ODORANT RECOGNITION USING QUARTZ RESONATORS COATED WITH A MIXED FILM OF ASOLECTIN AND CHOLESTEROL AND MONITORING THE VISCOELASTIC CHANGE OF THE FILM

Lipid-coated quartz resonators were applied to odorant recognition. An impedance analyser and a microcomputer were used for measurement of the resonant frequency and the resonant resistance. Mixtures of asolectin and cholesterol were used for lipid coating and n-amyl acetate, citral, beta-ionone, menthone, etc., were used as odorants. The patterns of the resonant frequency shifts obtained for each odorant by use of the films showed that the response values did not depend proportionally on the mixing ratio of asolectin and cholesterol. Similarity of odorants was calculated from the patterns. The ratio of the resonant frequency shift and the resonant resistance change was used to consider the viscoelastic property change of the film and the possibilty of odorant recognition using this ratio was demonstrated.