Mondo Knows Facts
Esters give ripe fruit much of its smell
Reactions between acids and alcohols create volatile compounds with fruity aromas An ester forms when a carboxylic acid reacts with an alcohol and loses water. Small esters evaporate easily and reach the nose in tiny amounts, so a few molecules can dominate a smell. Isoamyl acetate, for instance, is the main note in banana aroma. It sits in Mondo's science collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.
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Tags: chemistry, smell, food
Esters give ripe fruit much of its smell: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Reactions between acids and alcohols create volatile compounds with fruity aromas. The figure is taken from Royal Society of Chemistry, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a science fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Science shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.