Smell
Dimethyl sulfide is said to have a characteristic cabbage-like smell that becomes highly disagreeable at higher concentrations. While some report that DMS has a low olfactory threshold that varies from 0.02 to 0.1 ppm between different persons, it has been suggested that the stench (and cabbage smell?) attributed to dimethyl sulfide may in fact be due to di- and polysulfides and thiol impurities, since the odor of dimethyl sulfide is much less disagreeable after it is freshly washed with saturated aqueous mercuric chloride. Dimethyl sulfide is also available as a food additive to impart a savory flavor; in such use, its concentration is low. Beetroot, asparagus, cabbage, corn and seafoods produce dimethyl sulfide when cooked.
Marine phytoplankton also produces dimethyl sulfide. Andrew Johnston, of the University of East Anglia, has characterized DMS as being the "smell of the sea". It would be more accurate to say that DMS is a component of the "smell of the sea," another being pheromones of algae called dictyopterenes.
Dimethyl sulfide is also an odorant emitted by kraft pulping mills, and a byproduct of Swern oxidation.
Dimethyl sulfide, dimethyl disulfide and dimethyl trisulfide have been confirmed as volatiles given off by the fly-attracting plant known as dead-horse arum (Helicodiceros muscivorus). The plant fools flies into pollinating it by emitting an odor like rotting meat, which is an attractive food source for flies.
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Famous quotes containing the word smell:
“Houndsditch was ... a crumbling and smoke-grimed necropolis in boarded windows, mummified everywhere by old railings, stagnant air, and cobwebs, where draughty hallways reek with the smell of stale cabbage, Blakean children weep soot, and merchants patter with Mammon and make God evanescent.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)
“I love this child. Red-haired—patient and gentle like her mother—fey and funny like her father. When she giggles I can hear him when he and I were young. I am part of this child. It may be only because we share genes and that therefore smell familiar to each other. . . . It may be that a part of me lives in her in some important way. . . . But for now, it’s jelly beans and “Old MacDonald” that unite us.”
—Robert Fulghum (20th century)
“Everywhere I go I smell fresh paint.”
—Princess Diana (b. 1961)