Best perfume: Fragnant extracts

Although fragnant extracts are known to the general public as the generic term "essential oils", a more specific language is used in the fragnance industry to describe the source, purity, and technique used to obtain a particular fragnant extract. Of these extracts, only absolutes, essential oils, and tinctures are directly used to formulate perfumes.

- Absolute

Fragnant materials that are purified from a pommade or concrete by soaking them in ethanol. By using a slightly hydrophilic compound such as ethanol, most of the fragnant compounds from waxy source materials can be extracted without dissolving any of the fragrantless waxy molecules. Absolutes are usually found in the form of an oily liquid.

- Concrete

Fragnant materials that have been extracted from raw materials through solvent extraction using volatile hydrocarbons. Concretes usually contain a large ammount of wax due to the ease in which the solvents dissolve various hydrophobic compounds. As such concretes are usually further purified through distillation or etanol based solvent extraction. Concretes are typically either waxy or resinous solids or thick oily liquids.

- Essential oil

Fragnant materials that have been extracted from a source material directly through distillation or expression and obtained in the form of an oily liquid. Oils extracted through expression are sometimes called expression oils.

- Pomade

A fragnant mass of solid fat created from the enfleurage process, in which odorous compounds in raw materials are adsorbed into animal fats. Pommades are found in the form of an oily and sticky solid.

- Tincture

Franant materials produced by directly soaking and infusing raw materials in ethanol. Tinctures are typically thin liquids.

Best perfume: Obtaining natural 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 ammount of waxes in the extracted product. All these techniques will, to a certain extent, distort the odor of the aromatics compounds obtained from the raw materials. This is due the use of heat, harsh solvents, or through exposure to oxygen in the extraction process which will denature the aromatic compounds, which either change their odor character or renders them odorless.

- Maceration/Solvent extraction

The most 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 last anywhere from hour to months. Fragnance compounds for woody and fibrous plant materials are often obtained in this manner 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 hexane, and dimethyl ether. The product of this process is called a "concrete"

a) Supercritical fluid extraction

A relatively new technique for extracting fragnant compounds from a raw material, which open employs Supercritical CO2. Due to the low heat of process and the relatively nonreactive solvent used in the extraction, the fragnant compounds derived often closely resemble the original odor of raw material.

b) Ethanol extraction

A type of solvent extraction used to extract fragnant compounds directly from dry raw materials, as well as the impure oily compounds materials resulting from solvent extraction or enfleurage. Ethanol extraction is not used to extract fragnance from fresh plant materials since these contain large quantities of water, which will also be extracted into the ethanol.

- Distillation

A common technique for obtaining aromatic compounds from plants, such as orange blossoms and roses. The raw material is heated and the fragnant compound are recollected through condensation of the distilled vapour.

a) Steam distillation

Steam from boiling water is passed through the raw material, which drives out their volatile fragnant compounds. The condensate from distillation are settled in a Florentine flask. This allows for the easy seperation of the fragnant oils from the water. The water collected from condensate, which retains some of the fragnant compounds and oils from the raw material is called hydrosol and sometimes sold. This is most commonly used for fresh plant materials such as flowers, leaves, and stems.

b) Dry/destructive distillation

The raw materials are directly heated in a still without a carrier solvent such as water. Fragnant compounds that are released from the raw material by the high heat often undergo anhydrous pyrolysis, which results in the formation of different fragnant compounds, and thus different fragnant notes. This method is used to obtain fragnant compounds from fossil amber and fragnant woods where an intentional "burned" or "toasted" odor is desired.

c) Fractination

Through the use of a fractination colomn, different fractions distilled from raw material can be selectively excluded to manipulated the scent of the final product. Although the product is more expensive, this is sometimes performed to remove unpleasant or undesireable scents of a material and affords the perfumer more control over their composition process.

- Expression

Raw material is squeezed or compressed and the oils are collected. Of all raw materials, only the fragnant 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.

- Enfleurage

Absorption of aroma materials into wax and then extracting the odorous oil with ethyl alcohol. Extraction by enfleurage was commonly used when distillation was not possible because some fragnant 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.

Best perfume: Characteristics perfume from synthetics

Characteristics perfume from synthetics

- Variance

Much more consistent than natural aromatics. However, differences in organic synthesis may result in minute differences in concentration of impurities. If these impurities have low smell (detection) thresholds, the differences in the scent of the synthetic aromatic will be significant.

- Components

Depending on purity, consists primarily of one chemical compound

- Scent Uniqueness

Similar to natural scents if the compounds are the same. Novel scent compounds not mimicking natural compounds however, bear little scent likeness to natural materials.

- Scent Complexity

Pure and pronounced fragnance notes. Structural and defined.

- Price

Perfumes using largely synthetic aromatics can be available at widely affordable prices. However, synthetic aromatics and perfumes are not necessarily cheaper than naturals.

Best perfume: Characteristics perfume from natural sources

Characteristics perfume from natural sources

- Variance

Vary by times and locations where they are harvested. It's much more difficult to produce consistent products with equivalent odor over years of harvest. As such, the perfumer has to "manually" balance-out the natural variations of the ingredients in order to maintain the quality of the perfume.

- Components

Thousand of chemical compounds

- Scent Uniqueness

Bears a somewhat similar scent to its originating material, depending on the extraction method.

- Scent Complexity

Deep and complex fragnance notes. Softer with subtle scent nuances.

- Price

Perfume composed of largely natural materials are usually much more expensive.

Best perfume: Aromatics sources from synthetic

Synthetic sources

Many modern perfumes contain synthetic odorants synthesized. Synthetics can provide fragnances 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 occuring compounds that can be inexpensively synthesized from terpenes. Orchid scents (typically salicylates) are usually not obtained directly from the plant itself but are instead synthetically created to match the fragnant compounds found in various orchids.

Best perfume: Aromatics sources from animal

Animal sources

- Ambergris: Lumps of oxidized fatty compounds, whose precursors were secreted and expelled by the Sperm Whale. Ambergris is commonly refrred to as "amber" in perfumery and should not be confused with yellow amber, which is used in jewelry.

- Castoreum: Obtained from the odorous sacs of the North American beaver.

- Civet: Also called Civet Musk, this is obtained from the odorus sacs of the civets, animals in the family Viverridae, related to the Mongoose. The World Society for Protection of animals investigated African civets caught for this purpose.

- Honeycomb: From the honeycomb of the Honeybee. Both beewax and honey can be solvent extracted to produce an absolute. Beewax is extracted with ethanol and the ethanol evaporated to produce beewax absolute.

- Musk: Originally derived from the musk sacs from the Asian musk deer, it has now been replaced by the use of synthetic musks which usually are called "white musk".

Best perfume: Aromatics sources from plant

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, infections, as well as to attract pollinators. Plants are by far the largest source of fragnant 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.

- Bark: Commonly used barks include cinnamon and cascarilla. The fragnant 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 fragnant compounds such as helional.

- Flowers and blossoms: Undoubtedly the largest source of aromatics. Include the flowers of several species of rose and jasmine, as well as osmanthus, mimosa, tuberose, as well as the blossoms of citur and ylang -ylang trees. Although not tradisionally thought of as flower, the unopened flower buds of the clove are also commonly used. Orchid flowers are not commercially used, which must be pollinated first and made into seed pods before use in perfumery.

- Fruits: Fresh fruits such as apples, strawberries, cherries unfortunately do not yield the expected odors when extracted; if such fragnance notes are found in perfume, they are synthetic. Notable exceptions include litsea cubeba, vanilla, and juniper berry. The most commonly used fruits yield their aromatics from rind; they include citrus such as oranges, lemons, and limes. Although grapefruit rind is still used for aromatics, more and more commercially used grapefruit aromatics are artificially synthesized since the natural aromatic contains sulfur and its degradation product is quite unpleasant in smell.

- Leaves and twigs: Commonly used for perfumery are lavender leaf, 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.

- Resins: Valued since antiquity, resins have been widely used in incense and perfumery. Highly fragnant and antiseptic resins and resin-containing perfumes have been used by many cultures as medicines for large variety of ailments. Commonly used resins in perfumery include labdanum, frankincense/olibanum, myrrh, Peru balsam, gum benzoin. Pine and fir resins are particularly valued source of terpenes used in the organic synthesis of many other synthetic or naturally occuring aromatic compounds. Some of what is called amber and copal in perfumery today is the resinous secretion of fossil conifers.

- Roots, rhizomes and bulbs: Commonly used terrestrial portions in perfumery include iris rhizomes, vetiver roots, various rhizomes of ginger family.

- Seeds: Commonly used seeds include tonka bean, coriander, caraway, cocoa, nutmeg, mace, cardamon, and anise.

- Woods: Highly important in providing the base notes to a perfume, wood oils and distillates are indispensable in perfumery. Commonly used woods include sandalwood, rosewood, agarwood, birch, cedar, juniper, and pine. These are used in the form of macerations or drydistilled (rectified) forms.