Specialist track: Molecular Perfumery
Structure-odor relationships, stereochemistry and the literature behind modern aroma chemicals.
Lessons
Structure-odor case studies
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The Musk Problem: Many Structures, One Odor
Macrocycles, nitro compounds, polycyclics and alicyclics look unalike yet all smell of musk. See what research explains about this, and what it leaves open.
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Sandalwood Odorants
Santalols, campholenic analogues and cyclopropanes: how chemists pursued the sandalwood note, what small changes do to odor, and which skin claims to doubt.
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Ambergris-Type Odorants
From ambrein to Ambroxan, Cetalox and Karanal: how chemists pursued the amber note, what stereochemistry contributes, and how far a structural rule can go.
Chirality and receptors
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Enantiomers in Depth: What the Evidence Shows
Carvone is the famous case, but do mirror-image molecules usually smell different? Weigh the evidence, the impurity problem and what careful studies have found.
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Receptor Genetics and Individual Differences
Why might you and your panel smell different things? See what OR7D4, OR5A1 and larger studies show about genes and perception, and how to design for it.
Prediction
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Predicting Odor from Structure
Models can now predict some odor descriptors from a molecule's structure. See what DREAM and the principal odor map achieved, and what they can't do for you.
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Mixture Perception
People identify few components in a mixture, many-component blends converge, and metamers exist. Learn what these findings mean, and test some on strips.
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Specialist Project: A Structure-Odor Review
Write a critical literature review of one odor family, relating structure to odor, separating models from mechanisms and marking where the evidence runs out.