Compounds that are easily volatilized into the gaseous state under the normal temperature and pressure environment that we are generally familiar with. The "Organic" here does not refer to the organic food we often hear, but refers to the compound formed on the basis of the element "Carbon". Organic chemistry is one of the branches of chemistry and the foundation of biochemistry.
Mold vocs are one of the products of their metabolism, and one of their functions is to act as a signal to other organisms in the environment; however, when they enter our noses, they often make us have unpleasant experiences. What does the molecular logo design structure of these vocs look like? In fact, there are thousands of vocs released by mold, and it is really impossible to introduce them in a short article, so we will pick three more common ones to introduce (figure 1).
Figure 1: three common mold vocs. Mushroom alcohol produces a mushroom-like taste, 2-heptanone produces a cheese-like taste, and isoamyl alcohol produces a truffle-like taste. Mushroom alcohol, as the name suggests, produces the taste of mushrooms, and many different types of molds produce mushroom alcohol, a voc. 2-heptanone smells like cheese; isoamyl alcohol smells like truffles. You may be wondering, aren't the vocs just mentioned all about the taste of food? What does this have to do with the "Musty smell" we know?
It's not surprising that vocs produced by mold have these flavors, because mushrooms and truffles are a type of mold, and many smelly cheeses also have mold, but those types of molds are edible for humans. Although we don't eat mold in the room, it's not surprising that we can produce those vocs because we are also mold! As for the "Musty smell" that each of us is familiar with, it should be more or less from the above vocs, plus many other vocs are all mixed together, and then combined with the feeling of dampness.