Perceptual Interactions between Characteristic Notes Smelled above Aqueous Solutions of Odorant Mixtures

Twenty-two experienced panelists rated odor intensity of aqueous solutions of citral, octen-1-ol-3, and hexanal. The panel assessed unmixed components andmixtures (9 binary and 4 ternary). In sensory sessions dedicated tomixtures (n = 6), evaluation was focused on one target odor, presented at a fixed concentration. All components had lower odor intensity on mixed pre-sentations. In many cases, information obtained from simpler systems was not extended to complex mixtures. In a mixture, the competition between odorant molecules on qualitative aspects (dominance/suppression) imbalanced components contribution, anticipated from the quantitative distribution. Hexanal appeared to be the potentially weaker odorant in paired combinations, whereas octen-1-ol-3 had a lower relative impact on ternary systems. Suppression of the odor of octen-1-ol-3 and a concomitant increase in the odor of hexanal was common to all ternary mixtures. Reciprocal inhibition of octen-1-ol-3 and citral odors through perceptual interactions was suspected. Mutual suppression is suspected to have eased the perception of hexanal intensity. Key words: aroma balance, masking, mixed odorants, odor intensity, odor suppressio