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centapicrin

compound / compound-centapicrin

センタピクリン

Centapicrin is a secoiridoid ester in the genus Centaurium for which a very high bitter value has been reported.

On this page (7 sections)
  1. Overview
  2. Sources for this overview (3)
  3. Topic hubs
  4. Follow the connections
  5. Related entries (10)
  6. Composition and content (1)
  7. Sensory (1)
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Reading the bitterness

The European Medicines Agency's assessment report records the bitter value of isolated centapicrin as about 4,000,000. This figure is a secondary record compiled by the assessment report from the constituent literature, and the original primary source has not been independently confirmed. A separate review abstract also describes centapicrin accumulating in the fruit of Centaurium erythraea as strongly bitter, but it does not give a numerical bitter value.

A 1976 chemical study isolated centapicrin from the above-ground parts of Centaurium erythraea and determined its structure as 2'-(m-hydroxy)benzoyl-3'-acetylsweroside. The abstract describes it as a new bitter secoiridoid glucoside, but no sensory evaluation method is found in the experimental section, and the bitterness remains a qualitative description.

Sources for this overview

  1. Assessment report on Centaurium erythraea Rafn. s.l., herba

    European Medicines Agency; Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products / 2015 / government document / full text checked

    Checked for this overview: Matched to the bitter value of about 4,000,000, and the limitation that this is a secondary synthesis by the assessment report with the primary source unconfirmed.

  2. Secoiridoids and xanthones in the genus Centaurium

    van der Sluis WG; Labadie RP / 1981 / journal article / abstract checked

    Checked for this overview: Matched to the qualitative strong bitterness of centapicrin in the fruit, and the limitation that the abstract gives no numerical bitter value.

  3. Studies on the Constituents of Erythraea centaurium [Linné] Persoon. I. The Structure of Centapicrin, a New Bitter Secoiridoid Glucoside

    Sakina K; Aota K / 1976 / journal article / full text checked

    Checked for this overview: Matched to the 1976 isolation and structural determination, the qualitative naming as bitter, and the limitation that the sensory method is unknown.

Follow the connections

centapicrin →— sensory attribute→ bitterness →can be measured separately …→ astringency

Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits

Composition and content (1)

centapicrin — sensory attribute: bitternesspreliminary

Scope: Layer: literature. Chromatographic isolation from the above-ground parts of Centaurium erythraea and structural determination by UV, IR, and NMR (published in 1976).

"A new bitter secoiridoid glucoside, centapicrin, ... has been isolated from the herb of Erythraea centaurium [Linné] PERSOON (Gentianaceae), together with two known glucosides, swertiamarin and sweroside. The structure of centapicrin (I) was established as 2'-(m-hydroxy)benzoyl-3'-acetylsweroside from spectral and chemical evidence." The English abstract was checked by OCR. Numerical values such as chemical formula and melting point were not transcribed in this row because of image-quality limits.
Limitations: The Experimental section did not appear to describe a method for sensory evaluation of bitterness; the characterization as bitter is qualitative at the abstract and naming level. The original is an image-scanned PDF read by OCR; because the Japanese main text contains substantial character corruption, verbatim quotation of its numbers was avoided.
Source: Studies on the Constituents of Erythraea centaurium [Linné] Persoon. I. The Structure of Centapicrin, a New Bitter Secoiridoid Glucoside (Sakina K; Aota K, 1976) · full text checked
Show datacompound-centapicrin —has_sensory_attribute→ sensation-bitter
claim: clm-w72a1-centapicrin-bitter-secoiridoid-identification / type: composition / updated: 2026-09-08

Sensory (1)

centapicrin — reported bitterness value: about 4,000,000contextual

Scope: The bitter value of a centaury constituent cited in the EMA assessment report

Note: Not a measurement from an EMA primary experiment, but a secondary record within the assessment report.

Records centapicrin's bitter value as about 4,000,000.
Limitations: The original primary source has not been independently confirmed; this is a secondary synthesis by the assessment report.
Source: Assessment report on Centaurium erythraea Rafn. s.l., herba (European Medicines Agency; Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products, 2015) · full text checked
Context: A review on the secoiridoids and xanthones of the genus Centaurium describes the compounds accumulating in the fruit of Centaurium erythraea as "strongly bitter centapicrin (Ia) and desacetylcentapicrin (Ib)", and contrasts these with the newly reported decentapicrin A–C, which it states remain, like sweroside, merely weak bitterness principles.
Limitations: Confirmed only within the scope of the PubMed abstract. Numerical values such as the bitter value itself are not given, and it remains a qualitative description of "strongly bitter".
Source: Secoiridoids and xanthones in the genus Centaurium (van der Sluis WG; Labadie RP, 1981) · abstract checked
Show datacompound-centapicrin —has_reported_bitter_value_of→ "about 4,000,000"
claim: clm-centapicrin-bitter-value / type: sensory / updated: 2026-08-31

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