Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
It is no secret that I enjoy smelly compounds... a lot. Here's a short list of what I seem to have covered at this blog (hits for "stinky" or "smell"). I'm sure I missed some I've already written up. If I haven't covered your favorite, post a request!
Stinky:
- Tosyl Chloride
- Triethylammonium Acetate
- Ammonium Carbonate
- Piperidine
- p-Dichlorobenzene
- Putrescine
- Dimethyl Sulfide
- Beta-Mercaptoethanol
- Thionyl Chloride
Nice-smelling (or at least inoffensive):
- Ethyl Thiolactate
- Grapefruit Mercaptan
- Hexen-3-al
- 2-propionyl-1-pyrroline
- Muscone
- Acetophenone
- Isoamyl Acetate
- Furfuryl Mercaptan
- Ethyl Acetate
Today, alpha-Ionone - a violet odorant.
Being one of the first people to synthesize an odorant that simulates something from Nature must have felt absolutely magical.
Check out the entry on violet (which mentions ionones) at Indieperfumes, a site I hadn't seen before today. It looks pretty great at first glance.
International Flavors and Fragrances (a catalog in which you can spend quite some time; see also Flavornet) describes it as "Woody, Dry, Fruity, Raspberry." I love reading commercial fragrance materials - they read like serious chemical catalogs with structures, flashpoint, molecular weight, and the like... then you get to hear the sniffing notes. If only Aldrich warned you about something other than "Stench!" or "Lachrymator!"
NOTES! CARRION! FECES! SULFROUS!
I always imagine those labels being shouted to me in this voice ever since I saw the cartoons.
Comments
Can you please do an entry on carbon disulfide. I think it has a highly disagreeable odour reminiscent of old, sweaty socks.
Posted by: Renee | July 13, 2007 2:50 AM
The nicest compound I have ever smelt is 4-methyl-5-ethoxyoxazole.
Posted by: TWYI | July 13, 2007 3:23 AM
Hi
It looks like you have missed out part of the molecule ... top right corner?
Posted by: Ron | July 13, 2007 5:58 AM
For really smelly molecules, one needs to check out isonitriles... kind of expensive to buy (although t-butyl isonitrile and benzyl isonitrile aren't that bad), but boy do they smell bad. They've been called the "Godzilla of odors." Aromatic isonitriles smell particularly nasty to me :)
Posted by: BlazingDragon | July 13, 2007 9:43 AM
Can you please do post on sodium cyanoborohydride? It smells dreadfully awful.
Posted by: Graduate_Soon | July 13, 2007 11:04 AM
My favorite smelly compound is diphenylamine. Its odor is difficult to describe but very pleasant. The compound also has some interesting uses, e.g., as a redox indicator.
Posted by: jl | July 13, 2007 1:58 PM
I understand that the Guinness Book lists butyl seleno-mercaptan as the smelliest chemical compound; perhaps you could do that? (Selenium *and* a mercaptan--horrors!)
On a more pleasant note, allow me to recommend C. Howard's Violet candy. Unsurprisingly, it tastes like violets, but it's a bit of a strange sensation to taste a flower, although quite a nice one.
Speaking of flowers, I had one of those chocolate bars with lavender in a while ago. Also highly recommended.
Posted by: Adam Engelhart | July 15, 2007 2:31 AM
How about pentanoic acid? Its scent shall be forever etched in my mind since someone spilled it all over the floor of the organic chemistry lab one year...
Kinda like parmesan cheese on steroids
Posted by: Wisaakah | July 25, 2007 10:46 PM