What is the Difference Between R and S Carvone

The key difference between R and S carvone is that R carvone is the most abundant carvone substance and has a sweetish minty smell, whereas S carvone is a less abundant compound and has a spicy aroma with a note of rye.

Carvone is a compound of the family of terpenoids. We can find it naturally in many essential oils. However, it is abundant in many oils that come from many seeds of caraway, spearmint, and dill, e.g. Spearmint Gum, and spearmint flavored Life Savers. Moreover, Both R and S carvone compounds are useful in the food industry for flavor applications. Moreover, the R carvone compound is useful in air freshening products, aromatherapy, alternative medicine. R carvone is the most abundant form of carvone.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is R Carvone
3. What is S Carvone
4. R vs S Carvone in Tabular Form
5. Summary – R vs S Carvone

What is R Carvone?

R carvone is an isomer of the carvone chemical compound. The functional groups in this molecule are arranged in the counter-clockwise direction. It is the stereoisomer of S carvone. Moreover, R carvone is the most common and abundant isomer of carvone. It is also known as Laevo or L carvone.

R carvone is important for air freshening products. Similar to many other essential oils, oils consisting of carvone are important in aromatherapy and alternative medicine. It appears as a clear, colorless liquid that is insoluble in water but slightly soluble in hot water. However, it is soluble in ethanol, chloroform, and diethyl ether. Besides, R carvone is approved by the US environmental protection agency to be used as an ingredient in mosquito repellants.

Generally, we need to use some additional treatments for the production of high purity R carvone. We can perform this by the formation of an additional compound with hydrogen sulfide. There, carvone can get regenerated through the treatment with potassium hydroxide in ethanol, followed by distillation of the product in a current of steam.

What is S Carvone?

S carvone is the opposite isomer of R carvone. The functional groups of this molecule are arranged in a clockwise direction. It is the stereoisomer of R carvone. Moreover, S carvone is the less abundant isomer of carvone. We can also name it Dextro or D carvone.

There are different important applications of S carvone. For example, it is useful in the food industry for flavoring applications. Moreover, it shows a suppressant effect against a high-fat diet that can induce weight gain in mice. Besides, this isomer is useful in agriculture for the prevention of premature sprouting of potatoes during storage. It is also important in synthesizing terpenoid quassin.

What is the Difference Between R and S Carvone?

R carvone and S carvone are enantiomers of each other. The key difference between R and S carvone is that R carvone is the most abundant carvone substance and has a sweetish minty smell, whereas S carvone is a less abundant compound and has a spicy aroma with a note of rye. Moreover, R carvone is used in food flavoring, important for air freshening products, manufacture of mosquito repellants, etc., whereas S carvone is used in food flavoring, shows suppressant effect against a high-fat diet, prevention of premature sprouting of potatoes during storage, synthesizing terpenoid quassin, etc.

The below infographic presents the differences between R and S carvone in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – R vs S Carvone

R and S carvone are important organic compounds. The key difference between R and S carvone is that R carvone is the most abundant carvone substance and has a sweetish minty smell, whereas S carvone is a less abundant compound and has a spicy aroma with a note of rye.

Reference:

1. “(-)-Carvone“. Pubchem.Ncbi.Nlm.Nih.Gov, 2022.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Carvone” By User:Walkermaderivative work: user:Karlhahn – Carvone.png (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “S-carvone-stick model” By Karlhahn – Own work (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia