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Introduction
Perfumery
can be considered to be an art and can be traced back in time as far
as ancient Egypt, it was further refined by the Romans and the
Arabs. Knowledge of perfumery came to Europe as early as the 14th
century. During the Renaissance period, perfumes were used primarily
by royalty and the wealthy to mask bodily odours resulting from the
poor sanitary practices of the day. Since then it is widely used in
many different forms.
Basically,
perfumes are a mixture of fragrant essential oils and aroma
compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body,
objects, and living spaces a lasting, pleasant and pleasing smell.
The subject of perfumery is a fascinating one. This guide will show
you some of the foundations of the subject and is split into three
logical parts (links to each section are shown above), aromas
and their sources, the methods of obtaining odorants and the
composing or creation of perfumes. You will also find a number of
different perfumery raw materials and products on this site. If you
can't find what you are looking for, please contact us as we keep a
very large number of perfumery ingredients in stock in our
warehouses.
The
different types of aromas and their sources
If
you are beginner to the world of perfumery, then one of the first
things you should get to know is the different types of aromas and
their sources. The list below shows the different types and is split
into different sections, natural, animal and synthetic.
Plant
sources
Plants
have long been used in perfumery as a source of essential oils and
aroma compounds. 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 odours from each other.
Orange leaves, blossoms, and fruit zest are the respective sources
of petit grain, neroli, and orange oils.
Bark:
The most commonly used barks are cascarilla and cinnamon. 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.
Flowers
and Blossoms: This section is where the largest source of
aromatics can be found. These of Include the flowers of several
species of lavender and rose, as well as jasmine, mimosa, osmanthus,
tuberose as well as the flowers / blossom of the 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.
Fruits:
Fresh fruits such as apples, cherries and strawberries are famous
for not always providing the odours you would expect from them. The
such fragrance notes you may find in perfumery will always be
synthetic. The only exceptions are litsea cubeba, and juniper berry.
The most commonly used fruity fragrances usually yield their aroma
from the rind, these include citrus such as oranges, lemons, limes,
and grapefruit.
Leaves
and Twigs: Only a few different types of leaves and twigs are
used within perfumery. The most commonly used are citrus, patchouli,
rosemary, sage and violets.
Lichens:
These are fungus, of the class ascomycetes, that usually grow with
algae, resulting in a composite organism that forms a crust or
branching growth on rocks or tree trunks. The most commonly used
lichens are oakmoss and treemoss thalli.
Resins:
These have been 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.
Roots,
rhizomes and bulbs: The most commonly used of these in
perfumery include iris rhizomes, vetiver roots, various rootstock of
the ginger family.
Seeds:
Some of the most commonly used seeds used in perfumery are: anise,
caraway, cardamom, cocoa, coriander, mace, nutmeg, vanilla and the
lesser known tonka bean.
Woods:
The woods section is always important when providing the base notes
to a perfume, wood oils and distillates are indispensable in
perfumery. The most commonly used woods include sandalwood,
rosewood, agarwood, birch, cedar, juniper, and pine.
Animal
sources
Although
some of these sources and their aromas are extremely unpleasant but
are pleasant when highly diluted. They are very important as
preserving agents when mixed with alcoholic solutions (it is the
undiluted aroma that can be rather unpleasant).
Ambergris:
This is obtained from lumps of oxidized fatty compounds, which is
secreted and expelled by the Sperm Whale. This is extremely rare and
in some regions of the world is banned.
Castoreum:
This is obtained from the odorous sacs of the North American beaver.
Civet:
Again, this is obtained from the odorous sacs of the civets, animals
in the family Viverridae, related to the Mongoose.
Honeycomb:
Distilled from the honeycomb of the Honeybee.
Musk:
This was originally derived from the musk sacs from the Asian musk
deer, but has now been replaced by the use of synthetic musk's due
to its outstandingly high price and various ethical issues.
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.
Methods
of obtaining odorants
Before
perfumes can be composed, the odorants used in various perfume
compositions must first be obtained. Synthetic odorants are produced
through organic synthesis and purified. Odorants from natural
sources require the use of various methods to extract the aromatics
from the raw materials. The results of the extraction are either
essential oils, absolutes, concretes, or butters, depending on the
amount of waxes in the extracted product.
Distillation:
A common technique for obtaining aromatic compounds from flowers,
plants, and grasses, such as orange blossoms and roses. The raw
material is placed in a distillation still with water and
heated until the fragrant compounds are driven from the material and
re-collected through condensation of the distilled vapour. The water
used in distillation, which retains some of the fragrant compounds
and oils from the raw material is called hydrosol.
Effleurage:
Absorption of aroma materials into wax and then extracting the
odorous oil with alcohol. Extraction by effleurage was commonly used
when distillation was not possible due to the fact that some
fragrant compounds denature through high heat. This technique is not
commonly used in the present day industry due to its prohibitive
cost and the existence of more efficient and effective extraction
methods.
Expression:
Raw material is squeezed or compressed and the oils are collected.
Of all raw materials, only the fragrant oils from the peels of
fruits in the citrus family are extracted in this manner since the
oil is present in large enough quantities as to make this extraction
method economically feasible.
Maceration/Solvent
extraction: The most commonly used and economically important
technique for extracting aromatics in the modern perfume industry.
Raw materials are submerged in a solvent that can dissolve the
desired aromatic compounds. Maceration lasts anywhere from
hours to months. Fragrant compounds for woody and fibrous plant
materials are often obtained in this matter as are all aromatics
from animal sources. The technique can also be used to extract
odorants that are too volatile for distillation or easily
denatured by heat. Commonly used solvents for maceration/solvent
extraction include ethanol, hexane, and dimethyl ether.
Composing
Perfumes
Perfume
oils usually contain tens to hundreds of ingredients. Included in
the perfume are fixatives, which bind the various fragrances
together, include balsams, ambergris, and secretions from the scent
glands of civets and musk deer (undiluted, these have unpleasant
smells but in alcoholic solution they act as preserving agents).
The mixture is normally aged for one year.
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