It’s mostly the phenol.
A little the creosol.
Most have noted "the smell of band-aids."
It’s not just bandaids. It’s most packaged bandages from the past. Phenol is used much less these days but is still used by band-aids brand and others in the manufacture of the product.
Phenol is used in the manufacture of certain legacy plastics. Creosol is both a preservative and an extremely powerful disinfectant.
They are indeed the source of the smells associated with insulin and similar biogenic products!
Insulin itself does have a smell, but it’s barely perceivable. To me, it smells like a very faint version of what a florist shop smells like. An intense, sickly sweet, odor…
I love these smells.
My mother was an RN and I was often around her work. She almost always smelled of insulin.
Later in life, I began to pursue interests in medical practice and technology. Including clinical laboratory science. Those smells are an everyday component of working or learning in that environment. So…more great memories!
Scott E, that’s exactly my experience with insulin. For years when I was still using alcohol swabs to clean the injection site, I associated the smell of insulin with alcohol. It wasn’t until I dropped and cracked a penfill that I realized insulin does have a smell. I find the smell tolerable but not pleasant. It doesn’t bring back any memories for me, as burning coal or mown grass does.