Biosynthetic pathways

The library’s third axis of classification. Boiling point tells you when you smell a compound, chemical family tells you how it behaves, and biosynthetic pathway tells you where it comes from. This is the explanatory axis: the other two describe how compounds cluster into groups; this one says why.

Terpenoid pathway58 compounds · Plants build them from identical five-carbon blocks
Phenylpropanoid pathway9 compounds · Plants build them around a six-carbon aromatic ring
Fatty acid derivatives10 compounds · Enzymes cut fat chains into fragments you can smell
Microbial origin11 compounds · Made by bacteria and yeasts, not by plants
Heat (Maillard reaction and pyrolysis)12 compounds · Fire breaks large molecules into ones you can smell
Sulphur compounds4 compounds · Enzymes cut sulphur precursors the moment tissue is damaged
Anthranilate pathway2 compounds · The sister branch of the phenylpropanoids, and the one that carries nitrogen