Geosmin

When you walk outside after a summer rainstorm, you know it when it hits you: that distinctly earthly, musty, yet crispy scent that you can smell when you walk outside after a summer rainstorm. It is the smell of rain, also known as petrichor, the earth odour. Often associated with memory and emotions, impacting both body and mind, it is a distinctive odour that human nose can smell at concentrations as low as 0.1 parts per billion.

The main compound responsible of the earth odor is (-)-Geosmin (trans-1, 10-dimethyl-trans-9decalol), an aromatic volatile metabolite of various actinomycetes and fungi.

Apart from the typical odor after the rain, geosmin is the compound responsible for the earthly taste of beetroot, water, freshwater fish, wine and other foods. When in food and beverages, we found this compound very distasteful, while when in open air, generally is perceived as a pleasant odor connected with uncontaminated nature at the point that its use in the perfumery industry has been growing during the last years.

Determination of Geosmin

Click on the image to download the application note

Geosmin (trans-1,10-dimethyl-trans-9-decalol) and 2-MIB (2-methylisoborneol) are two of the most common compounds liable of the unsightly taste-odor in environmental matrices.In the Application Note #135 a fast and sensitive analytical method for the determination of earthy and musty odor organic compounds in environmental matrices is presented.The method is based on the DANI Master DHS Dynamic Headspace Sampler – used in purging mode – coupled with a GC/TOF-MS system

method based on the Dynamic Headspace used in purging mode coupled with a GC/TOF-MS system.