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Composition of Floral Scents
Floral scents are mostly composed of small volatile molecules, made mostly by monoterpenoid, sesquiterpenoid, phenylpropanoid, and benzenoid compounds. Other derivatives of fatty acids and some other chemical compounds containing nitrogen and sulfur are also sometimes present within the floral scents. Sesquiterpenes get synthesized in the cytosol, while monoterpene synthesis occurs in the plastids. These two types of volatile molecules are similar in that they both create different chemical compounds that contribute to scent from a single terpene molecule rather than multiple. Common descriptions of scents emitted by these particular types of volatile molecules are things like woody, citrus, floral, spicy, fresh, green, and earthy. It is not yet known where the synthesis of phenylpropanoid and benzenoid compounds occurs, but it is most likely to have taken place within the cytosol or the peroxisomes. The scents often associated with these types of molecules are spicy, sweet, warm, woody, and minty. For example, the VOCs emitted from lilies are composed mostly of sesquiterpenes and monoterpenes, like linalool and myrcene, which gives them their fresh and sweet floral scent, while carnation VOCs are composed mostly of phenylpropanoid and benzenoid compounds, like eugenol and methyl salicylate, which gives them their spicy and slightly minty scent. You can obtain and derive these specialized VOCs from an emitted floral scent through the "headspace" method. You insert the flower of a plant into a spherical glass chamber that contains a net inside which binds to the VOCs when the flower emits them, capturing them. You are then able to extract them using organic solvents, insert them in a gas chromatograph to separate the different volatiles, then identify them using mass spectrometry.