Primary odours

Pelosi P, Viti R, Specific anosmia to 1-carvone The minty primary odour, Chem... 

A very early iHeory based on 7 primary odours - musk, floral, camphor, peppermint, ethejj, pungent and putrid - is often quoted in aromatherapy books but has no scientific evidence and does not explain the range of odorants. 

Numerous attempts have been made to classify odours [11] Amoore, for example, specifies seven primary odours - ethereal, camphoraceous, musky, floral, pepperminty, pungent, and putrid. Many theories have been proposed... 

JE Amoore. The stereochemical theory of olfaction. 1. Identification of the seven primary odours. Proc Sci Seet Toilet Goods Assoc 37 1-12, 1962. 

JE Amoore. Specific anosmia and the concept of primary odours. Chem Senses Flav 2 267-281, 1977. 

Male sex pheromone of Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean fruit fly). Present in tobacco and carrot leaves Daucus carota) (Umbelliferae). Widely distributed in trace amts., presumably as bacterial decarboxylation prod, of proline. Primary odour constit. of sperm. Widely used org. base, used in the prep, of enamines. Reagent used in the ms determination of the position of double bonds and of methyl branching in fatty acids. Liq. with odour resembling Piperidine. Misc. H2O. df 0.8618. Fp —63°. Bp 88.5-89°. Fumes in air. Strongly alkaline. 

When the reaction is over, add- concentrated hydrochloric acid to decompose the tsocyanide and pour it away after the odour is no longer discernible. The test is extremely dehcate and will often detect traces of primary amines in secondary and tertiary amines it must therefore be used with due regard to this and other factors. 

Method 2. Place a 3 0 g. sample of the mixture of amines in a flask, add 6g. (4-5 ml.) of benzenesulphonyl chloride (or 6 g. of p-toluenesulphonyl chloride) and 100 ml. of a 5 per cent, solution of sodium hydroxide. Stopper the flask and shake vigorously until the odour of the acid chloride has disappeared open the flask occasionally to release the pressure developed by the heat of the reaction. AUow the mixture to cool, and dissolve any insoluble material in 60-75 ml. of ether. If a solid insoluble in both the aqueous and ether layer appears at this point (it is probably the sparingly soluble salt of a primary amine, e.g., a long chain compound of the type CjH5(CH2) NHj), add 25 ml. of water and shake if it does not dissolve, filter it off. Separate the ether and aqueous layers. The ether layer will contain the unchanged tertiary amine and the sulphonamide of the secondary amine. Acidify the alkaline aqueous layer with dilute hydrochloric acid, filter off the sulphonamide of the primary amine, and recrystaUise it from dilute alcohol. Extract the ether layer with sufficient 5 per cent, hydrochloric acid to remove all the tertiary amine present. Evaporate the ether to obtain the sulphonamide of the secondary amine recrystaUise it from alcohol or dilute alcohol. FinaUy, render the hydrochloric acid extract alkaline by the addition of dilute sodium hydroxide solution, and isolate the tertiary amine. 

Aromatic nitriles are generally liquids or low melting point solids, and usually have characteristic odours. They give no ammonia with aqueous sodium hydroxide solution in the cold, are hydrolysed by boiling aqueous alkali but more slowly than primary amides ... 

Benzoyl chloride test (for primary and secondary amines). Place 0-5 ml. (or 0 5 g.) of the compound, 10 ml. of 5 per cent, sodium hydroxide solution and 1 ml. of benzoyl chloride (CAUTION) in a test-tube, stopper the tube and shake until the odour of benzoyl chloride disappears. Examine the properties of the substance formed. 

Benzenesulphonyl chloride test. Proceed as in the benzoyl chloride test, but use 15-20 ml. of 5 per cent, sodium hydroxide solution. Examine the product when the odour of the sulphonyl chloride has disappeared. (If no reaction has occurred, the substance is probably a tertiary amine.) If a precipitate appears in the alkaline solution, dilute with about 10 ml. of water and shake if the precipitate does not dissolve, a secondary amine is indicated. If the solution is clear, acidify it cautioiosly to Congo red with dilute hydrochloric acid a precipitate is indicative of a primary amine. 

Octyl Alcohol.—This is the primary normal alcohol of the formula CH3(CH2)gCH20H. It has an odour recalling that of opoponax, and is useful in the blending of perfumes of this type. It boils at 196° to 197°, and has a specific gravity 0"8278. It yields octyl aldehyde on oxidation, whose naphtho-cinchoninic acid compound melts at 234°. 

The heterogeneity of the VN primary neurones is reflected in their modes of chemosensory preferences. The relative binding efficiencies for distinct odourant types onto the membrane sites is indeed functionally partitioned. When urinary fractions from male mice were applied to VN cells of females, stimulation by a lipophilic and volatile odourant fraction activated only the Gi protein-expressing cells. In contrast, Go activation was elicited by one of the lipocalin superfamily the MUP fraction containing an a-2-globulin (Krieger, 1999). This observation... 

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