Scent of the Vanishing Flora

Roman Kaiser studied chemistry at Winterthur Technical College, and in 1968 he joined the Givaudan Research Centre in Dübendorf near Zurich as a fragrance and flavor chemist. His work at Givaudan has focused on investigating and reconstituting essential oils, absolutes, and similar natural products, as well as synthesizing natural scent components; since 1975 he has worked primarily on the investigation and reconstitution of all types of natural scents using 'headspace' techniques including complementary analytical methods. During this time, he has investigated around 2700 natural scents from which he reconstituted 550 based on the individual synthetic scent constituents. Many of these scent reconstitutions have been used for the creation of famous fragrances.In over 80 cases, the results of these investigations have been published in specialist journals. He is also the author of a book entitled "The Scent of Orchids" summarizing the olfactory and chemical investigations of over 160 species. In fall 2006, his most recent book entitled 'Meaningful Scents around the World - Olfactory, Chemical, Biological, and Cultural Considerations' was published which summarizes his most important scent discoveries/experiences.In 1988, he was awarded with the Roche Research Prize and in 1995 the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich has bestowed on Roman Kaiser an honorary doctorate in natural sciences.In his spare time, Roman Kaiser is a passionate observer of all aspects of the natural world, though the 'plant scent' phenomenon is clearly of special significance to him.

• 1. Introduction to the 'Scent of the Vanishing Flora'1.1. Extinction of Species and Monitoring Endangered Species1.2. Investigating the Scent of the Vanishing Flora2. Illustrating the Scent of the Vanishing Flora2.1. No More Existing in Nature2.2. Ten Icon Species of the Vanishing Flora2.3. The Scent of 'Living Fossils'2.4. A Brief Look into Rainforests and Associated Biotopes2.5. Hawaii's Vanishing Flora2.6. The Cape Floral Kingdom, a Closer Look at One of the Hotspots of Biodiversity2.7. Endangered Conifers2.8. Endangered Cacti2.9. Endangered Species of My Home Country2.10. Some Additional Protected and Endangered Species3. The Icon Family of the Vanishing Flora: Orchidaceae3.1. Orchids of the American Tropic3.2. Orchids of the African Tropic3.3. Orchids of the Indo-Australian Tropics and Subtropics4. Analytics4.1. General Remarks4.2. Equipment Used4.3. Compositions of the Presented Scents4.4. Synthesis of New CompoundsIndexAcknowledgement

"It should be of interest to those working in the area of perfumery, and natural product chemists in general, and those who enjoy reading about the exploits of plant hunters." (Chemistry World, 1 July 2011) "My book Scent of the Vanishing Flora collects olfactory descriptions for 267 rare and endangered plants (selected from 500 I've studied), a few of which no longer exist in nature. These descriptions will allow experts to recreate them." (Nature, 24 February 2011)