ABSTRACT
Chemoreception is defined as a physiological process whereby a living organism responds to chemical stimuli. This property plays a significant role in the survival and reproduction of many different organisms. Aroma perception is a result of a complex process. Odorant molecules, once they reach the epithelium, are activated by a subset of around 1000 olfactory receptor types distributed across more than 6,000,000 receptor cells. The physiological mechanism involves the interaction of an odorant compound with an olfactory receptor (OR) protein expressed at the surface of cilia of chemosensory olfactory neurons in the epithelium The relationship between the molecular structure of a chemical compound with its odor quality or intensity is of considerable interest. One of the key parameters in odor quality is the functional group of the molecule. The majority of heterocycle compounds are formed through the thermal interaction of reducing sugars and amino acids.
