Shakespeare's suggestion that calling a rose by any other name would not change its sweet smell may not be true anymore, for scientists say that the flower's fragrance can be modified by altering the shape of the molecules that generate it.

Dr. Kevin Ryan, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at The City College of New York (CCNY) and collaborators in the laboratory of Dr. Stuart Firestein, Professor of Biology at Columbia University, say that their findings have potential applications in the design of flavours and fragrances.

The researchers highlighted the fact that when odour-producing molecules, known as odorants, pass through the nose, they trigger intracellular changes in a subset of the approximately 400 different varieties olfactory sensory neurons (OSN) housed in the nose's internal membrane tissue.

According to them, the unique reaction pattern produced, known as the olfactory code, is sent as a signal to the brain, which leads to perception of odours.

With a view to determining how these receptor cells respond when odorants change their shape, the researchers studied the odorant octanal, an eight-carbon aldehyde, that occurs in many flowers and citrus fruits.

Professor Ryan revealed that octanal is a structurally flexible molecule that can adapt to many different shapes by rotating its chemical bonds.

He and his colleagues designed and synthesized eight-carbon aldehydes that resembled octanal, but had their carbon chains locked by adding one additional bond.