Scent and Chemistry

Book excerpt: This book is the long awaited completely revised and extended edition of Gunther Ohloff's standard work "Scent and Fragrances: The Fascination of Odors and Their Chemical Perspectives". The prominent chemists Gunther Ohloff, Wilhelm Pickenhagen, and Philip Kraft convey the scientist, the perfumer, as well as the interested layman with a vivid and up-to-date picture of the state of the art of the chemistry of odorants and the research in odor perception. The book details on the molecular basis of olfaction, olfactory characterization of perfumery materials, structure-odor relationships, the chemical synthesis of odorants, and the chemistry of essential oils and odorants from the animal kingdom, backed up by ca. 400 perfumery examples and historical aspects. It will serve as a thorough introductory text for all those interested in the molecular world of odors. This book is written for everyone who wants to know more about the molecular basis of odor, and the relationships between chemical structures and olfactory properties. The great structural diversity of odorants, their synthesis, natural occurrence and their structure?odor correlation demonstrate what a fascinating science Fragrance Chemistry indeed is.