Raw Materials Part 1

Question 1

What are thee 3 types of raw materials used for perfumery?

Answer 1

1. Naturally Occurring
   - Plant origin
   - Animal origin
2. Nature-identical
   - same structure as natural substances but made by chemical means
3. Man-made
   - made by chemists, not found in nature

Question 2

Describe the 2 origins of natural raw materials

Answer 2

1. Plant origin
   - isolated by various extraction methods from whole plant or specific parts
2. Animal origin
   - animal secretions, glands and other organs with high odoriferous potency
   - but most now are synthetic

Question 3

What are the 5 types of extraction techniques?

Answer 3

1. Distillation
2, Expression 
3. Enfleurage 
4. Solvent extraction 
5. Co2 extraction

Question 4

What is obtained from steam distillation?

Answer 4

End product: Essential oils

By-product: Floral waters (aqueous)

Question 5

When do we use the expression technique?

Answer 5

End product: Essential oils
For citrus fruits e.g. lemon, orange, bergamot
- we use the peels of the fruits and cold press it
- does not involve heat
oils are squeezed out

Question 6

What is enfleurage?

Answer 6

End product: Pomade
Old processing technique where cold purified fat is used
- costly & labour intensive, rarely used nowadays
- mainly for some flower varieties e.g. jasmine & tuberose

Question 7

What is solvent extraction?

Answer 7

End product: Fragrant oil extracted then solvent removed to yield concrete or resinoid

• common & effective method
• using volatile solvents

Question 8

Difference in products between steam distillation & solvent extraction?

Answer 8

Steam distillation products smell lighter than solvent extraction
- plant materials may dissolve into solvent during extraction (absolutes would smell heavier)

Question 9

What are pomades?

Answer 9

Combination of flower oil, waxes and fats obtained by enfleurage

Question 10

What are concretes?

Answer 10

Waxy masses remaining after solvent extraction of various plant parts e.g. fresh flowers

Question 11

What about resinoids?

Answer 11

Obtained by solvent extraction from resins

Question 12

What are absolutes?

Answer 12

Highly concentrated fragrance materials obtained through alcohol extraction from concretes (also from pomades from enfleurage)

Question 13

Describe CO2 extraction

Answer 13

Product: More “true” to original scent of raw material
Carbon dioxide liquefies under pressure (good solvent properties)
- extraction at fairly low temps
- considerably high costs but co2 can be easily removed

Question 14

What are some synthetic raw materials that are nature-identical?

Answer 14

Jasmone, Methyl jasmonate

Question 15

How abut man-made synthetic raw materials?

Answer 15

Hedione, methyl dihydrojasmonate, calone

Question 16

How is headspace analysis carried out?

Answer 16

Scent molecules in headspace surrounding flower is captured

- analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectometry

Question 17

What are some advantages of synthetics?

Answer 17

Price 
- consistent quality, not necessarily cheaper
Availability
Creative Freedom 
Extend scent to other product lines