Je. Comettomuniz et Ws. Cain, EFFICACY OF VOLATILE ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS IN EVOKING NASAL PUNGENCY AND ODOR, Archives of environmental health, 48(5), 1993, pp. 309-314
Sensory irritation (pungency) figures prominently among the symptoms a
ssociated with polluted indoor environments. In order to separate the
pungent from the olfactory response, we measured nasal pungency thresh
olds in subjects lacking olfaction (anosmics) and odor thresholds in n
ormal controls (normosmics) for a homologous series of ketones and for
selected secondary and tertiary alcohols and acetates. As seen pervio
usly for homologous alcohols and acetates, both types of nasal thresho
lds decreased with increasing carbon chain length. Pungency thresholds
decreased exponentially with chain length. With respect to all nonrea
ctive chemicals studied so far, threshold nasal pungency is achieved a
t a fairly constant percentage of vapor saturation, irrespective of mo
lecular size or chemical functional group. Such a relationship does no
t hold for odor thresholds. The outcome for pungency implies an import
ant role for a physical, rather than chemical, interaction with nasal
mucosa.