TERTIARY ALCOHOLS WITH EARTHY ODOR

A series of highly hindered tertiary alcohols was synthesized to defin e the minimun structural requirements for earthy smelling molecules. S ome of the compounds described are endowed with a strong pure earthy n ote, similar to the odor of geosmin. Medium size (10-14 major atoms) a nd the presence of highly branched alkyl radicals bound to the carbino l center seem to represent the molecular parameters best related to th e earthy odor. A cyclic system is not an essential requirement for thi s type of odor. Several among the best earthy smelling compounds descr ibed in this work are not asymmetric molecules; this result confirms p revious reports indicating that the earthy odor is not related to the chirality of the molecules.