Artificial Intelligence “Nose”
Can Predict Scent Based on Molecular Structure
Artificial Intelligence “Nose” ,In a major breakthrough, scientists have built a tool to predict the odor profile of a molecule, just based on its structure. It can identify molecules that look different but smell the same, as well as molecules that look very similar but smell totally different. The research was published in Science.
Professor Jane Parker, University of Reading, said, “Vision research has wavelength, hearing research has frequency—both can be measured and assessed by instruments. But what about smell? We don’t currently have a way to measure or accurately predict the odor of a molecule, based on its molecular structure.”
Artificial Intelligence “Nose”
The research applied machine learning to create an ‘odor map’ that will be invaluable in the work of synthetic chemists in the food and fragrance industries. It may also open up avenues for the production of more sustainable flavors and fragrances.
Professor Parker said, “As a flavor chemist, I’ve worked on smell for many years, relying mainly on my own nose to describe aromas.
“The map doesn’t just work for known odorants, and those that are structurally very similar. It can describe a wide subset of unrelated molecules with different molecular characteristics.
“For researchers across food and fragrance, this opens up an untapped source of thousands, or possibly millions, of potential odorants.”
Professor Parker worked with colleagues at the Monell Chemical Senses Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Arizona State University, and Osmo, a company that was spun out of Google’s machine learning lab.
The University of Reading’s role was to assess the purity of the samples used to test the AI. We verified the purity of the compounds used to test the AI model’s prediction. Gas chromatography enabled us to separate the trace levels of impurities and the target molecule so, as they eluted one-by-one from the instrument, we could smell all the individual molecules and determine whether the smell of any of the trace compounds was overwhelming (or masking) the odor of the target molecule.