Need guidance for a project; trying to detect capsaicin presence via an assay that will change color based on capsaicin presence

[Curiouscat_05]

Have a project for school that I need some help on; I'm new to the biochem. world and was hoping to see if someone could point me in the right direction. I understand that there are currently two commercial ways to detect capsaicin presence, 1.) HPLC and 2.) Scoville Organoleptic Test; my project is aiming to detect capsaicin presence right on the spot, I'm thinking something along the lines of thermochromic materials, and how they work but trying to substitute literal heat for the other heat spice.

[exchemist]

22 minutes ago, Curiouscat_05 said:

Have a project for school that I need some help on; I'm new to the biochem. world and was hoping to see if someone could point me in the right direction. I understand that there are currently two commercial ways to detect capsaicin presence, 1.) HPLC and 2.) Scoville Organoleptic Test; my project is aiming to detect capsaicin presence right on the spot, I'm thinking something along the lines of thermochromic materials, and how they work but trying to substitute literal heat for the other heat spice.

This seems a very tricky project for school homework. There are various functional groups in the molecule that could perhaps be exploited, but a lot would depend on what else might be present.  What have you been studying recently that might shed light on how to tackle this, or provide more context?

Edited May 17, 2022 by exchemist

[Phi for All]

3 hours ago, Curiouscat_05 said:

I'm thinking something along the lines of thermochromic materials, and how they work but trying to substitute literal heat for the other heat spice.

Spice/spicy isn't any kind of heat. It's not a taste either, which registers through facial, vagus, and glossopharyngeal nerves. Spicy foods irritate nociceptors in the tongue and mouth which register in the brain through the trigeminal nerve. Real heat from hot food is sensed as thermal pain, but spicy foods are chemical pain, and because the trigeminal nerve monitors temperature as well, the chemical pain also feels like thermal pain. 

AFAIK, which isn't much, the tests for capsaicin provide a scale to measure its strength, but you mention "ways to detect capsaicin presence". Are you looking to devise a quick test to show whether capsaicin is present or not, perhaps for those who are hypersensitive? 

[Curiouscat_05]

On 5/17/2022 at 10:36 AM, exchemist said:

This seems a very tricky project for school homework. There are various functional groups in the molecule that could perhaps be exploited, but a lot would depend on what else might be present.  What have you been studying recently that might shed light on how to tackle this, or provide more context?

 

Hi exchemist,

I would like to firstly thank you for your contribution to my inquiry.

I am conducting a project where I create a utensil that changes color based on capsaicin presence. I started off attempting to extract capsaicinoids from scotch bonnet peppers; with that concentrated capsaicin, I was planning on using assays that are currently available, like litmus paper to see if there was anything that could read out capsaicin presence. I was also planning on extracting capsaicinoids from other peppers varying in different SHUs and testing them with assays that could potentially identify capsaicin presence.
 

 

22 hours ago, Phi for All said:

Spice/spicy isn't any kind of heat. It's not a taste either, which registers through facial, vagus, and glossopharyngeal nerves. Spicy foods irritate nociceptors in the tongue and mouth which register in the brain through the trigeminal nerve. Real heat from hot food is sensed as thermal pain, but spicy foods are chemical pain, and because the trigeminal nerve monitors temperature as well, the chemical pain also feels like thermal pain. 

AFAIK, which isn't much, the tests for capsaicin provide a scale to measure its strength, but you mention "ways to detect capsaicin presence". Are you looking to devise a quick test to show whether capsaicin is present or not, perhaps for those who are hypersensitive? 

Hi Phi for All,

I would also like to thank you for your contribution.

Yes, I am looking for a quick test that identifies capsaicin presence. The ultimate goal is to create a culinary utensil that when placed in food, would produce a color readout allowing the user to objectively see how spicy their food is. For instance, if the color readout was blue the user would know that the dish that they are about to eat would range between 1,000 to 3,000 SHUs, and if it was green the user would no that there is virtually no spice presence at all.

Hope that this clarifies any misunderstanding. 

[exchemist]

1 hour ago, Curiouscat_05 said:

 

Hi exchemist,

I would like to firstly thank you for your contribution to my inquiry.

I am conducting a project where I create a utensil that changes color based on capsaicin presence. I started off attempting to extract capsaicinoids from scotch bonnet peppers; with that concentrated capsaicin, I was planning on using assays that are currently available, like litmus paper to see if there was anything that could read out capsaicin presence. I was also planning on extracting capsaicinoids from other peppers varying in different SHUs and testing them with assays that could potentially identify capsaicin presence.
 

 

Hi Phi for All,

I would also like to thank you for your contribution.

Yes, I am looking for a quick test that identifies capsaicin presence. The ultimate goal is to create a culinary utensil that when placed in food, would produce a color readout allowing the user to objectively see how spicy their food is. For instance, if the color readout was blue the user would know that the dish that they are about to eat would range between 1,000 to 3,000 SHUs, and if it was green the user would no that there is virtually no spice presence at all.

Hope that this clarifies any misunderstanding. 

And you have been asked to do this for a school project? Really? What have you been studying in school recently that relates to this?

[Phi for All]

8 hours ago, Curiouscat_05 said:

Hi Phi for All,

I would also like to thank you for your contribution.

Yes, I am looking for a quick test that identifies capsaicin presence. The ultimate goal is to create a culinary utensil that when placed in food, would produce a color readout allowing the user to objectively see how spicy their food is. For instance, if the color readout was blue the user would know that the dish that they are about to eat would range between 1,000 to 3,000 SHUs, and if it was green the user would no that there is virtually no spice presence at all.

Hope that this clarifies any misunderstanding. 

If you were looking for a binary result (is capsaicin present in ANY amount - yes or no), that would be a pretty cool school project. What you're talking about has some real commercial applications. This site https://www.zpchilligroup.com/ claims to have such a device.

Quote

ZP Chilli Technology Group, provides technologies and services around the characterization of chillies and chilli derived products; we manufacture the ChilliPot, the world's only handheld Scoville Meter for measuring the pungency of chillies. 

 

[Curiouscat_05]

8 hours ago, exchemist said:

And you have been asked to do this for a school project? Really? What have you been studying in school recently that relates to this?

No, the class I am taking instructs that I pick a project of my choosing, and I chose capsaicin detection as my project. The project itself has nothing to do with the class at all, the class is structured in a way where we pick any independent project of our choosing and we are given time to work on such.

1 hour ago, Phi for All said:

If you were looking for a binary result (is capsaicin present in ANY amount - yes or no), that would be a pretty cool school project. What you're talking about has some real commercial applications. This site https://www.zpchilligroup.com/ claims to have such a device.

 

Oh my gosh! I actually stumbled upon the ZP Chilli Group when I was conducting my initial phases of research for this project. I found a youtube video (attached below) where he actually talks about the ZP Chilli Group.

I find their products extremely fascinating. Their intention with their product is quite similar to mine: finding a more objective way to measure spice on the spot, we longer would have to use HPLC machines or conduct a Scoville Organoleptic Test. Again, the main problem is I lack the necessary skillset to really understand the technology behind any Capsaicin testing method. I first need help understanding the biochemistry behind it to really attempt to work on my project. I am quite confident that the science behind the ZP Chilli Group device will have a lot to do with my project itself.

Thanks again for the find!