Odors consist mainly of hydrophobic volatile organic compounds with molecular weights of less than 300 Da. These include many chemical classes such as organic acids, alcohols, aldehydes, ethers, esters, amides, amines, hydrocarbons, halogenated hydrocarbons, ketones, nitriles, aromatics, phenols, other nitrogen- and sulfur-containing compounds including heterocycles. Today, esthetically appealing odorant substances (fragrances) are found as ingredients in numerous detergents and especially in beauty and personal care products such as cosmetics and perfumes as well as in other formulations. The development of perfumes and cosmetics is strongly driven by the development of new synthetic fragrances with unprecedented scents and superior physical properties, as the current production and use of fragrances of all kinds could not possibly rely on the availability of natural sources alone.
Terpene-based fragrances, both of natural and semi-synthetic origin, play a key role in the flavor and fragrance industry. In this context, derivatives based on α- and γ-campholenic acid/aldehyde have been intensively studied and have resulted in compounds with unique odor profiles, such as the sandalwood character of Javanol and Pashminol. Compounds prepared from isomeric isocampholenic acid, which is readily available from camphorsulfonic acid in both enantiomeric forms, have not yet been systematically explored and represent potentially unique new fragrance molecules. This project focuses primarily on the synthesis of several new isocampholenic acid-derived product classes and the fundamental evaluation of their odor properties (odor profile, odor threshold), accompanied by the modeling of structure–odor correlations in selected olfactophore models of the most promising products.
