The Chemical Diversity of Floral Scent

This chapter reviews the structures and abundances of the chemical compound groups in a wider range of plants, and discusses various aspects of variation in floral scent chemistry. The volatile compounds emitted from flowers belong to several different classes, but are united by their low molecular weight and vapor pressure sufficient to be released and dispersed into the air under normal temperature regimes. A large variety of compounds have been found in the floral scent of taxonomically related as well as diverse species. Ecological investigations have indicated that these floral scent chemicals function either alone or in combination with visual and tactile cues to mediate interactions between plants and animals. Most of the 1700 compounds reported in headspace samples of floral scent are lipophilic. Floral scent compounds range from nonpolar to polar. Most of the common constituents of floral scents are easy to identify by gas chromatographic retention times and mass spectra.