Today, fragrance is used in a wide range of consumer products from high end perfumes to detergents, soaps, household cleaners such as bleach, etc,. The sudden change in the use of perfumes is all thanks to the development of synthetic organic chemistry. Before, perfumes were made entirely of natural materials compared to the current perfume industry who make great use of synthetic chemicals. It is estimated that today, only 5% of the available 3000 fragrance ingredients are derived from natural sources (Fortineau).
Perfumes are fragrant substances mostly used in consumer cosmetic product formulation to provide the users with pleasure or mask the bad odors of some other ingredients in the products. It also functions in aromatherapy. A typical perfume can consist of 10–300 substances selected from a range of more than 3000 natural and synthetic fragrance materials.
Some dangers of perfume are flammability and toxicity if orally ingested. Fragrances are linked to a staggering number of health risks due to commonly containing phthalates, which are chemicals that help the scents last longer. Fragrance chemicals, like other toxic chemicals, can pass from the skin and into the blood which can be detrimental overtime. Oxidation, heat, sunlight exposed to a fragrance can catalyze reactions. For instance, when in light, a phenol component becomes very reactive due to how simple it is to remove the hydrogen, leaving a free radical to react with everything. Factors such as chelating agents (EDTA disodium salt), benzophenones (UV absorbers), and antioxidants are considered to stabilize fragrances (Anne).
Structure: An example of common chemical compounds in perfume are acetone, benzaldehyde, and limonene picture below.
One method of synthesis is simple distillation which is only used for ingredients such as citrus oils, for example, orange, lemon, and bergamot. When an orange peel is mashed or pressed, a spray of orange oil is released, also called an expressed oil. When steam distillation is used to manufacture and extract essential oils, the material whether it be a flower, an herb, wood, or spice, is placed in a distillation apparatus and steam is imposed on the material. The hot steam allows the aromatic molecules in the plant material to release in which the oils usually distill together with the steam. But they then are separated based on the differing densities in a Florentine flask. The little oil layer on top of the water collected is now referred to as essential oils which is the common way most perfume materials are collected. For instance, the oil obtained by steam distillation of lavender is known as lavender oil. Once the oil is collected, chemists then create a mixture of the essential oils, water and an alcohol such as ethanol to create perfume (Fortineau).
Today, the most common extraction technique is simple solvent extraction in which hydrocarbon solvents such as petroleum ether, acetone, hexane, or ethyl acetate, sometimes even a combination of these, are used (“What Is”). Carbon dioxide has been brought up as an advantageous extraction solvent mainly because it can easily be removed and produces high quality oils without residual solvent but the cost for the necessary equipment is expensive. Once the solvent has been removed, the product of the extraction is called a resinoid or concrete. It then can be extracted with ethanol to yield an absolute, or distilled to give an essential oil. The oil can be deterpenated, referring to monoterpenoid hydrocarbons. When the hydrocarbons are removed, it leaves only the oxygenated portion which increases the strength of the odor (“What Is”).
