Current Topics in Flavor and Fragrance Research

Book excerpt: Smell and Taste - the chemical senses. They carry meaning to perceive and evaluate reality, but also evoke memories, feelings, and desires. They allow us to dream, to explore our emotions, or to seduce: 'A woman should wear her perfume wherever she wants to be kissed' advised Coco Chanel. The power of olfactory sensations seems almost magical to us - the chemistry behind these, however, is no mystery. The current topics of flavor and fragrance research are compiled in this book, which comprises 28 articles of the talks presented at the 2007 RSC/SCI 'Flavours and Fragrances' conference held at the Imperial College in London. The scope is intentionally broad and ranges from natural products to fragrance chemistry, to perfumery and olfaction, to foods and flavors. Chemistry is, however, the central and unifying discipline.