Title: Perfumes
1Perfumes
- Earliest use of plant fragrance lost in history
- Perfume (burning plants) may have been first use
- Egyptians using scented oils at least 5000 years
ago - Egyptian men would put solid cone of perfume on
the head, let it melt
2- Greeks used various scents for different body
parts - mint, marjorum, thyme, etc
- Romans scented clothes, houses, bedding and bath
oil, as well as their bodies - Japanese and Chinese used incense as clocks
http//www.nawcc.org/museum/nwcm/galleries/asian/i
ncense.htm
3Traditional methods of extracting essences
- Not usually water soluble
- Macerate (chop) plant parts in hot oil, then
extract with alcohol - Enfleurage
- flowers placed on layer of purified fat or oil
- they are replaced every couple of weeks
- yields outstanding scents, very expensive
http//www.museesdegrasse.com
4- Popularity of perfume waned in Europe after the
fall of the Roman empire, returned with the
crusaders - Distillation of essential oils
- Attributed to Avicenna, Arab, late 900s
5Distillation of natural fragrances
- Plant parts are exposed to steam
- Volatile oils are carried out in steam
- Steam is cooled, oil floats and can be skimmed
- 5-6 tons of roses needed to get one kilo of
essential rose oil - Fractional distillation allows collection of
substances with different volatility
6Attars (steam distillates) being prepared in India
7Perfumes in 18th century Europe
- More flowery as opposed to heavier scents
- Numerous ways to use perfumes, elaborate
containers - Vinaigrettes
- Pommanders go out of style with availability of
liquid perfume
8Eau de Cologne
- Germany, invented an 1709 by an Italian barber
- Rosemary, orange flower, and bergamot oils
distilled in grape spirits - Non-greasy
- Napolean decreed the formula must be public in
1810
9Grasse, in Provence, France
- Started with tannery perfumes
- for scenting gloves?
- A local company got a patent on the distillation
system - 1720s become a local industry
- Good sources for jasmine, rose, orange
- Modern perfume industry started here
10Perfume odorant types today
- Concretes
- purest, soft plant parts are placed in solvent
- Absolutes
- concretes concentrated in alcohol
- Resinoids
- extracted like concretes, from plant secretions
- Tinctures
- direct extraction with ethanol
- Distilled essential oils
- most common modern methods
11Perfume anatomy
- Top notes
- immediately perceived, highly volatile, bright,
often citrus, ginger - Middle notes
- a minute to an hour often rose, lavender
- Bottom notes
- often animal, resin scents, perhaps vanilla,
sandlewood
12Types of fragances
- Perfume (22 essential oils)
- Eau de Parfum (15-22)
- Eau de Toilette (8-15)
- Eau de Cologne (4)
13Business of scents (perfumes)
- 10-20 billion dollar industry
- Only a few companies are doing smell R D
- They work for two main client groups household
products companies, and perfume companies - Lots of secrecy
14Lavender
- Mint family
- Sterile hybrid of two species (L. angustifolia
and L. latifolia) most often used today - Obtained by steam distillation
- More than 300 components, linalool important
- In many mens fragrances (fern note)
15Rose
- Rosa centifolia and damascena
- Petals extracted with steam or solvents
- Used in many perfumes, foods
16Geranium
- Pelargonium graveolens
- Oils distilled from leaves and stems
- Much cheaper than rose, similar fragrance in some
types - Essence from Reunion island especially fruity
- Also in drinks, insect repellent
17Geraniol and related compounds
- Found in a variety of plants
- Also produced synthetically
18Jasmine
- Jasminum grandiflorum
- Volatile solvents now used, used to be enfleurage
- A ton of flowers to yield a kilo of essence
- Extremely expensive
- Wide range of jasmonoid compounds, biosynthesis
perhaps similar to prostaglandins - Benzyl acetate and related compounds common
19Tuberose
- Polyanthes tuberosa
- Amaryllis relative
- Expensive, low yield to extract, done by
enfleurage until relatively recently - Many fragrance compounds (eugenols, nerol) also
some weird tuberose lactones
20Orange
- Citrus species
- Flowers, leaves, fruits, even bark all used
- Distillation or solvents used
- Wide range of compounds isolated, including
linalool
21Bergamot
- Citrus bergamia
- Zests from unripe fruits used
- Harmonious with many other compounds contains
linalool, limonene does not dominate in this as
it does in orange oil - Coumarins removed from essence (photosensitizing)
- In Earl Grey tea, as well as perfumes, soaps
- Eau de Colognes
22Iris of Florence
- Iris pallida
- Violet-scented rhizomes (orris root) used to
produce a concrete with iron in myristic acid
(called a butter) - In perfume with heavy, woody notes
23ylang-ylang
- Cananga odorata, related plants
- From SE Asia (?)
- Annonaceae
- Very floral scent
- Several common compounds (eugenols, linalool)
also - p-Cresyl methyl ether
- stinks by itself, but blends well
24Patchouli
- Shrub in the mint family
- Pogostemon cablin
- Distilled dried leaves yield several important
fragrances - Distinctive strong odor, but also mixes well
25Vanilla
- Native to Mexico, much now grown in Madagascar
- More than 200 compounds have been identified
- Extract used in small amounts in perfumes its
very strong - Lots of synthetic vanillin relatives used
Vanillin analogs, some with carnation, cocoa
butter overtones
vanillin
26Oakmoss
- Evernia prunastri
- A lichen found in much of Europe
- Some constituents now synthesized
27Olibanum (incense tree)
- Resin from a Boswellia tree
- Resinous, woody smell
- Used in some perfumes (Opium, Jicky)
28Fixatives
- Various animal products
- Ambergis, musk, castoreum, civet
- synthetics often used now
- e.g. ambergris compound from sage
29Others
- Ginger, cardamom, pepper (Piper nigrum), clove
- Many more
30Perfume themes
- Floral
- Chypre (bergamot, jasmine, oakmoss)
- Aldehydic (most famous is Chanel No.5, described
as piquant) - Fougerè (lavender, coumarin, oakmoss), often in
mens products - Woody (sandlewood, patchouli, cedar)
- Oriental (includes vanilla, ambergris)
31Synthetic vs natural what are the issues?
- The truth about fragrance oils
- www.earthmamaangelbaby.com/fragrance_oils.html
- Each essential oil comes from just one source, a
living plant. There are no chemicals involved. - Remember, they are all chemicals!
- We may actually know more about the synthetic
mixtures than the natural ones
32Concerns
- Toxicity to people?
- Allergens?
- Increasing asthma incidence?
- Unknown compounds in the mix?
- Persistence in the environment?
- Example synthetic musk
33Synthetic musk
- May accumulate in some organisms (e.g. mussels),
prevents removal of other toxins