Aroma compounds are diverse low molecular weight organic molecules responsible for the flavour of food, medicines or cosmetics. Natural and artificial aroma compounds are manufactured and used by the industry to enhance the flavour and fragrance of products. While the low concentrations of aroma compounds present in food may leave no effect on the structural integrity of the mucosa, the effect of concentrated aroma volatiles is not well understood. At high concentrations, like those found in some flavoured products such as e-cigarettes, some aroma compounds are suggested to elicit a certain degree of change in the mucin glycoprotein network, depending on their functional group. These effects are particularly associated with carbonyl compounds such as aldehydes and ketones, but also phenols which may interact with mucin and other glycoproteins through other interaction mechanisms. This study demonstrates the formation of such interactions in vitro through the use of molecular hydrodynamics. Sedimentation velocity studies reveal that the strength of the carbonyl compound interaction is influenced by compound hydrophobicity, in which the more reactive short chain compounds show the largest increase in mucin-aroma sedimentation coefficients. By contrast, the presence of groups that increases the steric hindrance of the carbonyl group, such as ketones, produced a milder effect. The interaction effects were further demonstrated for hexanal using size exclusion chromatography light scattering (SEC-MALS) and intrinsic viscosity. In addition, phenolic aroma compounds were identified to reduce the sedimentation coefficient of mucin, which is consistent with interactions in the non-glycosylated mucin region.

香气化合物是引起食品，药品或化妆品风味的各种低分子量有机分子。天然和人工香气化合物已被工业制造并用于增强产品的风味和香气。尽管食物中存在的低浓度香气化合物可能不会对粘膜的结构完整性造成任何影响，但人们对浓香气挥发物的影响却知之甚少。在高浓度下（如在某些风味产品（例如电子烟）中发现的浓度），建议某些香气化合物根据其官能团在粘蛋白糖蛋白网络中引起一定程度的变化。这些影响尤其与羰基化合物（如醛和酮）有关，而且还有可能通过其他相互作用机制与粘蛋白和其他糖蛋白相互作用的酚。这项研究表明通过使用分子流体动力学在体外这种相互作用的形成。沉降速度研究表明，羰基化合物相互作用的强度受化合物疏水性的影响，其中反应性更强的短链化合物在黏液-香气沉降系数中显示出最大的增加。相反，增加羰基的空间位阻的基团如酮的存在产生较温和的作用。使用尺寸排阻色谱光散射（SEC-MALS）和特性粘度进一步证明了己醛的相互作用作用。此外，