SCIENCE

The theory of odor which forms the basis of Flexitral's proprietary methods was published as an article (1010k) in the scientific Journal Chemical Senses, vol 21 p 773. It was further refined and published as an article (1134k) in Journal of Theoretical Biology July 2002 issue, Vol 216 p 367.

For a general overview of structure odor relations see the review (295k) written by Luca Turin and Fumiko Yoshii published in 2003 in the Handbook of Olfaction and Gustation, Richard Doty, Editor (ISBN 0-8247-0719-2). Chandler Burr has written a book chronicling the development of the theory. A UK edition has come out.

A chapter by LT entitled "Rational odorant design" in a book edited by David Rowe, "Chemistry and Technology of Flavours and Fragrances" was published by Blackwells early in 2005.

A popular science book by LT entitled "The Secret of Scent" was published in April 2006 by Faber & Faber in the UK, and in November by harper Collins in the US

A Perfume Guide written by LT in 1994 and originally published by Hermé can be downloaded here in pdf.

The archive of LT's blog "Perfume Notes" which ran from June 2005 to Jan 2006 can be found here (2.6M)

LT's monthly articles on perfume in NZZ Folio can be accessed here

(Nov 2006) d d

An article by Brookes et al is to appear in Physical Review Letters soon detailing the physical and biological feasibility of a receptor-mediated vibration sensing mechanism. It has been posted on arXiv and is available for download here .

PRESS

The New Scientist published a profile of LT in its Nov 18 2006 issue

The August 2005 issue of Chemistry and Biology ran an article about Flexitral

The Symrise house magazine Senses ran a story about Flexitral in its Q2, 2004 issue.

Forbes Magazine ran a story in 2003 (296k) on Flexitral.

NEWS

The April 2004 issue of Nature Neuroscience includes an article reporting experiments in which subjects were unable to distinguish the smell of a compound (acetophenone) from that of its deuterated counterpart. Isotope experiments provide a crucial test of vibration theories. An earlier article by Haffenden et al (2001), also on human subjects, had come to the conclusion that humans could distinguish isotopes by smell. Their statistics have been criticized. A reanalysis of their data using more appropriate tests can be found here. An abstract by Zelano and Sobel at the forthcoming Achems conference reports that a dog can distinguish normal and deuterated acetophenone with 100% accuracy. The earliest report of isotope odor differences is probably a 1951 review by Yves-Rene Naves, a chemist at the fragrance firm Givaudan. Behavioral experiments by Hara (1977) and Meloan (1995) have shown that fish and insects can distinguish isotopes as well. A short movie by Stefan Fuss illustrating calcium imaging of zebrafish bulb in response to normal and deuterated compounds can be found here.