprise 75% of the market for vanillin as a flavoring, with smaller amounts being used in confections and baked goods.

Vanillin is also used in the fragrance industry, in perfumes, and to mask unpleasant odors or tastes in medicines, livestockfodder, and cleaning products. It is also used in the flavor industry, as a very important key note for many different flavors, especially creamy profiles like cream soda.

Additionally, vanillin can be used as a general purpose stain for developing thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates to aid in visualizing components of a reaction mixture. This stain yields a range of colors for these different components.

Vanillin HCl staining can be used to visualize the localisation of tannins in cells.