Astute readers of this website may notice something different: The 3D views for receptors and aroma molecules have been rewritten. Gone is the slow, bulky, buggy JSmol viewer and here to stay is a newer, faster, better 3D renderer, called NGL. Not gonna lie, this 3D engine is impressive in its performance and appearance! You […]
Read MoreSynthesis of 1-octanethiol was attempted by carefully reacting Na2S with sulfamic acid in aqueous solution, beneath a layer of 1-octanol, in a glass vessel that would allow the contents to react under pressure. The odor of hydrogen sulfide was observed. Several hours later the octanol layer was removed and was found to have a definite […]
Read MoreThe Primary Odors docker, or POdock, is an open source molecular docker designed to offer advantages over other dockers. Here we report a successful dock of the aroma compound cadaverine in TAAR8, a known agonist-receptor pair. The change in orientation of the TRP270 side chain is significant. This residue, and the aromatic TYR273 above it, […]
Read MoreHuman TAAR5 may contain an amine-shuttling extracellular α-helix, analogous to a similar structure postulated to exist with a similar function in ORs. TAAR5 is a known receptor for fishy smelling trimethylamine, among other compounds. Like most TAARs, it has an acidic residue inside its ligand binding pocket, located on TMR3 (ASP114) close to a tryptophan […]
Read More