We messed up! A while ago we made a Facebook post about how the mirror-image forms of limonene create the smell of oranges and lemons -- but it turns out we fell for a really persistent myth. So we wanted to clear it up! Here's the lemony-fresh truth about the scent of citrus.
Sources:
- Oranges, lemons and limonene: Addressing surprisingly persistent and enduring myths
- Scent through the Looking Glass
- Odor Incongruity and Chirality
- Sensory Properties of Optical Isomers
- Chemical and Sensory Characterization of Orange (Citrus sinensis) Pulp, a by‐Product of Orange Juice Processing Using Gas‐Chromatography‐Olfactometry
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