Coumarin perfume fixative

Coumarin is one of the most important aroma chemicals having unique characteristics not only because of its hay-hke bitter sweet odor but also because of its quality as a perfume fixative. 

Synthetic coumarin is largely used in the place of Tonca beans, and forms an extremely useful substance for fixing other odours. Traces of fixed oil are useful in coumarin mixtures, as the coumarin odour appears to become more fixed in this way. Foin coup6, or new-mown hay, is a favourite perfume in which coumarin is the cnief ingredient. The following table of solubilities of coumarin in alcohol of various strengths and in water has been compiled by Schimmel Co. —... 

Initially, at the beginning of the present century, the traditional structure of the earlier perfumes was for the most part retained. "Fresh" natural materials such as bergamot and lemon, in combination with other essential oils, formed a large proportion of the composition, supported by animal and balsamic fixatives. To these were added the newly discovered synthetic and derived materials such as vanillin, coumarin, hydroxycitronellal, vetiveryl acetate, and methyl ionone, to-... 

Pure meto-cresol has been used for manufacture of synthetic musk— musk ambrette, used as a fixative to perfumes, for manufacture of synthetic Thymol and Menthol amd also leather preservative p-chloro-meto-cresol, synthetic pyre-throids, and lastly for manufacture of 2,3,6-trimethylphe-nol—an intermediate for vitamin E. o-Cresol has been used for manufacture of Coumarin and some derivatives which are employed in perfumery as fixative. o-Cresol has also been used for making Novolac and epoxy resins and also for the herbicides based on di-nitro-oAt/io-cresol, etc. In sum, individual cresols have been very successfully converted to important intermediates in the organic chemical synthesis. It is expected that further development work will lead to synthesis of many more organic chemicals of vital importance. While new chemicals using individual cresols are in the pipeline... 

While by definition, aroma compounds need to be volatile enough to be inhaled into the nose, flavor compounds can either be volatile or non-volatile. Volatile compounds typically have molecular weights below 300 Daltons. Nonvolatile flavor compounds can have molecular weights well over 300. Detection of non-volatiles requires the use of TLC or HPLC either alone or in tandem with an identification technique. HPLC-NMR can identify non-volatile coumarins, sterols, fatty acids and psoralens, in citrus oils, such as the substituted psoralen byakangelicol, found in lemon peel oil. Non-volatiles can act as odor fixatives, impacting the release of a perfume from the skin. Non-volatiles also serve as authentication markers that are difficult to adjust or circumvent (27). 

Expressed lime oil and distilled lime oil are used as fragrance components and fixatives (expressed oil, due to its coumarins) in cosmetics, including soaps, detergents, creams, lotions, and perfumes, with maximum use level of 1.5% reported for both oils in perfumes. 

---