Compounds comprising linked heteroaryl moieties and their use as novel umami flavor modifiers, tastants and taste enhancers for comestible compositions

A method for modulating the savory taste of a comestible composition comprising combining the comestible composition with a savory flavor modulating amount of at least one compound having the formula:

• or a comestibly acceptable salt thereof, so as to form a modified comestible composition;
• wherein
• i) Ar is a monocyclic or bicyclic aryl or heteroaryl radical comprising one or two aromatic rings independently selected from benzene rings and five or six membered heteroaryl rings, each aromatic ring optionally having one, two, or three R20 substituent radicals bound thereto, wherein each R20 radical is independently selected from hydroxyl, NH2, SH, halogen, or a C1-C4 organic radical;
• ii) hAr1 is a five or six-membered heteroaryl ring radical comprising at least two ring carbon atoms and one to three ring heteroatoms independently selected from O, N, or S, wherein any remaining members of the heteroaromatic ring are independently selected from CR6, N, NR7;
• iii) X is O, S, S(O), SO2, CR8R9, or NR10;
• iv) n is the integers zero, one, two, or three;
• v) R3, R4, R8 and R9 are independently selected from hydrogen, oxygen, hydroxyl, NH2, SH, halogen, or a C1-C4 organic radical, and R7 and R10 are independently selected from hydrogen, hydroxyl, or a C1-C4 organic radical, and R6 is hydrogen, halogen, or a C1-C4 organic radical;
• and
• vi) hAr2 is a five or six-membered heteroaryl ring having at least one ring carbon atom and at least one ring nitrogen atom, and wherein the remaining members of the heteroaryl ring are independently selected from CR30, CH, N, NR31, O, and S, wherein the number of CR30 is zero, one or two, and each R30 is independently selected from hydroxyl, NH2, NO2, SH, SO3H, P(O)(OH)2, a halogen, or a C1-C4 organic radical, and each R31 is independently selected from hydrogen, or a C1-C4 organic radical.