Perfume

:For the book "Perfume" by Patrick Süskind, see Perfume (book).

Natural and synthetic aromatics

Plant sources

Plants have long been used in perfumery as a source of essential oils and aroma compounds. These aromatics are usually secondary metabolites produced by plants as protection against herbivores as well as to attract pollinators. Plants are by far the largest source of fragrant compounds used in perfumery. The sources of these compounds may be derived from various parts of a plant. A plant can offer more than one source of aromatics, for instance the aerial portions and seeds of coriander have remarkably different odors from each other. Orange leaves, blossoms, and fruit zest are the respective sources of petit grain, neroli, and orange oils.

Related Topics:
Secondary metabolites - Herbivore - Pollinator - Coriander - Orange - Petit grain - Neroli

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• Flowers and Blossoms: Undoubtably the largest source of aromatics. Includes the flowers of several species of rose and lavender, as well as jasmine, osmanthus, mimosa, tuberose, as well as the blossoms of citrus and ylang-ylang trees. Although not traditionally thought of as a flower, the unopened flower buds of the clove are also commonly used. Orchid flowers are not commercially used to produce essential oils or absolutes.
• Leaves and Twigs: Commonly used for perfumery are patchouli, sage, violets, rosemary, and citrus leaves. Sometimes leaves are valued for the "green" smell they bring to perfumes, examples of this include hay and tomato leaf.
• Roots, rhizomes and bulbs: Commonly used terrestrial portions in perfumery include iris rhizomes, vetiver roots, various rhizomes of the ginger family.
• Seeds: Commonly used seeds include vanilla, tonka bean, coriander, caraway, cocoa, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, and anise.
• Fruits: Fresh fruits such as apples, strawberries, cherries unfortunately do not yield the expected odors; if you find such fragrance notes in a perfume, they're synthetic. Notable exceptions include litsea cubeba, and juniper berry. The most commonly used fruits yield their aromatics from the rind; they include citrus such as oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit.
• Woods: Highly important in providing the base notes to a perfume, wood oils and distillates are indispensible in perfumery. Commonly used woods include sandalwood, rosewood, agarwood, birch, cedar, juniper, and pine.
• Bark: Commonly used barks includes cinnamon and cascarilla. The fragrant oil in sassafras root bark is also used either directly or purified for its main constituent, safrole, which is used in the synthesis of other fragrant compounds such as helional.
• Resins: Valued since antiquity, resins have been widely used in incense and perfumery. Highly fragrant and antiseptic resins and resin-containing perfumes have been used by many cultures as medicines for a large variety of ailments. Commonly used resins in perfumery include labdanum, frankincense/olibanum, myrrh, Peru balsam, gum benzoin. Pine and fir resins are a particularly valued source of terpenes used in the organic synthesis of many other synthetic or naturally occurring aromatic compounds. Some of what is called amber and copal in perfumery today is the resinous secretion of fossil conifers.
• Lichens: Commonly used lichen includes oakmoss and treemoss thalli.

Animal sources

• Musk: Originally derived from the musk sacs from the Asian musk deer, it has now been replaced by the use of synthetic musks due to its price and various ethical issues.
• Civet: Also call Civet Musk, this is obtained from the odorous sacs of the civets, animals in the family Viverridae, related to the Mongoose.
• Castoreum: Obtained from the odorous sacs of the North American beaver.
• Ambergris: Lumps of oxidized fatty compounds, whose precursors were secreted and expelled by the Sperm Whale. Ambergris is commonly referred as "amber" in perfumery and should not be confused with yellow amber, which is used in jewelry.
• Honeycomb: Distilled from the honeycomb of the Honeybee.

Synthetic sources

Synthetic aromatics are created through organic synthesis from various chemical compounds that are obtained from petroleum distillates or pine resins. Synthetics can provide fragrances which are not found in nature. For instance, Calone, a compound of synthetic origin, imparts a fresh ozonous metallic marine scent that is widely used in contemporary perfumes. Synthetic aromatics are often used as an alternate source of compounds that are not easily obtained from natural sources. For example, linalool and coumarin are both naturally occurring compounds that can be cheaply synthesized from terpenes. Orchid scents are usually not obtained directly from the plant itself but are instead synthetically created to match the fragrant compounds found in various orchids.

Related Topics:
Petroleum - Pine - Calone - Linalool - Coumarin - Terpenes

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