Dewy Propionate (Funny functional group names)

I love reading lists of fragrance chemicals. The assignment of pleasant, qualitative fragrance descriptions to chemicals with hard-nosed, rigorous functional group names always makes me giggle a little. Acetophenone, for instance, smells of orange blossoms. Today, I came across one that has both in the name: dewy propionate:

i-0786185c3c26349ce4aa5f5b106584be-dewypropionate.png

The Good Scents Company reports dewy propionate smells of dew, which I think is nonsense. Because odor is subjective, and because a surprising amount of overlap exists between unrelated things, odorants are usually reported with a few characteristics (or more). Flowery, the next listed, I can buy.

Tags

More like this

There are a few plants and fungi that rely on extremely offensive odors to attract insects and spread its pollen or spores. These odors, to people, stink like decomposing, rotten meat, but to flies they are highly attractive. The stinkhorn is a phallus-shaped mushroom which produces a sticky spore…
These are rare enough that I'm surprised every time I see one. It's a very simple molecule, that apparently makes its way into certain fruit flavorings: ethyl thiolactate. As you probably have guessed by the numerous references to it, I love the flavor and fragrance field. I don't think I could…
This is one that will be familiar to anyone who works in chemistry, but I was a bit surprised to see it the first time I went into a lab. Certain compounds, called esters, can be prepared from an acid and an alcohol (usually a carboxylic acid). They are ubiquitous in the flavor and fragrance…
Several months ago, I wrote a post about the experimentation with acupuncture by an Air Force physician, Col. Robert Niemtzow. In the post, I started with an admittedly exaggerated vignette--a story, if you will--of a soldier whose leg was shredded by a mortar in battle. When the medic came to…

You should check out Leffingwell.com. There is a great section on fragrance ingredients, complete with models.

Thanks for the awesome link to the fragrance site. Love it.

By Vince Noir (not verified) on 11 Aug 2008 #permalink