{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,23]],"date-time":"2026-10-23T21:03:35Z","timestamp":1792789415976,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"19","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,4]],"date-time":"2026-10-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791072000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002888","name":"Beijing Municipal Education Commission","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["KM202410011008"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KM202410011008"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002888","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["KM202410011008"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["KM202410011008"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/04bpn6s66","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["32102118"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32102118"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["32102118"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32102118"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Research Foundation for Youth Scholars of Beijing Technology and Business University","award":["RFYS2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RFYS2025"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013e0zm98","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["RFYS2025"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["RFYS2025"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/013e0zm98","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Foundation of Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Industry, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences","award":["CXLH-2025008"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CXLH-2025008"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/042pgcv68","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["CXLH-2025008"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CXLH-2025008"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/042pgcv68","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Foods"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Volatile and sensory differences among 28 commercial soy sauces were investigated using HS\u2013GC\u2013IMS, check-all-that-apply (CATA) evaluation, aroma addition experiments, and molecular docking. Ninety-nine volatile compounds from 14 chemical classes were detected. Total semiquantitative volatile concentrations ranged from 2024.56 to 6279.59 \u03bcg\/mL, with esters, alcohols, and aldehydes accounting for 70.68% of the total. Of the 24 CATA descriptors, 13 were retained for product-level correlation analysis. Exploratory Pearson analysis indicated that alcoholic, savory, and malty attributes were associated with a group dominated by fatty acids, branched-chain alcohols, and esters, whereas woody and chocolate-like attributes showed an opposing pattern involving several aldehydes, ketones, and alkylpyrazines. Fifteen candidate compounds were evaluated by single-compound addition. Benzaldehyde and ethyl propanoate enhanced savory perception; 2-ethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazine enhanced the alcoholic attribute; methyl 2-methylbutyrate enhanced smoky, meaty, and alcoholic attributes; and ethyl acetate enhanced malty, meaty, and alcoholic attributes. Several other additions produced opposing or nonsignificant effects, indicating matrix- and concentration-dependent responses. Among the binary docking models, guaiacol\u20132-ethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazine and homofuraneol\u2013benzaldehyde produced the lowest scores with OR10G4 (\u221210.10 kcal\/mol) and OR5M3 (\u221213.32 kcal\/mol), respectively. In combination, these results show that product-level correlations can guide candidate selection but require matrix-based sensory verification, while docking provides structural hypotheses for odorant co-binding.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/foods15193545","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T10:02:27Z","timestamp":1791194547000},"page":"3545","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Volatile Chemistry and Aroma Differences in Commercial Soy Sauces: Sensory Links and Odorant\u2013Receptor Interactions"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-3830-5841","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kun","family":"Zhao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"China Key Laboratory of Geriatric Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4041-3523","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Qinguo","family":"Quan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"China Key Laboratory of Geriatric Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Ping","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"China Key Laboratory of Geriatric Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Siqi","family":"Hu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"China Key Laboratory of Geriatric Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China"},{"name":"Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Sustainable Utilization of Traditional Chinese Medicine Resources, Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Industry, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Nanchang 330115, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Baoguo","family":"Sun","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"China Key Laboratory of Geriatric Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"resources","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1036-8218","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dandan","family":"Pu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"China Key Laboratory of Geriatric Nutrition and Health, Ministry of Education, Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"257","article-title":"Studies on succession and spatial heterogeneity of microbial community during the soy sauce fermentation process","volume":"22","author":"Wang","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Chin. Inst. Food Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102638","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fochx.2025.102638","article-title":"Elucidating metabolic and flavor evolution in traditional Chinese soy sauce during industrial-scale fermentation: A multi-omics approach","volume":"29","author":"Luo","year":"2025","journal-title":"Food Chem. X"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pu, D., Xu, Z., Sun, B., Wang, Y., Xu, J., and Zhang, Y. (2025). Advances in food aroma analysis: Extraction, separation, and quantification techniques. Foods, 14.","DOI":"10.3390\/foods14081302"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6673089","DOI":"10.1155\/2023\/6673089","article-title":"Characterization of key odorants in soy sauce and their concentration changes during storage","volume":"2023","author":"Wang","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Food Qual."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"135995","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2023.135995","article-title":"Characterization of the key aroma compounds in soy sauce by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-olfactometry, headspace-gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry, odor activity value, and aroma recombination and omission analysis","volume":"419","author":"Wang","year":"2023","journal-title":"Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101341","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijgfs.2025.101341","article-title":"Characterization of key aroma-active compounds in soy sauce \u201cGuoqi\u201d after Chinese cooking by GC\u00d7 GC-O-MS","volume":"42","author":"Xu","year":"2025","journal-title":"Int. J. Gastron. Food Sci."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"340","DOI":"10.1002\/jsfa.12924","article-title":"Evaluation of the differences between low-salt solid-state fermented soy sauce and high-salt diluted-state fermented soy sauce in China: From taste-active compounds and aroma-active compounds to sensory characteristics","volume":"104","author":"Liu","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Sci. Food Agric."},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"250","article-title":"Characterization of the Differential Aroma Compounds among 10 Different Kinds of Premium Soy Sauce","volume":"45","author":"Shi","year":"2024","journal-title":"Sci. Technol. Food Ind."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gao, X., Han, X., Tang, Y., Song, H., Meng, Q., Chen, R., Yu, J., Yang, P., and Yu, Z. (2024). Sensory-Directed Characterization of Key Aroma-Active Compounds for High-Salt Dilute-State Fermented Soy Sauce. SSRN Electron. Journal., 4778398.","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.4778398"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5592877","DOI":"10.1155\/jamc\/5592877","article-title":"HS\u2013GC\u2013IMS Coupled With Chemometrics Analyzes Volatile Aroma Compounds in Steamed Polygonatum cyrtonema Hua at Different Production Stages","volume":"2025","author":"Shen","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Anal. Methods Chem."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102689","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fochx.2025.102689","article-title":"Comparative analysis of key flavor compounds in various baijiu types using E-nose, HS-SPME-GC\u2013MS\/MS, and HS-GC-IMS technologies","volume":"29","author":"Huang","year":"2025","journal-title":"Food Chem. X"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"104159","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodqual.2020.104159","article-title":"An investigation of the stability of Free-Comment and Check-All-That-Apply in two consumer studies on red wines and milk chocolates","volume":"90","author":"Mahieu","year":"2021","journal-title":"Food Qual. Prefer."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"103794","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodqual.2019.103794","article-title":"What does it mean to check-all-that-apply? Four case studies with beverages","volume":"80","author":"Jaeger","year":"2020","journal-title":"Food Qual. Prefer."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"934","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jafc.1c06110","article-title":"Integration of molecular docking analysis and molecular dynamics simulations for studying food proteins and bioactive peptides","volume":"70","author":"Liceaga","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Agric. Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1111\/ijfs.14325","article-title":"Recent developments in molecular docking technology applied in food science: A review","volume":"55","author":"Tao","year":"2020","journal-title":"Int. J. Food Sci. Technol."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"139931","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2024.139931","article-title":"Characterization of volatile compounds and identification of key aroma compounds in different aroma types of Rougui Wuyi rock tea","volume":"455","author":"Liang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101377","DOI":"10.1016\/j.crfs.2026.101377","article-title":"An integrated approach to smoky food flavor: Decoding key odorants, sensory contributions, and olfactory recognition mechanisms","volume":"12","author":"Wang","year":"2026","journal-title":"Curr. Res. Food Sci."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10999","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jafc.1c03314","article-title":"Key food furanones furaneol and sotolone specifically activate distinct odorant receptors","volume":"69","author":"Haag","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Agric. Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11612","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jafc.0c04274","article-title":"Chemical and sensory characteristics of soy sauce: A review","volume":"68","author":"Eichelsheim","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Agric. Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"91","DOI":"10.1002\/ffj.70020","article-title":"Identification and Comparative Analysis of Key Volatile Constituents in Soy Sauce, Coupled with Elucidation of Their Molecular Interactions with Olfactory Receptors Through Molecular Docking","volume":"41","author":"Ji","year":"2026","journal-title":"Flavour Fragr. J."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"142252","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2024.142252","article-title":"Decoding the aroma changes of stir-fried shredded potatoes with different soy sauces using thermal desorption combined with gas chromatography\u2013mass spectrometry and sensory evaluation","volume":"467","author":"Meng","year":"2025","journal-title":"Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101571","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fochx.2024.101571","article-title":"Sensory-directed flavor analysis reveals the improvement in aroma quality of summer green tea by osmanthus scenting","volume":"23","author":"Wang","year":"2024","journal-title":"Food Chem. X"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"138045","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2023.138045","article-title":"High-intensity ultrasound promoted the maturation of high-salt liquid-state soy sauce: A mean of enhancing quality attributes and sensory properties","volume":"438","author":"Yu","year":"2024","journal-title":"Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"297","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fshw.2021.11.023","article-title":"Metabolomics mechanism of traditional soy sauce associated with fermentation time","volume":"11","author":"Zhu","year":"2022","journal-title":"Food Sci. Hum. Wellness"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Pu, D., Shi, Y., Meng, R., Yong, Q., Shi, Z., Shao, D., Sun, B., and Zhang, Y. (2023). Decoding the Different Aroma-Active Compounds in Soy Sauce for Cold Dishes via a Multiple Sensory Evaluation and Instrumental Analysis. Foods, 12.","DOI":"10.3390\/foods12193693"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"130334","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2021.130334","article-title":"Characterization of the aroma-active compounds in black soybean sauce, a distinctive soy sauce","volume":"364","author":"Gao","year":"2021","journal-title":"Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"356","DOI":"10.3746\/pnf.2018.23.4.356","article-title":"Volatile compounds in seasoning sauce produced from soy sauce residue by reaction flavor technology","volume":"23","author":"Wang","year":"2018","journal-title":"Prev. Nutr. Food Sci."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"149941","DOI":"10.1016\/j.foodchem.2026.149941","article-title":"Elucidating the chemical and perceptual basis of lychee-like aroma in grapes through multi-omics and molecular sensory analyses","volume":"521","author":"Wang","year":"2026","journal-title":"Food Chem."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"117697","DOI":"10.1016\/j.lwt.2025.117697","article-title":"A flavor imitation method for Osmanthus aroma based on molecular docking screening and odor activity value analysis","volume":"223","author":"Jia","year":"2025","journal-title":"LWT"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chunxiao, L., Xin, H., Bowen, L., Bingqing, S., Mengqi, Z., Shuwen, Z., Jingyuan, Z., and Jiangtao, L. (2025). Uncovering the mechanism of resveratrol in the treatment of asthma: A network pharmacology approach with molecular docking and experimental validation. Front. Pharmacol., 16.","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2025.1596737"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"12040","DOI":"10.1080\/07391102.2023.2266524","article-title":"VinaLigGen: A method to generate LigPlots and retrieval of hydrogen and hydrophobic interactions from protein-ligand complexes","volume":"42","author":"Agrawal","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"eaeb9026","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.aeb9026","article-title":"Structural basis of odorant recognition by a mammalian class II odorant receptor","volume":"12","author":"Gil","year":"2026","journal-title":"Sci. Adv."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e70708","DOI":"10.1111\/1750-3841.70708","article-title":"Exploring Interactions of Volatile Constituents From Polygonum multiflorum With Inflammation-Related Targets via Dual-Ligand Docking and MD Simulations","volume":"90","author":"Wang","year":"2025","journal-title":"J. Food Sci."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2014","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.jcim.2c00752","article-title":"Modeling the orthosteric binding site of the G protein-coupled odorant receptor OR5K1","volume":"63","author":"Nicoli","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Chem. Inf. Model."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"e79557","DOI":"10.7554\/eLife.79557","article-title":"Diverse states and stimuli tune olfactory receptor expression levels to modulate food-seeking behavior","volume":"11","author":"McLachlan","year":"2022","journal-title":"elife"}],"container-title":["Foods"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2304-8158\/15\/19\/3545\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T10:31:56Z","timestamp":1791196316000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2304-8158\/15\/19\/3545"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,4]]},"references-count":35,"journal-issue":{"issue":"19","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10]]}},"alternative-id":["foods15193545"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/foods15193545","relation":{},"ISSN":["2304-8158"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2304-8158","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,4]]}}}