Perfumes civet

Orienta.lFa.mily. In these perfumes, a mossy, woody, and spicy accord combines with the sweetness of vanilla or balsam and is accented with animal notes such as amber, civet, and musk. The most important floral accords used are rose and jasmine. 

Used industrially as a fixative for perfumes, artificial civet, food additive (flavoring), and medication. 

And all your courtly civet cats can vent. Perfume to you, to me is excrement. 

The classical scent of the sea is afforded by ambergris, which is also the best fixative for perfumes. Once secured from whales, ambergris can now be legally provided by chemical synthesis (Science whaling 2000). Other fixatives are obtained from land animals, such as castoreum, civet, and musk. The first one is a phenolic substance and the latter two macrocyclic ketones that have stimulated the earfy methodologies for the synthesis of macrocyclic conqjoimds... 

Animal Substances.—The perfume-materials of this class are only threo, and each is an animal secretion namely, musk, civet, and ambergris. 

We designate as natural all materials that are obtained from natural sources by the application of physical separation techniques such as distillation and extraction. Natural products have been used for many thousands of years as the raw materials of perfumery. Entire plants, flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves, as well as woods, roots, and the resins they exude, are all sources of fragrance materials. Similarly the scent glands of animals such as the civet cat and the musk deer have been used since early civilization to provide perfume for humans. 

The creation of Chanel No. 5 was based on the bold imaginative use of then available aroma chemicals in combination with fine natural products. Rose and jasmin absolutes were probably used at levels of around 4% or 5%, which would not have been unusual at the time when the perfume was created. In addition there would have been natural musk, ambergris, and civet. 

The word "chypre derives from the island of Cyprus, which for many centuries was the meeting point between East and West for the trade in aromatic materials. During the nineteenth century it became famed for the production of perfumes combining the citrus oils, floral pomades, and labdanum of the Mediterranean region, with resins and gums, such as styrax, incense, opoponax, and myrrh, imported from Arabia. Animal products such as civet from Ethiopia and musk from the Himalayas were also among the most valued commodities. 

Apart from the materials already mentioned the top note contains a simple mixture of bergamot and orange. The middle note is dominated by a traditional jasmin base, with muguet (hydroxycitronellal 10%), and rose. At the heart of the perfume is the classical chypre accord between vetiveryl acetate (10%), methyl ionone, oakmoss, aldehyde C14, coumarin, sandalwood, patchouli, musk ketone, and amber. The amber note can be reproduced by the simple but effective combination of labdanum, olibanum, and vanilla. Small amounts of other animalic notes such as civet may also be used. 

The dominant woody aspect of the perfume is made up of Vertofix (12%), vetiver notes, cedryl acetate, and sandalwood, with guaiacwood supporting the rose. The mossy character comes from oakmoss and a complex based on isobutyl quinoline reminiscent of Mousse de Saxe. There is also a small amount of a spicy carnation note including one of the sweet spices such as clove or pimento. The wonderful richness of the perfume suggests the addition of numerous other materials in very small amounts, and it is probable that in the creation of a perfume such as this tinctures of musk, ambergris, and civet would also have been used. 

The requirement to avoid natural musk and ambergris places little or no strain upon current perfumery practice. Castoreum plays a minor role in perfumes for skin care products and toiletries and can easily be avoided. Whether the production of civet involves maltreatment of civet cats is a matter of debate. If it must be avoided, good synthetic substitutes are available. 

Civetone (a perfume ingredient from the civet cat) (heptadec = 17)... 

Civet oil is the product of small glands in the anal pouch of the civet cat. It has a strong musky smell, and is used as a perfume fixative. 

Legends and old historical records prove that even in ancient times man has shown interest in odourous secretions of animals, such as the musk deer and the civet, to use in precious perfumes. This is the main reason why chemists have analysed, synthesized and mimicked the components of these secretions long before any insect pheromone was isolated and identified. 

Perfume would seem to be one of the elements, one of the original secrets of the universe. How it gets into flowers, and certain uncouth creatures, as for instance, ambergris in the whale, or civet in the civet cat of Abyssinia, or musk once more in the Florida alligator, is a hidden process of the divine chemistry, and why it affects us as it does no philosopher has yet explained. Literally, it belongs to those invisible powers whose influence is incalculable, and as yet unknowable. 

C16H30O, Mr 238.41, mp 66 °C, white, crystalline solid with a clean musk odor with a slight nitro musk and a soft muscone-like note. It is recommended as a very stable and substantive musk note for beauty care and fabric care perfumes. Cyclohexadecanone is known as a minor constituent of civet absolute (see p. 185) [125d],... 

Due to its excellent stability and long-lasting properties it is recommended for nearly all perfumery applications, especially for fine fragrances, for personal care, and for fabric care perfumes. (E)- and (Z)-8-Cyclohexadecenone have been identified as a minor constituents of civet absolute (see p. 185) [126a],... 

The original musk components of perfumes were extracted from animal sources. Nowadays, such sources are obsolete on both ethical and economical grounds. The two major ones were musk and civet, which were... 

Methyl oleate (methyl c -q-octadecenoate) is an attractive functionalized olefin for metathesis because of its ready availability and the utility of the metathesis products. An early example is the proposed route to civetone by metathesis of methyl oleate followed by cyclocondensation (Eqs. lla,b). Civetone is a seven-teen-membered unsaturated macrocyclic ketone (d5-9-cycloheptadecen-l-one) identical with the natural compound (civet cat). It has an intense musk odour, and is therefore an attractive perfume component. 

Civet A substance found in a pouch near the sexual organs of the true civet cats. It is used as an ingredient in perfumes. 

C17H30O, Mr 250.42. Crystals with a sweet animalish, musk-like odor mp. 31-32°C, bp. 103 °C (6.7 Pa), soluble in alcohol and other organic solvents. Occurrence In civet (ca. 3%) together with other macrocyclic ketones. Recognized as the component responsible for the civet odor in 1915 by Sack, structure elucidation in 1926 by Ruzicka, for synthesis, see C. is used in fine perfumes for a flxating musk-like odor. 

The small town of Grasse, in the south of France, developed into a centre for perfumery, after Catherine de Medici (1519-1589) set up a laboratory there for the apothecary and alchemist Francesco Tombarelli. At the University of Montpellier she had research carried out into new methods of isolating scented materials from plants. At that time, the most popular perfume was Frangipani, an alcoholic extract of iris powder, musk and civet, invented by Maurice Frangipani, a descendant of that mighty noble Roman dynasty. 

Viverra zibetha (a) and Civettictis civetta (b) are among the largest representatives of the family of Viverri-dae. African civets have been kept in captivity and milked for their civet which is diluted into perfumes. They can secrete three to four grams of civet per week. [158]... 

Six years later Myers (1903) used aqueous solutions of camphor to evaluate the olfactory sensitivity of a group of Murray Islanders. In addition, these individuals were asked to describe the odors of perfumes and other scents, and to indicate whether they liked or disliked them. The average olfactory acuity of the islanders was reported as being slightly higher than that of Scottish control subjects, and their likes and dislikes were noted as being quite similar (e.g., they disliked asafoetida, valeric acid, and civet, and liked musk, thyme and violet). 

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