JJay - 12-10-2017 at 17:05
Last week I acquired a rather large quantity of cassia oil. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it yet other than vacuum distillation of
cinnamaldehyde.
Since I don't have a specific purpose for cinnamaldehyde (although it's definitely cool to have), I might be storing it for quite a long time. Is
stabilization necessary for storing cinnamaldehyde that is kept in the dark in a sealed bottle? What stabilizers might be used?
SWIM - 12-10-2017 at 17:27
Bedoukian's Perfumery And Flavoring Synthetics (by coincidence I was just looking something up in there about phenylethyl alcohol) says it does
polymerize on long storage, but he does not suggest any stabilizer, just freshly distilling it if before use if the bottle is very old.
I know alcohol stabilizes some benzyl aldehydes,and a shitload of other things, maybe that?
You could always just keep it frozen. That ought to slow things down a bit.
JJay - 12-10-2017 at 17:37
I was thinking possibly hydroquinone... it is used as a stabilizer for styrene, benzaldehyde, and acrolein, but I'm not 100% sure how it works.
SWIM - 12-10-2017 at 18:21
Forgot about that one.
It's an antioxidant, I think.
Sounds like abetter bet than alcohol.
Bedoukian is not very helpful here, I'm afraid.
There's always BHT too, but at this point I'm already down to wild guesses, so I'll just bow out now.
JJay - 12-10-2017 at 23:16
I hadn't even thought of BHT. That might be more food safe than hydroquinone. Of course, nothing is going to be food safe after it goes through my
glassware....
Dr.Bob - 14-10-2017 at 04:57
I would try to store in a amber glass bottle, and don't lead much head space, that way little air will be in the bottle. But leave a little for
expansion and so that the threads don't get wet and gunk up. Then seal it tightly, maybe parafilm it as well or seal with hot wax. That will keep
it good for a long time.
Outer - 16-10-2017 at 12:56
Try sodium bisulfite (NaHSO3). It reacts with cinnamaldehyde in 2:1 ratio forming water-soluble product. This reaction is even used for separation of
cinnamaldehyde from other essential oils.
The reaction proceeds by both activated double bond and aldehyde group, enabling to protect both groups (from polymerization and oxidation).
Cinnamaldehyde can be re-generated by addition of acids or bases.