Green Aroma Secrets: Unlocking The Fresh Scent

The aroma of green is a combination of several volatile organic compounds, including hexenal, hexenol, and hexanal. These compounds are formed from fatty acids such as linoleic and linolenic acids by enzymatic oxidation. They are found in the aroma of several fruits and vegetables, including apples, kiwifruits, and strawberries.

(2E)-hexenal (leaf aldehyde)

• 2E)-hexenal, also known as leaf aldehyde, is a chemical compound that gives off a green, grassy aroma. It is one of the eight volatile C6 aldehydes and C6 alcohols that are emitted by green leaves, and is the most abundant of these compounds.
• 2E)-hexenal is produced from linolenic acid in the chloroplasts of green leaves. Abiotic and biotic stresses stimulate the emission of (2E)-hexenal, which occurs within a few minutes after wounding. It is also produced by a wide range of fruits, vegetables, and spices.
• 2E)-hexenal has been shown to have antibiotic andantifungal properties and can act as a signal chemical that induces abiotic stress-associated gene expression. It is used as a food additive to improve taste and odour, and as an antibacterial agent.

(3Z)-hexenol (leaf alcohol)

• 3Z)-hexenol, also known as cis-3-hexenol or leaf alcohol, is a colourless, oily liquid with a strong, fresh, green, grassy odour. It is produced in small amounts by most plants and is used in perfumes and as a food additive. It is found in many flowers, fruits and vegetables, including carnations, honeysuckle, apples, apricots, cherries, grapes, lemons, and mint.
• 3Z)-hexenol is used as a refreshing top note in delicate floral fragrances, such as muguet and lilac, and in flavours, for example, in mint and various fruit complexes.

Nine-carbon aldehydes

Nonyl aldehyde is a nine-carbon aldehyde with a rose-like scent. It is a fatty aldehyde with a chain of nine carbon atoms connected to an aldehyde group. It is used in the formulation of many perfumes due to its pleasant, floral aroma, which can be detected even at very low concentrations.

Fatty aldehydes, which include nonyl aldehyde, are a class of organic chemical compounds that are highly reactive. They contain a carbonyl group, in which a carbon atom is double-bound to an oxygen atom, and at least one hydrogen atom bound to the alpha carbon, which is the central carbon atom in the carbonyl group.

Nonyl aldehyde is the next longer aldehyde molecule after octyl aldehyde, which smells like oranges, and before decyl aldehyde, which has a scent of orange peel and is present in small concentrations in most perfumes.

Nine-carbon alcohols

Fatty alcohols usually have an even number of carbon atoms and a single alcohol group (–OH) attached to the terminal carbon. They are widely used in industry, and about 50% of fatty alcohols used commercially are of natural origin, the remainder being synthetic.

The nine-carbon alcohol 1-nonanol, also known as pelargonic alcohol, is a colourless oily liquid with a strong odour described as "unpleasant" and "goaty". It is used as a solvent and in the manufacture of plasticizers and lubricants. It is also used as a component in the synthesis of azelaic acid, pelargonate esters, and pelargonate salts, which have a wide range of applications in industries such as cosmetics, food, and pharmaceuticals.

Linoleic acids

Linoleic acid is an essential omega-6 fatty acid that's required in small amounts (1-2% of total calories).

The average person today eats 6-10% or more of their calories from linoleic acid due to increasing consumption of vegetable oils made from seed crops.

Excessive linoleic acid intake is associated with inflammation, obesity, heart disease, and more.

• Safflower oil
• Grapeseed oil
• Sunflower oil
• Corn oil
• Soybean oil
• Cottonseed oil
• Peanut oil
• Rice bran oil
• Canola (rapeseed) oil

Frequently asked questions