Why does marijuana have such a foul odor?

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Why does marijuana have such an off-putting aroma?

Skunk spray and well-preserved, unburned cannabis buds have many of the same characteristics.

As a result, why does the scent of cannabis remind one of skunk spray? According to a study published in the journal ACS Omega in 2021, the foul culprits in both chemicals are members of the prenylated volatile sulfur compound (VSC) family, a subset of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

According to the study's principal scientist, Iain Oswald of Abstrax Tech in Tustin, California, "we suspected that sulfur-containing chemicals were the origins of this scent, solely based on chemical intuition," he told Live Science. The research team hypothesized that cannabis had qualities comparable to "a whole lot of VOCs in their aerosol spray" (quote from Skunk #1).

In this investigation, the scientists found unexpected chemicals, despite documenting the sulfurous origins of the plant's pungency. Medicine Creek Analytics in Fife, Washington, employs Wise as its scientific director and an analytical chemist, and he was not involved in the study.

Wise said to Live Science that "the skunky smell, if you want to call it 'egg smell,' or if you want to call it 'fart smell,' are all sulfur compounds." As one researcher put it, "the shocking thing was that cannabis has distinct compounds."

Oswald claims that these chemicals, VSC6 and VSC7 in particular, have never been discovered in plants.

More than 200 secondary metabolites — small compounds plants create to protect themselves from pests, such as mosquitoes or to attract pollinators — contribute to the characteristic aroma of cannabis. Among the aromatic compounds, terpenes have the highest concentration. According to the study, up to six aromatic compounds can account for as much as 50% of the difference between different cannabis strains or cultivars' odors. For example, the terpenes -myrcene and -caryophyllene, which give OG Kush its distinctive gasoline-like aroma, are found in significant concentrations in Jack Herer, a cultivar with a citrus and woody scent.

Oswald and his colleagues, three of whom, including Oswald, have filed a patent for their results, aimed to zero down on the chemicals that give all cannabis strains their skunky smell.

VSCs are tough to study because of their intricate architecture. VSCs in cannabis plants are negligible compared to terpene levels observed in the pungent fruit durian and hops.

"The amount in the plant is quite a little, even though it has a huge effect on the odor itself," Oswald added. When it comes to these compounds, "it doesn't take a lot to go a long way" because the human nose is quite sensitive.

Oswald and his colleagues used a custom-built two-dimensional gas spectrometry apparatus, mass spectrometry, and sulfur chemiluminescence to figure out the structures of the sulfurous molecules. They were able to detect all seven VSC structures using these methods. Five of the seven had a functional prenyl group, a characteristic of VSCs found in garlic.

Once the scientists' trained panel had tasted the diluted VSCs, terpenes, and cannabis flowers, they assigned a number from 0 to 10 to indicate how intense they were. According to the panel, the principal ingredient in "skunked" beer that has been destroyed by ultraviolet light is VSC3, which was identified in a 2001 study published in Chemistry — A European Journal. This chemical most vividly evoked the skunky odor of cannabis.

Oswald described the scent of VSC3 as "basically like cannabis from a distance." "On their own, the terpenes have a faint resemblance."

According to the panel, the researchers' findings were supported by a smell that evoked the floral scent of the Bacio Gelato strain but not its skunky, savory quality when they combined the top ten aromatic components of the cannabis cultivar but removed VSC3. However, VSC3 isn't responsible for all of the scent's work.

"There's this synergistic effect," Oswald said. They exclaimed, "This is cannabis this; this is it," when we combined them."

Aside from VSC3, Oswald pointed out that VSC4 and VSC5 can also play an essential aromatic function in the foul odor of cannabis cultivars, which was primarily focused on in the 2021 research.

Oswald says, "VSC3 is the most important and closely connected with cultivars." Everyone would agree that it smelled like marijuana if we found a grower who lacked VSC3 but had plenty of VSC4 and VSC5.

Reference : https://www.livescience.com/why-cannabis-smells-like-skunk

Image source : https://pixabay.com/id/photos/rami-ganja-tanaman-hijau-lampu-7212762/

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