A general equation set up for the study of transport prop erties has been applied to volatile organic compound (VOC) nasal pungency and eye irritation thresholds, as log (1/NPT) and log (1/EIT). The equation accounts for 93- 95% of the total effect, thus suggesting that the main step is transport of the VOC from the gas phase to a receptor phase. In the case of odour thresholds the gen eral equation accounts for only 77% of the total effect. A modified equation incorporates a factor for aliphatic aldehydes and carboxylic acids, and a general size effect that depends on the VOC maximum length. The size effect is important in that it leads to a cut-off effect that greatly reduces the potency of higher homologues. The various equations can all be used to predict chemosen sory thresholds for thousands of VOCs.
Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS: Sensory irritation: Relation to indoor air pollution. Ann NY Acad Sci1992 ;641:137-151.
2.
Molhave L.: Controlled experiments for studies of the sick building syndrome. Ann NY Acad Sci1992;641:46-55.
3.
American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH): Threshold limit values for chemical substances and physical agents, and biological exposure indices. ACGHI, Cincinnati, 1991-1992.
4.
Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS: Thresholds for odour and nasal pungency. Physiol Behav1990;48:719-725.
5.
Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS: Nasal pungency, odour and eye irritation thresholds for homologous acetates. Pharmacol Biochem Behav1991;39:983-989.
6.
Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS: Efficacy of volatile organic compounds in evoking nasal pungency and odour. Arch Environ Health1993; 48:309-314.
7.
Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS: Sensory reactions of nasal pungency and odour to volatile organic compounds: The alkylbenzenes. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J1994;55:811-817.
8.
Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS: Relative sensitivity of the ocular trigeminal, nasal trigeminal, and olfactory systems to airborne chemicals . Chem Senses1995;20:191-198.
9.
Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS, Abraham MH: Nasal pungency and odour of homologous aldehydes and carboxylic acids. Exp Brain Res1998;118:180-188.
10.
Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS, Abraham MH, Kumarsingh R.: Trigeminal and olfactory chemosensory impact of selected terpenes. Pharmacol Biochem Behav1998;60:765-779.
11.
Schaper M.: Development of a data base for sensory irritants and its use in establishing occupational exposure limits. Am Ind Hyg Assoc J1993;54:488-544.
Pybus DH, Sell CS: The Chemistry of Fragrances. London, Royal Society of Chemistry, 1999.
14.
Abraham MH, Nielsen GD, Alarie Y.: The Ferguson principle and an analysis of biological activity of gases and vapors. J Pharm Sci1994; 83:680-688.
15.
Abraham MH, Whiting GS, Doherty RM, Shuely WJ: Hydrogen bonding. 16. A new solute solvation parameter, π2H, from gas chromatographic data. J Chromatogr1991 ;587: 213-228.
16.
Abraham MH: Scales of solute hydrogen-bonding: Their construction and application to physicochemical and biochemical processes. Chem Soc Rev1993 ;22:73-83.
17.
Abraham MH, Andonian-Haftvan J., Whiting GS, Leo A., Taft RW: Hydrogen bonding. Part 34. The factors that influence the solubility of gases and vapours in water at 298 K, and a new method for its determination . J Chem Soc Perkin Trans21994;1777-1791.
18.
Abraham MH, Whiting GS, Carr PW, Ouyang H.: Hydrogen bonding. Part 45. The solubility of gases and vapours in methanol at 298 K: An LFER analysis. J Chem Soc Perkin Trans21998;1385-1390.
19.
Abraham MH, Platts JA, Hersey A., Leo AJ, Taft RW: Correlation and estimation of gas-chloroform and water-chloroform partition coefficients by linear free energy relationship method. J Pharm Sci1999;88:670-679.
20.
Abraham MH, Le J., Acree WE Jr: The solvation properties of the aliphatic alcohols. Collect Czech Chem Commun1999;64:1748-1760.
21.
Abraham MH, Weathersby PK: Hydrogen bonding. 30. Solubility of gases and vapors in biological liquids and tissues. J Pharm Sci1994;83:1450-1456.
22.
Abraham MH, Poole CF, Poole SK: Classification of stationary phases and other materials by gas chromatography . J Chromatogr A 1999; 842:79-114.
23.
Abraham MH, Kumarsingh R., Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS: An algorithm for nasal pungency thresholds in man. Arch Toxicol1998; 72:227-232.
24.
Abraham MH, Kumarsingh R., Cometto-Muniz JE, Cain WS, Roses M., Bosch E., Diaz ML: The determination of solvation descriptors for terpenes, and the prediction of nasal pungency thresholds. J Chem Soc Perkin Trans21998; 2405-2411.
25.
Abraham MH, Kumarsingh R., Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS: Draize eye scores and eye irritation thresholds in man combined into one quantitative structure-activity relationship. Toxicol in Vitro1998; 12:403-408.
26.
Cronin Mtd, Basketter DA, York M.: A quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) investigation of a Draize eye irritation database. Toxicol in Vitro1994;8:21-28.
27.
Dravnieks A. : A building block model for the characterization of odorant molecules and their odors. Ann NY Acad Sci1974;237:144-163.
28.
Laffort P., Patte F.: Solubility factors established by gas-liquid chromatography. J Chromatogr1987;406:51-74.
29.
Chastrette M.: Trends in structure-odour relationship: SAR and QSAR. Environ Res1997;6: 215-254.
30.
Chastrette M., Thomas-Danguin T., Rallett E.: Modelling the human olfactory stimulus-response function. Chem Senses1998;23:181-196.
31.
Devos M., Patte F., Roualt J., Laffort P., Van Gemert LJ: Standardized Human Olfactory Thresholds. Oxford , IRL Press, 1990.
32.
Yamanaka T. : Contribution of activity coefficients of methylene homologues to odour and flavor detection thresholds. Chem Senses1995; 29:471-475.
33.
Hau KM, Connell DW: Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) for odour thresholds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Indoor Air1998;8:23-33.
34.
Hau KM, Connell DW, Richardson BJ: Use of partition models in setting health guidelines for volatile organic compounds. Regul ToxicolPharmacol2000;31:22-29.
35.
AIHA Odour Thresholds for Chemicals with Established OccupationalHealth Standards. Ohio,American Industrial Hygiene Association, 1989.
36.
Hornung DE, Mozell MM: Accessibility of odorant molecules to the receptors; in Cagan RH, Kare MR (eds): Biochemistry of Taste and Olfaction. New York, LondonAcademic Press , 1981, pp 33-45.
Bianchet MA , Bains G., Pelosi P., Pevsner J., Snyder SH, Monaco HL, Amzel LM: The three-dimensional structure of bovine odorant binding protein and its mechanism of odour recognition . Nat Struct Biol1996;3:934-939.
39.
Brownlow S. , Sawyer L.: Waiting to inhale. Nat Struct Biol1996;3:902-906.
40.
Tegoni M., Ramoni R., Bignetti E., Spinelli S., Cambillau C.: Domain swapping creates a third putative combining site in bovine odorant binding protein dimer. Nat Struct Biol1996 ;3: 863-867.
41.
Vincent F., Spinelli S., Raamolni R., Pelosi P., Cambillo C., Tegoni M.: Complexes of porcine odorant binding proteins with odorant molecules belonging to different chemical classes. J Mol Biol2000;300:127-139.
42.
Abraham MH, Gola JMR, Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS: A model for odour thresholds (submitted for publication).
43.
Molecular Modeling Pro (TM), Revision 3.1. ChemSW Software Inc, 1992.
44.
Alarie Y., Schaper M., Nielsen GD, Abraham MH: Structure-activity relationships of volatile organic chemicals as sensory irritants. Arch Toxicol1998;72:125-140.
45.
Laska M., Liesen A., Teubner P.: Enantioselectivity of odour perception in squirrel monkeys and humans . Am J Physiol1999;277:R1098-R1103.
46.
Thuerauf N. , Kaegler M., Dietz R., Barocka A., Kobal G.: Dose-dependent stereoselective activation of the trigeminal sensory system by nicotine in man. Psychopharmacology1999; 142:236-243.
47.
Abraham MH, Gola Jmr, Cometto-Muñiz JE, Cain WS: Solvation properties of refrigerants, and the estimation of their water-solvent and gas-solvent partitions. Fluid Phase Equilibria2001;180:41-58.
