Chapter 27 Perfume and Flavoring Industry

The particular cells that perceive odors are located near the top of the nasal
cavity, quite close to the septum.
Each odor has a threshold value depending on its intensity and volatility.
Perfume gains its name from the fact that in its original form: it was incense
in the Egyptian temples (perfumare-to fill with smoke).
To Avicenna, the Arabian physician must go the honor of discovering steam
distillation of volatile oils. During his search for medical potions, he found that
flowers. Boiled in an alembic with water gave up some of their essence to the
distillate.
(History) Rene, perfumer to Catherine de'Medici, invented many new
(confections to delight the queenly nose and, in his spare time, was one of
the cleverest and deadliest of the famous de'Medici poisoners. The two main
changes that have taken place in the perfume and flavoring industries since
de'Medici's time are the introduction of synthetics and the improved methods
of obtaining the true oils.
(Uses and Economics) The use of these materials for masking agents of
disagreeable odors in manufactured goods is an ever-growing field ranging
from adhesives to rubber articles.

Perfume Industry

A perfume may he defined as any mixture of pleasantly odorous sub-stances

incorporated in a suitable vehicle.
The constituents of perfumes are threefold: the vehicle or solvent, the fixative,
and the odoriferous elements.
VEHICLE -- The modern solvent for blending and holding perfume materials is a
highly refined ethyl alcohol mixed with more or less water according to the
solubilities of the oils employed. This solvent, with its volatile nature, helps to
project the scent it carries, is fairly inert to the solutes, and is not too irritating to
the human skin. The slight natural odor of the alcohol is removed by deodorizing
or "prefixation" of the alcohol. This is accomplished by adding a small amount of
gum benzoin or other resinous fixatives to the alcohol and allowing it to mature
for a week or two. The result is an almost odorless alcohol, the natural rawness
having been neutralized by the resins.
FIXATIVE -- Fixatives may be defined as substances which are of lower volatility
than the perfume oils and which retard and even up the rate of evaporation of
the various odorous constituents. The types of fixative to be considered are
animal secretions, resinous products, essential oils, and synthetic chemicals.
a) Animal Fixative -- Of all animal products castor or castoreum, a brownish orange exudate of the perineal glands of the beaver, is employed in
the greatest quantity. Most castor is obtained as a by-product from the
Canadian, beaver. Among the odoriferous components of the volatile
oil of castor are benzyl alcohol, acetophenone, l-borneol, and 'castorin
(the volatile resinous component of unknown structure). Civet is the
soft fatty secretion of the perineal glands of the civet cats which are
indigenous to many countries, but developed by Ethiopia.

Chapter 27 Perfume and Flavoring Industry

b) Musk is the dried secretion of the preputial glands of the. male musk
deer, found in the Himalayas. The deer are killed and the musk is
excised in pods the size' of a crab apple and dried. The product in the
natural cover is called pod, musk, while that which has been removed
and dried is known as grain musk. The odor is due to a cyclic ketone
called muskone, which is present to the extent of from 1/2 to 2 per

cent.
c) Ambergris is the least used, but probably best known of the animal
fixatives. It is a calculus or secretion developed by certain whales.
Ambergris is obtained by cutting open the captured whale, or it is
found floating in the ocean or stranded on a beach. It is waxy in
consistency, softening at about 60C., with a color which may be white,
yellow, brown, black, or variegated like marble.
d) Musc Zibata is the newest animal fixative. It is derived from glands of
the muskrat which is trapped in the United States, especially in
Louisiana, and is a replacement or an addition product to the Asiatic
musk.

Resinous Fixatives -- The resinous fixatives are normal or pathological

exudates from certain plant which are more important historically than
commercially. The resins are classified rather arbitrarily as follows:

Resins: hard resins, e.g., benzoin.

Gums: soft resins, e.g., myrrh and labdanum.
Balsams: moderatel:y soft resins, e.g., Peru balsam, Tolu balsam, copiaba,
and
storax.
OIeoresins: oily materials, e.g., terpenes.
Resinoids: extracts from resins, less viscous, e.g., ambrein.

If solution is brought about in the cold, the mixture is called tincture. If

heat is required to give solution, the mixture is an infusion.

The most important of the soft gums is labdanum. The leaves of a plant
growing in the Mediterranean area exude this sticky substance. In Spain, the
branches are boiled in water to remove the gum. In France, the leaves are

Chapter 27 Perfume and Flavoring Industry

treated with volatile solvents. An extract from this gum has an odor
suggestive of ambergris and is marketed as ambrein, having extremely good
fixative value.