Sandalwood Substitutes

There are various sandalwood substitutes in the market which can be used to give sandalwood notes in perfumes. It is worth mentioning two classes of these materials because of the chemistry which is used to produce them. 

The members of the second family of synthetic sandalwood materials are derived from campholenic aldehyde (6.72). This aldehyde is prepared by treatment of a-pinene oxide (6.71) with a Lewis acid, usually zinc chloride or bromide. a-Pinene oxide is, in turn, prepared from a-pinene 

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Bajgrowicz JA,Frank 1, Prater G, Plennig M. Synthesis and structure elucidation of a new potent sandalwood-oil substitute. Plelv. Chim. Acta 1998 81 1349-1358. 

Production Even today many aroma chemicals are still isolated from essential oils, others are prepared semisynthetically from the components of the oils or from other suitable oiganic compounds. The proportion of natural and nature identical aroma chemicals used in the perfume industry is ca. 70%. The aroma chemicals not occurring in nature are often structural analogues of natural products that are difficult to synthesize, e.g., the sandalwood aroma chemicals prepared from campholene aldehyde or camphene and guaiacol as substitutes for the expensive sandalwood oil or santalols. 

The East Indian sandalwood oil probably represents one of the most precious perfumery natural raw materials because of the rarity of the natural plants from which it is extracted. As until recently [36] since no industrially viable process existed for production of (Z)-beta-santalol, the main olfactive constituent of Indian sandalwood (see Fig. 6), the focus was directed toward the search for cheaper synthetic analogs in order to also prevent resource depletion. Alpha-campholenic aldehyde derivatives are clearly affording the best, and most often used substitutes for such a natural resource [37]. 

This oil is not a true sandalwood oil, the misnomer having lai ely contributed to the substitution of this oil for the genuine sandalwood oilr and to its use as an adulterant of the latter. 

CHAilENCt The distillate from sandalwood is one of the oldest and most highly valued fragrances in perfumery. The natural oil is in short supply and, until recently, synthetic substitutes have been difficult to prepare. Polysantol (below) is the most successful of these substitutes. 

Braun NA, Meier M, Hammerschmidt F-J. New Caledonian sandalwood oil-a substitute for East Indian sandalwood oil J. Essent. Oil Res. 2005 17 477 80. 

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