Defining Odoriferous Molecule of Blood is Isolated {The 5th Sense in the News}
An upcoming print article entitled "Essence of eau de blood pinpointed" features a study conducted by Matthias Laska of Linköping University in Sweden and his team who have succeeded in isolating the aromatic compound which gives blood its most appealing odoriferous facet to carnivores...
It's attractive to killers' noses, but it hardly rolls off the tongue. Trans-4,5-epoxy-(E)-2-decenal has been identified as the chemical that gives blood its distinctive odour. Carnivores are mad for it.
The experiments included using the isolated compound by smearing it on wood and testing the reactions of several carnivorous species to it. The results were conclusive as all the animals felt attracted to the molecule and even one species was more excited by it than by horse blood. The researchers contrasted this test with another one where the scent of banana was smeared instead on wood and this left the subjects completely cold.
The compound offers a characteristic metallic nuance which has actually been reproduced in fine perfumery in fragrances like Rossy de Palma Eau de Protection which I like to describe as being "ferrous".
Read more at Blood odour chemical gets carnivores drooling
