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Cheminformatics and its Applications http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.83236 Edited by Amalia Stefaniu, Azhar Rasul and Ghulam Hussain

#### Contributors

Dionisio Antonio Olmedo A., José Luis Medina-Franco, João D Ferreira, Francisco M Couto, Daniel Glossman-Mitnik, Norma Flores-Holguín, Juan Frau, José Ciriaco-Pinheiro, Heriberto Bitencourt, José Lobato, Antonio Florêncio De Figueiredo, Marcos Antonio Dos Santos, Fabio Gil, Raimundo Ferreira, Luã Felipe De Oliveira, Sady Alves, Edilson Luiz C De Aquino, Márcio De Souza Farias, Yu-Chen Lo, Hiroshi Honda, Gui Ren, Azhar Rasul, Ammara Riaz, Iqra Sarfraz, Ayesha Sadiqa, Javaria Nawaz, Rabia Zara, Samreen Gul Khan, Zeliha Selamoglu, Wolfgang Fecke, Bahne Stechmann, Kenji Sorimachi, Sonia Aroui, Amalia Stefaniu, Kara L. Davis, Abderraouf Kenani

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Cheminformatics and its Applications Edited by Amalia Stefaniu, Azhar Rasul and Ghulam Hussain p. cm. Print ISBN 978-1-83880-067-3 Online ISBN 978-1-83880-068-0 eBook (PDF) ISBN 978-1-83962-518-3


**Marlene Pacharra 1,2,\*, Stefan Kleinbeck 2, Michael Schäper 2, Christine I. Hucke 2 and Christoph van Thriel 2,\***

Received: 3 April 2020; Accepted: 4 May 2020; Published: 7 May 2020

**Abstract:** Threshold assessments for the reference odorant n-butanol are an integral part of various research, clinical, and environmental sensory testing procedures. However, the practical significance of a high or low threshold for n-butanol beyond a particular testing environment and procedure are often unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to determine between-method correlations and to investigate the association between the n-butanol threshold and perceptual/behavioral odor effects in natural breathing scenarios in 35 healthy adults. The thresholds for n-butanol derived from the Sniffin' Sticks test and determined by the ascending limit dynamic dilution olfactometry procedure were significantly correlated (|*r*| = 0.47). However, only the thresholds determined by olfactometry were significantly correlated to the odor detection of n-butanol in an exposure lab. Moreover, participants with a higher sensitivity for n-butanol in the olfactometer-based assessment rated ammonia, during a 75 min exposure, to be more unpleasant and showed better performance in a simultaneous 3-back task than participants with lower sensitivity. The results of this study suggest that beyond the strict parameters of a certain psychophysical procedure, the threshold for n-butanol can be a meaningful indicator of odor detection and effects in some cases.

**Keywords:** odor threshold; olfactometry; Sniffin' Sticks; chemosensory perception; validity assessment