Stress-related odours

Following a published procedure for converting substituted anilines to isatins by reaction with chloral hydrate and hydroxylamine [1], it was noticed that at the end of the first stage (formation of an isonitrosoacetanilide), the odour of hydrogen cyanide was present, and this was confirmed by a Prussian blue test [2], In related work, concentrations of 100-200 ppm of hydrogren cyanide were found [3]. A mechanism for its formation from chloral hydrate and hydroxylamine was proposed [2], and the need for appropriate precautions was stressed [2,3],... 

It is often difficult to determine whether symptoms are related to a direct toxicological effect or to stress or worry. For example an investigation of a community living near a hazardous waste site in Queensland, Australia found no evidence of elevated levels of any serious physical disease but high levels of stress and anxiety.16 Odours may serve as sensory cues for the development of... 

Chemical communication research is lacking in theoretical approaches (see, for example, Perrigo and Bronson, 1983 Sokolov et al., 1984). It should proceed within the context and theory of organic evolution, in which an active area of research has been sexual selection. Sexual selection depends on the advantage which certain individuals have over other individuals of the same sex and species in exclusive relation to reproduction, and it can affect an animal s glands for emitting odours (Darwin, 1871). Recent comments on sexual selection in mammals (Blaustein, 1981 Arnold and Houck, 1982) have stressed the possible role of scent communication without citing any comparative analyses of closely related species. 

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