Synergistic Effect of Specific Volatile Sulfur Compounds in Durians with Sucrose: Mechanistic Insights from Sensory...

Growing demand for sugar-reduced foods necessitates a deeper understanding of odor-induced sweetness enhancement. This study explored durian-derived volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) as sucrose potentiators through integrated SPME-GC/MS, sensory evaluation, and computational analyses. GC/O-AT, recombination, and omission experiments identified 10 key VSCs associated with 'sweet' prioritized for investigation. Sensory evaluation identified optimal sucrose concentration (30 g/L) for sweetness amplification, particularly with S-ethyl ethanethioate and dipropyl disulfide showing significant enhancement, while dimethyl trisulfide suppressed sweetness. Molecular docking revealed stable binding of sweet-enhancing VSCs to T1R2/T1R3-sucrose complexes (-9.811 to -8.274 kcal/mol), mediated by hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions in the Venus flytrap domain. Molecular dynamics confirmed that dipropyl disulfide stabilized receptor-ligand binding through multifaceted interactions. It was found that the binding energy has a certain correlation with the perceived intensity. Future research should integrate cross-modal sensory and molecular biology approaches to optimize low-sugar flavor compensation strategies.