Have you ever describe a wine-coloured you were drinking as fruity , sweet , or having a intimation of coconut ? Well , felicitation , because you were altogether drinking a portion of koala urine .
In 1996 scientists were pleased to isolate a component of wine . They described it as “ vivid mellisonant and coconut - similar smell , ” and called it “ wine lactone . ” The lactone part was right . Lactones are specific kinds of the odoriferous molecules known as ester , and the chemical compound did have the ripe anatomical structure . It was the “ wine ” part that they beat wrong . Yes , it was amiss even though the same lactone wasisolated in Riesling wine-coloured , a fresh and fragrant type of wine , two yr later . They were wrong even when vino lactone showed up in a mess of the foods that people associate with the scents in a good wine-colored ; foods like apples , citrus , and grapes .
They were wrong because wine lactone was discovered all the way back in 1975 . I. A. Southwell discover that if you feed a koala eucalypt leaves and wait for it to pee , one of the things it will pee out is wine lactone . And yet we do n’t call the stuff that ’s in Riesling and other fruity wines “ koala urine lactone . ” The injustice of it !
Now , to be just , the lactone in wine-coloured is only one specific isomer . Isomers of a molecule have the same chemical normal — the same amount of carbon , H , and so on — but have unlike chemical structure . While the isomer in wine-coloured has been key , thekoala urine isomerremains a beautiful mystery .
Anyone who wishes to perform a taste sensation trial should please contact io9 immediately .
[ root : Essential Oil Metabolism In The Koala ]
figure : Erik Veland .
ChemistryScience
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