Monovarietal virgin olive oils (VOOs) are very effective to study relationships among sensory attributes, the compounds responsible for flavour, and factors affecting them. The stimulation of the human sensory receptors by volatile and non-volatile compounds present in monovarietal virgin olive oils gives rise to the sensory attributes that describe their peculiar delicate and fragrant flavours. The formation of these compounds is briefly illustrated and the influence of the agronomic and technological factors that affect their concentrations in the oil is examined. The relationships between compounds responsible for the olive oil flavour and sensory attributes are discussed. Several approaches for the varietal differentiation of monovarietal virgin olive oils are also overviewed.

Membrane stability of extruded large unilamellar vesicles (LUV) formed by 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoylphosphatidylcholine (POPC) containing fullerene C₆₀ or an amphiphilic fullerene derivative, 2-[2-(2-fulleropyrrolidin-1-ylethoxy)-ethoxy]-ethanol (FPE), has been investigated by spectrofluorimetrically monitoring the spontaneous release of entrapped carboxyfluorescein (CF). Under controlled conditions of temperature, osmolarity and pH, these guests increase the stability of the liposomal membrane as shown by the decrease in the rate of outflux of CF. The stability conferred to the POPC liposomes by C₆₀ and FPE has been compared with that conferred by the well-known stabilizing guest 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-N-[methoxy-(polyethylene glycol)-2000] ammonium salt (PEG). The addition of amphiphilic molecules, such as non-ionic surfactants, which intercalate into the membrane bilayer, and of sucrose or NaCl, which induce a hyposmotic stress, has been extensively investigated in order to get information on how to modulate the release of entrapped CF. This information could hopefully be useful in the formulation of new drug delivery systems as well as for getting a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of the formation/enclosure of channels through the membrane. The viscosity and the micropolarity of the membrane have been measured fluorimetrically by using pyrene as the probe. An interesting increase of the gel–liquid crystal phase transition temperature has been observed for POPC liposomes hosting C₆₀.