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Published online 27 May 2009 | Nature 459, 498-499 (2009) | doi:10.1038/459498a
News Feature
Atmospheric chemistry: The man who smells forests
Chemist Allen Goldstein has spent his career tracking elusive compounds emitted by trees. Erik Vance joined him for a tour of the woods.
Standing almost 20 metres above the forest floor on a scaffolding tower in the Sierra Nevada, Allen Goldstein looks over the spiky tops of a young ponderosa pine forest. At ground level, the air is warm, still and rich with the sweet smell of pine and cedar.
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In India we have a range of natural forests (vanishing very rapidly, tropical, temperate, alpine) including the coniferous forests in the Himalaya, the mixed sal forests (emit fragrance in the spring).The places have been referred in ancient Indian literature as good for health where man can prevent ageing (source of antioxidants?). The monoterpenes and many other fragrant molecules are good antioxidants in vitro, how they act in the open air? What is the fate of the hydroxyl radicals produced? Please explain.