Lisa Cooperman (via Anthony Dutoi) asks: Weird but fun museum type question seeking your expertise. I’m curating an exhibition with four Powell scholars who are interpreting collection work by making various installations. One scholar exploring artist Wayne Thiebaud’s interest in nostalgia is making ‘scent books.’ She wants to include the metallic smell of old coins……do you know what chemical compound or interaction produces the smell and can be safely reproduced and exhibited? Each book will have a receptacle area and a lid that closes, but not airtight. Chemistry to the rescue…

  1. I love Thiebaud. Cake!
  2. Apropos your question: I recall an old Angewandte Chemie article on the origin of the scent of money handled by humans:
    • Spoiler alert: The scent we associate with coins is actually human body odor reacting with the catalytic surface of the metal.
    • The most abundant molecule is 1-octen-3-one, which you can buy from Sigma-Aldrich for $54; it is an approved food additive, but perhaps an irritant if you have direct contact with it neat.
    • The other dominant molecules they found in the article (organophosphines) might be hard to come by, as they are not unlike chemical weapons (albeit the natural the dose is smaller)
  3. Also curatorially interesting: Subsequent citations to the article talk about perceptions of smell and flavor related to chemotherapy

FYI: Leah Brent’s exhibit runs 26 October - 24 November 2023 in the Reynolds Gallery at the University of the Pacific…for those that don’t know, this is the alma mater of jazz pianist Dave Brubeck