Flavour and Fragrance Chemistry

Edited by:
  • Virginia Labzotti &
  • Orazio Taglialetela-Scafati
Kluwer Academic: 2000. 256 pp. £74.50, $117.50

The chemistry underlying our perceptions of flavour and fragrance is both fascinating and complex. Although fragrance phenomena are predominantly associated with relatively small, volatile molecules, usually occurring in complex mixtures, the structural range and size of compounds associated with flavour are far greater.

Given that the book under review is volume 46 of the Proceedings of the Phytochemical Society of Europe, a series that has produced many notable publications on natural products, I was anticipating a 'good read' to bring me up to date on these topics. Unfortunately, I was more than a little disappointed.

Why am I being so negative? It is not primarily due to the quality of the individual contributions, although they are variable. But with 23 papers and only 250 pages of text, the average length of each contribution is less than 11 pages and the individual papers are, for the most part, simply reports of the work (generally previously published) of the authors. This means we are offered tantalizing fragments on individual subjects, but rarely placed in any review context. The editors have attempted to arrange the chapters according to subject area, but I did not find that their efforts helped to rationalize the disparate topics. It also has to be said that some of the topics have only a peripheral bearing on the subject (for example, alkaloids from Amaryllidaceae, cell cultures of Hypericum perforatum for high-value metabolites, antioxidants).

I cannot reconcile the content or the depth of the papers in this volume with my expectations for the flagship series of a prestigious society. When I pick up a volume of the Proceedings of the Phytochemical Society of Europe I expect to find erudite and comprehensive reviews of the title subject. This collection of worthy but limited contributions would be better suited to a 'special issue' of an appropriate journal or a cheaper, soft-covered, conference report.

I would not recommend this book to a hard-pressed librarian trying to make ends meet. It is, quite simply, not worth the price.