Animal Fragrances
Animal fragrances are relatively scarce and rare in the world of fragrances, but they hold a significant position. These fragrances are secretions or products derived from animals, each possessing unique characteristics and long-lasting scents. They are particularly ideal fixatives in perfumes, powders, and essences. Some examples include: musk, civet, ambergris, castoreum, and muskrat.
Ambergris:
A pathological substance formed inside the digestive system of sperm whales.
Civet Musk:
Derived from the scent glands of male civets.
Castoreum:
Obtained from the scent glands of male beavers.
Plant Fragrances
Plant-based fragrances are derived from various parts of aromatic plants, such as flowers, leaves, branches, bark, roots, stems, fruit, and their secretions. They are often in the form of oils or pastes. Plant-based fragrances consist of complex mixtures of tens or even hundreds of compounds. For example, rose essential oil contains nearly three hundred aromatic components. Some examples include: rose essential oil, lavender essential oil, jasmine absolute, and more.
Rose Essential Oil:
Obtained by steam distillation of fresh rose flowers and fractional distillation.
Lavender Essential Oil:
Obtained by steam distillation of lavender flower spikes.
Jasmine Absolute:
Extracted by petroleum ether from fresh jasmine flowers.
Isolated Compounds
Isolated compounds are single chemical compounds separated from natural fragrances using physical or chemical methods. They are known as isolated compounds. For instance, citral can be isolated from lemon oil, and menthol (commonly known as peppermint oil) can be isolated from peppermint oil.
Natural Identical Substances
Using chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques, aromatic components are separated from natural fragrances, and their structures are identified. Subsequently, chemically identical compounds are synthesized using appropriate methods. These synthesized compounds, which have the same structure as those found in nature, are called “natural identical substances.” For example, key components of rose fragrance, such as rose oxide, rose furan, and Turkish ketone, were identified in Turkish rose essential oil and synthesized.
Natural Identical Substances:
Although artificially synthesized, they exist in the same form as in natural fragrances.
Synthetic Fragrances In cases where the structures of many natural compounds are too complex or costly to synthesize, alternative compounds with structurally different but similar aromas are created. These synthetic fragrances have not been discovered in natural fragrances and are categorized as synthetic. For example, various synthetic musks and jasmine aldehydes fall into this category.
Synthetic Musk:
Most musk fragrances in modern perfumes are synthetic rather than natural musk.
Musk Deer and Musk
Ambergris:
A pathological substance formed inside the digestive system of sperm whales.
Civet Musk:
Derived from the scent glands of male civets.
Castoreum:
Obtained from the scent glands of male beavers.
These classifications provide insight into the diverse world of fragrances, their sources, and their production methods.
