Identification and quantification of glue-like off-odors in elastic therapeutic tapes

Philipp Denk, Andrea Buettner

Elastic therapeutic tapes are an important tool in the field of physical therapy and medicine. These tapes contain types of adhesive. However, sensory evaluations revealed the release of pronounced and irritating odors of the tapes. Negative odors were, amongst others, reported in elastic therapeutic tapes containing acrylic adhesives. In this study, the odor of four different tape samples was evaluated applying a descriptive analysis approach carried out by a trained sensory panel. Afterwards, the volatile compounds were recovered from the samples by solvent extraction and isolated by solvent-assisted flavor evaporation (SAFE). The obtained distillates were subsequently analyzed by gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O) and two-dimensional GC-O coupled with mass spectrometry (2D-GC-MS/O). To determine the most potent odorants in the distillates, odor extract dilution analyses (OEDA) were carried out. Thirty-one odorants were successfully identified using this approach, which were all described for the first time as odorants in tapes. Amongst the set of volatiles, unsaturated and saturated aldehydes were present, eliciting fatty, soapy, and citrus-like odor impressions, as well as a range of glue-like, moldy, and fruity smelling odor-active volatiles, such as 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, butyl benzoate, and 3-phenyltoluene. Based on their relative intensities, the concentrations of the glue-like smelling substances were determined: 2-ethyl-1-hexanol, present in all samples, was determined with concentrations ranging from 10 to 200 mg/kg in the investigated tapes.