Perfume Ingredients Derived from Phenol

Phenol is a material of major commercial importance. One of its earliest uses was as a disinfectant (carbolic acid). Earlier in the twentieth 

Addition of one carbon unit to phenol in a Friedel-Crafts type reaction gives rise to a family of perfume ingredients of great importance 

Addition of formaldehyde to phenol normally produces a resin. However, under controlled, catalytic conditions, it is possible to obtain the hydroxymethyl derivatives in high yield. o-Hydroxymethylphenol 

Originally, salicylaldehyde was prepared from phenol using chloroform in the Reimer-Tiemann reaction. The Reimer who discovered the reaction is the same person who founded a fragrance company, Haarmann and Reimer, an example of the entrepreneurial approach adopted by many nineteenth century academic chemists. 

Oxidation of phenol leads to o-dihydroxybe nze ne, catechol. There are a number of ways of carrying out this oxidation, but the most important commercially is to use hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant with iron salts 

Vanillin and ethylvanillin are not particularly stable chemically. This is not surprising, since they possess both an aldehyde and a phenolic group. In functional products, where the pH is not neutral, they undergo a variety of reactions leading to discoloration. For example, inclusion of vanillin in a white soap will, after a matter of days, produce a colour close to that of chocolate. 

The marketing phenomenon known as trickle-down is when the odour of a fine fragrance is adapted so that a range of cosmetics, toiletries, soaps and so on can have the same fragrance to produce a line of products. If the fine fragrance contains vanillin, trickle-down 

Aldol reaction between heliotropin and propionaldehyde, followed by hydrogenation, gives the hydrocinnamaldehyde derivative known as 

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