Are fragrance oils the same as the aroma chemicals

you use?



FRAGRANCE OILS



In perfumery the term Fragrance Oils is used to mean
a Perfume Compound. They are complex mixtures of different
types of aromatic materials, mixed together by the creative
perfumer in response to a brief received from a finished
goods manufacturer that requires a concentrated perfume
to add to his/her product.



The professional compounder uses several different types
of material to create a perfume compound aroma chemicals
(synthetically produced aromatic molecules usually a
single molecule), essential oils (natural extracts obtained
by steam distillation or expression), absolutes (natural
extracts obtained by solvent extraction), specialties
(produced by perfume houses and unique to that house.
They are usually simple compounds or aroma chemicals with
a relatively high level of impurities that make
them distinctive), bases (perfume compounds produced by
a perfume house), and captive chemicals (patented aroma
chemicals that have not yet been released to the market
but kept in house for use a companys own perfume compounds).



Fragrance oils (perfume compounds) are highly concentrated
and are invariably diluted before application to the skin.
The diluents can be oils (diethyl phthalate, dipropylene
glycol, iso-propyl myristate etc), or ethanol, or the
product base itself. Since it is uneconomical to ship
solvent, dilution normally takes place close to the
finished product line.





ESSENTIAL OILS & ABSOLUTES



Essential oils are natural oils obtained from aromatic
plant material. They are usually produced by steam
distillation (boiling it out) where steam is driven
into the plant bursting the cells that contain essential
oil. The oil turns into a vapour and this, plus a great
deal of steam is condensed back into liquid form and
collected in a receiver. The oil will separate from the
water and float on the top or sink to the bottom,
depending on the oil. Since essential oils are created
from vapours, and the nose can only detect vapours,
all of the essential oil has the potential to be smelled.
The water below an essential oil will contain those parts
of the essential oil that are soluble in water. These
can be critical components (phenyl ethyl alcohol in rose)
and may require the producer to compensate for the loss
by adding the materials back into the oil or by adopting
cohobation (recycling of the water). Examples of
distillation waters are rose water (beneath otto rose),
orange flower water (beneath neroli) and lavender water
(beneath lavender oil). Some essential oils are obtained
by expression e.g. from the peel of citrus fruits
(squeezing it out).



Because distillation involves a lot of heat, it can only
be used on plants that have a relatively robust constitution.
Delicate plants like Jasmin, Narcissus, Mimosa etc., are
destroyed by hot processes and require a cold process like
solvent extraction (dissolving it out). The choice of solvent
is critical. Ethanol is a poor choice because although it
dissolves the oil, it is also 100% miscible with water,
and since plant material contains a lot of water, this
would be extracted too and is a problem to remove. For
this reason hydrocarbon solvents are often used but they
too have disadvantages. They bring with them the waxes
from the plant; they are toxic and have to be completely
removed before use; and they dissolve coloured materials
too like chlorophyll.



When the solvent is removed, this leaves a concrete - a
solid waxy lump. This is then gently warmed in ethanol
and the waxes are filtered off yielding an alcoholic
extract solution. The ethanol is vacuum distilled off,
leaving an absolute (if you distil in a vacuum, the
temperature is kept much lower). Absolutes tend to be
more expensive than essential oils due to the fact that
solvent extraction is a multi-stage process.



Today, many different solvents are used with the aim
of keeping the temperature as low as possible in order
not to lose the highly volatile head space of the natural
material. Solvents include butane and carbon dioxide.



There are many essential oils and absolutes that are
harmful to use in 100% concentration.



NATURAL FRAGRANCE OILS



The name suggests that natural fragrance oils are perfume
compounds that have been created using 100% natural materials.
However, since natural fragrance oils is not a recognised
phrase, it is best to check with the supplier as to the
exact meaning.


Thanks to Frank and John