Research notes
5 June 2017
Hubert Marceau, Chimiste, B. Sc. Agarwood is an oil with a very specific odor profile. Almost no two oils will have the same exact smell: sometimes it is leathery, other time smoky, some even have fruity notes and other lots can smell a bit cheesy. The reason for that come from how it is produced. Agarwood is
Research notes
9 May 2017
Dany Massé, Chimiste, B.Sc. May you drink it black, espresso or with cream, almost everyone have his own recipe for a tasty coffee. Whatever your style, there is one question that people always ask: is there more caffeine in an espresso or in an ordinary filter coffee? Ask around and most people will have some
Research notes
21 October 2016
Alexis St-Gelais, M. Sc., chimiste The flora of North America is still lush with aromatic plants that have not (yet) been studied for their volatile compounds. One of these blindspots was, up to recently, a plant commonly called Indian celery (figure 1), as well as cow parsnip, which is found throughout the continent. This species (Heracleum
Research notes
25 February 2016
Research note – Alexis St-Gelais, M. Sc., chimiste The clove basil (Ocimum gratissimum) comes from Africa. Upon distillation, it yields an essential oil containing mainly eugenol and β-caryophyllene. Circle H Institute is an organization dedicated to furthering the knowledge about hydrosols. Its manager, Ann Harman, contacted us after performing clove basil hydrodistillation using a copper apparatus.
Research notes
24 July 2015
Alexis St-Gelais – Research Notes The hexane extract (concrete) of young male flowers of American willow (Salix discolor Muhlenberg) was analysed by gas chromatography. Beside the waxy compounds, the main detected constituents are floral-scented alcohols and salicylaldehyde. The results are a good example of the usefulness of processing concretes into absolutes. In our region, one of
Research notes
11 July 2015
Alexis St-Gelais – Research Note PhytoChemia is an uncommon business. We launched the company while still completing our master degrees, which meant we were knee deep in fundamental research in chemistry. One of the motivations – especially for me – of setting up our laboratory was to have our very own scientific playground. As chemists,