parker25mv
Well-known member
- Oct 12, 2016
- 2,709
- 626
This will be a long post. First, I want to say sorry for anyone who will get frustrated at me for posting this. If you don't like reading huge amounts of text that doesn't really have a clear purpose, then leave now and stop reading.
I am not really an expert on this, and the below might not be very useful to you, and definitely do not consider it to be very reliable. It is probably not a good basis to rely upon if you are just starting out. There are probably many errors in this and you should not rely upon it. You can take all this information as possibly useful but reserve a great level of skepticism.
I just wanted to share some thoughts on the subject of jasmine and gardenia, some rough outlines of how to make accords of the two, since the two have similarities. Some may say I should have separated them into two separate posts, but I will just combine them into one thread, so we can put an emphasis on their similarities. So this will be kind of an interesting discussion.
Much of the text in this post is going to be a disorganised "stream of consciousness", a rehash from other discussions on this forum, or quotations taken from other sites.
In 1912 the following jasmine oil constituents were known:
Benzyl acetate - 65%
Linalool - 15.5%
Linalyl acetate - 7.5%
Benzyl alcohol - 6%
Jasmone - 3%
Indole - 2.5%
Methyl anthranilate - 0.5%
Phenol compounds with narcotic odor - traces.
Benzyl acetate - hyperconcentrated jasmine fruitiness at a toxic dose. Very sharp and strong, reminding of a solvent (like a nail polish removal). It’s not unpleasant. In contrary, its sweet jasmine floral fruitiness is nice, but there is just too much of it. It’s also referred as a fresh. Indeed it is, but only in small concentrations. Undiluted it’s a beast that nature could tame within the jasmine fragrance. The perfumers have also succeed in taming of benzyl acetate, but still cannot compete with nature as they can’t use it in the concentrations as high as it’s found in natural jasmine absolute.
In perfumery benzyl acetate is one of the most common (and cheapest) aromachemical used to create a jasmine-fruity note not merely to jasmine, but also to gardenia, muguet, lily and fleur d’orange.
Linalool and linalyl acetate. Linalool possesses a fresh floral fragrance with woody undertone. It's the major constituent of the rosewood (about 80-97%) and has a similar smell. It’s impossible to define it’s floral component as it could be any flower. Linalool can be found within the composition of numerous flowers, fruits and herbs. Lilalyl acetate often follows linalool in floral and fresh fragrances. It has a similar smell with a distinctive sweet fruity note.
Benzyl alcohol. Has a faint floral fruity smell. I can also smell an almondy note there that comes as a result of oxidation. The quality can influence the smell dramatically. Can be found as a natural constituent of many flowers. Although it’s almost odourless, benzylacetate is used in perfumery as a fixative.
Indole - is a real wild beast you better never meet undiluted. In low concentrations it’s a nice dark narcotic fragrance with an leathery animal undertone. Once I was making a jasmine base. According to the formula I had to add a couple drops of indol at the end. The result was amazing as it extended the spectrum of a fragrance by giving it a perfect depth. From white innocent flower jasmine became a mature seductive temptress playing on primitive instincts.
Jasmone (cis-Jasmone). Also found in the oils of jonquil, neroli and fleur d’orange absolute. A multifaceted fragrance combining its jasmine floral character with fruity, spicy and herbal (celery seed) nuances.
The modern and common aroma-chemical Hedione has a nearly identical molecular structure to it, except for lacking two of Jasmone's carbon-carbon double bonds. This thing almost has more of a unique olfactory effect rather than a distinct smell.
Methyl anthranilate is a narcotic component of neroli, ylang, jasmine and tuberose.
old, outdated
Jasmine base No.1:
Benzyl acetate – 130 (65%)
Benzyl alcohol – 40 (20%)
Linalool – 20 (10%)
Methyl anthranilate – 10 (5%)
The biggest problem of indole is discoloration. Exposed to light it acquires reddish brown colour and is often substituted with other components. Without Indole this jasmine base has a larger application spectrum.
So far I don't have any suggestions why linalyl acetate is not used there.
The Jasmine base No.1 is not really a jasmine -- it's a jasmine giant. Smelling it is like standing in the middle of a giant jasmine flower covered with a sticky and acrid nectar. The sharpness of benzyl acetate is almost hurting the nose’s mucous membrane. The base has recognisable fruity floral character of jasmine, but recalls an urge either to dilute it or to smell it from far far away. It still can be used as a jasmine component of a complex fragrance.
I did noticed that:
Linalool increases the freshness of the base, but can’t beat the sharpness of benzyl acetate unless you take too much of linalool. But than it totally kills the jasmine character of the base.
Linalyl acetate in combination with Linalool gives an interesting fresh note reminding me of the tannic bitterness of green tea. Is also easy to overdose, because at the certain concentration it becomes an independent note that doesn’t makes a part of jasmine anymore.
cis-Jasmone – is a nice material that tames the sharpness of benzyl acetate. But not its strength. The base loses its acridness and the giant jasmine becomes smaller. Although it still remains to be a mutant jasmine, it’s not the raptorial flower anymore that stupefies you with its smell and digest your flesh with its acrid nectar.
Indole – it was interesting to notice, that small quantities of indole couldn’t really compete with benzyl acetate. And it was easy to overdose. Although this aromachemical gave some idolic properties to the base, it couldn’t really blend with the rest into give a dark narcotic note of jasmine.
still wasn't a real jasmine flower, but rather a decaying mutant flower as big as my hand.
The notes of linalool with linalyl acetate as well as indole were not completely blended into the jasmine smell.
Gardenia type
Patent 3,953,534 Cycloaliphatic compounds as odour- and taste-modifying agents
For Fragrance Use
30.00 phenyl acetaldehyde 10%
50.00 benzyl acetate
250.00 jasmin 10
60.00 ylang ylang oil replacer
90.00 linalyl acetate
30.00 methyl anthranilate
30.00 oranger crystals
100.00 phenethyl alcohol
80.00 hydroxycitronellal
70.00 cinnamic alcohol
30.00 heliotropin
70.00 benzyl salicylate
10.00 methyl salicylate
30.00 musk ketone
70.00 DIPG
1000.00 Total
Gardenia is kind of just basically like jasmine sambac, except with the following added: Gardenol, a creamy-mushroomy tiglate note, and then a very volatile farnesene and ocimene top note.
Citronella or citronellyl acetate is also sometimes used in gardenia accords, adding a somewhat more "lemony" feel direction to the floral smell.
Gardenia has highly fragrant white flowers. In the evening, the opening buds smells slightly green and piquant -- the salicylate aspect. The flowers also smell creamy or lactonic, recalling coconut and peach skin. There is an unmistakably heady indolic element of jasmine. In ripe blooms, they have a sharp green or ‘mushroom’ overtones, almost acerbic. Additionally, gardenias share their floral aspects with lily, lily of the valley, ylang ylang, and a bit of rose.
Creating an accurate imitation of gardenia has remained elusive, but I believe that may simply be due to a lack of understanding of the full profile of chemical constituents that give gardenia its characteristic fragrance.
According to one study, the main compounds in headspace of fresh Gardenia flower included farnesene (64.86%), cis-ocimene (29.33%), linalool (2.74%), cis-3-hexenyl tiglate (1.34%), methyl benzoate (0.25%).
Also cis-3-hexanol (2.5% in EO, 0.76% in fresh flowers), methyl tiglate (4.6% in fresh flowers), indole (0.29% in fresh flowers), phenethyl alcohol (2.4% in absolute), borneol (0.94% in absolute). Hotrienol (dehyrdolinalool, apparently smells tropical, 1.33% in EO), nerol (0.75% in EO), isoeugenol (1.28% absolute, 0.31% fresh flower), hexyl tiglate (3.94% fresh flower), alpha-terpineol (3.05% EO).
(source: Volatile Constituents and Biological Activities of Gardenia Jasminoides, Jarubol Chaichana, Chiang Mai University, Journal Health Res 2009, 23(3):141-145 )
A headspace analysis of the endangered Hawaiian species Gardenia brighamii showed that its gas-phase components contains 41% methyl benzoate, 13% (3Z)-hex-3-enyl benzoate, 7% indole that recalls 'white-flower smell', 7% jasmine lactone that lends the jasminic and coconut touch, and 3.7% (3Z)-hex-3-enyl tiglate that gives the tang of soil fungi and mushrooms to the flower.
Lets take a look at some of these chemical constituents.
Styrallyl Acetate (Gardenol, alpha-Methylbenzyl acetate)
alpha-Methylbenzyl acetate is only found in nature in gardenia flowers and, indeed, the fragrance of this chemical bears more than a passing resemblance to gardenia.
Common synonyms include 1-Phenyl ethyl acetate, styrallyl acetate, gardenol, and methylphenylcarbinyl acetate. It can be synthesized from acetophenone, by reduction to the corresponding alcohol and then formation of the ester. (Acetophenone, by the way, is reputed to smell wonderful, described as something like orange blossom with a bit of artificial cherry/almond)
Odour type is green with a medium odour strength, recommended smelling in a 10% solution or less. Described as green, leafy, gardenia, rhubarb and musty.
Not obviously floral on first sniff, this is an essential ingredient in Gardenia accords and a great modifier in many floral compositions. Widely used but never in very high proportions.
Styrallyl acetate has a dry, intense, green, floral odour reminiscent of gardenia. It is a key ingredient in gardenia, tuberose and other flowery perfumery compositions. Styrallyl acetate is also used in many other blossom compositions, in particular to add dry top notes.
Although Arctander says "it is conventionally classified as a Gardenia-green material, but its odor is typical only of certain stages of maturity of the Gardenia flower, and only of certain species. However, the ester finds use in numerous fragrance types, mostly those including fruity and green notes". I believe that while gardenol (Styrallyl Acetate) has a very characteristic odor of gardenia fragrance, it's also a very minor component of gardenia fragrance. Supposedly, in too high of a concentration it can smell harsh and unpleasant.
This is my evaluation of alpha-methylbenzyl acetate:
The first impression, it smells like burnt plastic, chemical-like, somewhat like nailpolish remover, with a little tire rubber. Trying to smell more carefully, it smells a bit ethereal like lilac, there’s an aspect to the smell that’s very distantly like grapefruit but not the same, the nailpolish aspect smells very perfume-like, possibly floral, kind of sweet. It’s very potent, like overconcentrated jasmine. There’s something a little bit similar to honeysuckle. It does smell a little like part of the gardenia fragrance, not in an unnatural way. I think I'm going to have to agree with Actander when he says "its odor is typical only of certain stages of maturity of the Gardenia flower". It kind of smells like it might be one of the smaller fragrance notes within the overall fragrance of gardenia. By itself, it's only distantly reminiscent of gardenia, but there's something unique to it that's very specific to gardenia.
Not sure that I can recommend this for perfume. If it is used, it's probably going to be in extremely small concentration, only to accentuate other notes. With the way this smells, I'm not even sure it's an essential to synthetic gardenia fragrance.
After 2 hours after the sample was allowed to evaporate on the test strip. The burnt plastic/rubber smell still does not fully go away even after diffusion, but the floral element does shine through a little bit more. What the nail polish odor really reminds me of is model airplane glue. It smells sweet, floral, and sharp very much like artificial plum fragrance. The smell has a "green" aspect but it's a harsh green smell. It's "sharp" in the same sort of way vinegar has a sharp smell. The same "burnt plastic" aspect turns itself into part of the deep cloying (almost musky but different) element of gardenia. The floral aspect of the smell is in a strange twilight zone halfway between rose oxide and orange flower ether (or grapefruit). When I said it smelled kind of like honeysuckle, I mean the small sharp cloying character note in honeysuckle fragrance. To summarize, I am not sure this is really the part of gardenia I want to smell.
This is one more thing I will quickly mention, one more connection that I noticed. The rinds of pomelo (a type of citrus fruit) that have been left out in the open for few days, seem reminiscent to the smell of styrallyl acetate. This smell isn't how the rinds smell fresh, but once you leave them around a little while the smell somehow seems to "shift" towards this direction. (It's not really a good smell but it's not a bad one either)
I don't really know but might guess the fragrance similarity probably has something to do with the fact that alpha-terpinyl acetate is part of the fragrance profile of pomelo and has a molecular structure similar to styrallyl acetate, except with just one more methyl group.
Apparently styrallyl acetate, at lower levels, is where much of the green character, as well as mouth-puckering rhubarb-like aspects of the gardenia fragrance comes from.
It appears that the particular constituent of gardenia is beta-cis-Ocimene, but here is some fragrance information I was able to find about some other ocimenes, perhaps this will help us garner a fuller understanding of the type of scent qualities in this family:
alpha-Ocimene has a medium strength, fruity, floral aroma with a wet cloth note. It is contributor to green odor of unripe mango and of mango ginger (Curcuma amada). It is used in oriental pickles.
beta-Ocimene has a medium strength, tropical, green, terpy and woody odor with vegetable nuances. It is used as a flavoring agent where it has a green, tropical, woody flavor with floral and vegetable nuances. It is a flavor and fragrance additive as well as a common component in many essential oils.
beta-cis-Ocimene has a medium strength, warm, floral, herbal, sweet, citrus-like aroma. It is a component of the chemical communication system of the tea weevil and cotton bollworm.
trans-beta-Ocimene, synonym (E)-ocimene, was found to be the major chemical component in the headspace of Lilac, although not the most characteristic component.
(the fragrance of Lilac also contains small quantities of indole, like gardenia)
The fragrance of Lily also contain cis-ocimene, linalool, and methyl benzoate, which explains the fragrance resemblance to gardenia.
If Lily of the Valley bears some resemblance to gardenia, perhaps part of th reason is because it contains farnesol, which is chemically similar to farnesene but with a hydroxyl group, basically the corresponding alcohol to this terpene.
Early reconstitutions of gardenia often revolve around a tuberose note and aldehyde C-18 and may eschew styrallyl acetate altogether. Still, most gardenia bases almost always call for it. Such bases rely on its powerful rhubarb-like green note in combination with jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, lilac, and a small amount of orange blossom to render gardenia odour characteristics. But styrallyl acetate is rather harsh, so salicylates may be used to soften it along with aldehyde C-14 and C-18 as modifiers. The top note of such bases may call for aldehyde C-8 to C-12 and citrus oils such as lemon, mandarin, orange, or bergamot. To fix the components, heliotropin, coumarin, musk, labdanum, myrrh, tolu balsam, cinnamic alcohol, and synthetic ambergris may be used. Other aroma chemicals such as the mildly floral 'gardenia oxide' (isoamyl benzyl ether) and the citrusy fruity linalyl isovalearate are sometimes incorporated into gardenia compounds. Meanwhile, perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, who professes his love of simplicity, draws a more-or-less complete gardenia note with just three ingredients: the fruity sweetness and coconut of aldehyde C-18 (gamma-nonalactone), the fresh green of styrallyl acetate (Gardenol), and the Concord-grape sweetness of methyl anthranilate.
hint of decatone (gardenia decalone)
Decatone seems like an excellent material to add to a gardenia accord, in trace amounts; it is very potent in small amounts. After smelling this, I don't think it's a coincidence that it has an alternate name "Gardenia decalone". It can add what I perceive as the "grapefruit" note that I can smell in natural gardenia flowers. Decatone is very natural smelling. By itself it smells like 60% grapefruit and 40% rhubarb. But at the same time it is not too obnoxiously rhubarb, and almost has a bergamot tea feel, especially at low concentration levels.
Petal pyranone (Jasmolactone) - good for jasmine or gardenia, gives a feel of jasmine oil, a white opaque creaminess since it is a lactone.
In fact I think it should be mentioned that some sort of lactone like this one is almost essential for either jasmine or gardenia.
I think Floral pyranol (Florol) might be kind of useful for both, although more for gardenia than jasmine, having a smooth feel sort of reminiscent of lily of the valley and clean magnolia, and also a slightly linalool-like effect.
If any of you have things to share, thoughts about jasmine and gardenia, and how they connect, you are welcome to add to these rambling thoughts.
I certainly don't expect this post to come anywhere close to a definitive cover-all of jasmine and gardenia notes, but it is just a few select thoughts.
I am not really an expert on this, and the below might not be very useful to you, and definitely do not consider it to be very reliable. It is probably not a good basis to rely upon if you are just starting out. There are probably many errors in this and you should not rely upon it. You can take all this information as possibly useful but reserve a great level of skepticism.
I just wanted to share some thoughts on the subject of jasmine and gardenia, some rough outlines of how to make accords of the two, since the two have similarities. Some may say I should have separated them into two separate posts, but I will just combine them into one thread, so we can put an emphasis on their similarities. So this will be kind of an interesting discussion.
Much of the text in this post is going to be a disorganised "stream of consciousness", a rehash from other discussions on this forum, or quotations taken from other sites.
In 1912 the following jasmine oil constituents were known:
Benzyl acetate - 65%
Linalool - 15.5%
Linalyl acetate - 7.5%
Benzyl alcohol - 6%
Jasmone - 3%
Indole - 2.5%
Methyl anthranilate - 0.5%
Phenol compounds with narcotic odor - traces.
Benzyl acetate - hyperconcentrated jasmine fruitiness at a toxic dose. Very sharp and strong, reminding of a solvent (like a nail polish removal). It’s not unpleasant. In contrary, its sweet jasmine floral fruitiness is nice, but there is just too much of it. It’s also referred as a fresh. Indeed it is, but only in small concentrations. Undiluted it’s a beast that nature could tame within the jasmine fragrance. The perfumers have also succeed in taming of benzyl acetate, but still cannot compete with nature as they can’t use it in the concentrations as high as it’s found in natural jasmine absolute.
In perfumery benzyl acetate is one of the most common (and cheapest) aromachemical used to create a jasmine-fruity note not merely to jasmine, but also to gardenia, muguet, lily and fleur d’orange.
Linalool and linalyl acetate. Linalool possesses a fresh floral fragrance with woody undertone. It's the major constituent of the rosewood (about 80-97%) and has a similar smell. It’s impossible to define it’s floral component as it could be any flower. Linalool can be found within the composition of numerous flowers, fruits and herbs. Lilalyl acetate often follows linalool in floral and fresh fragrances. It has a similar smell with a distinctive sweet fruity note.
Benzyl alcohol. Has a faint floral fruity smell. I can also smell an almondy note there that comes as a result of oxidation. The quality can influence the smell dramatically. Can be found as a natural constituent of many flowers. Although it’s almost odourless, benzylacetate is used in perfumery as a fixative.
Indole - is a real wild beast you better never meet undiluted. In low concentrations it’s a nice dark narcotic fragrance with an leathery animal undertone. Once I was making a jasmine base. According to the formula I had to add a couple drops of indol at the end. The result was amazing as it extended the spectrum of a fragrance by giving it a perfect depth. From white innocent flower jasmine became a mature seductive temptress playing on primitive instincts.
Jasmone (cis-Jasmone). Also found in the oils of jonquil, neroli and fleur d’orange absolute. A multifaceted fragrance combining its jasmine floral character with fruity, spicy and herbal (celery seed) nuances.
The modern and common aroma-chemical Hedione has a nearly identical molecular structure to it, except for lacking two of Jasmone's carbon-carbon double bonds. This thing almost has more of a unique olfactory effect rather than a distinct smell.
Methyl anthranilate is a narcotic component of neroli, ylang, jasmine and tuberose.
old, outdated
Jasmine base No.1:
Benzyl acetate – 130 (65%)
Benzyl alcohol – 40 (20%)
Linalool – 20 (10%)
Methyl anthranilate – 10 (5%)
The biggest problem of indole is discoloration. Exposed to light it acquires reddish brown colour and is often substituted with other components. Without Indole this jasmine base has a larger application spectrum.
So far I don't have any suggestions why linalyl acetate is not used there.
The Jasmine base No.1 is not really a jasmine -- it's a jasmine giant. Smelling it is like standing in the middle of a giant jasmine flower covered with a sticky and acrid nectar. The sharpness of benzyl acetate is almost hurting the nose’s mucous membrane. The base has recognisable fruity floral character of jasmine, but recalls an urge either to dilute it or to smell it from far far away. It still can be used as a jasmine component of a complex fragrance.
I did noticed that:
Linalool increases the freshness of the base, but can’t beat the sharpness of benzyl acetate unless you take too much of linalool. But than it totally kills the jasmine character of the base.
Linalyl acetate in combination with Linalool gives an interesting fresh note reminding me of the tannic bitterness of green tea. Is also easy to overdose, because at the certain concentration it becomes an independent note that doesn’t makes a part of jasmine anymore.
cis-Jasmone – is a nice material that tames the sharpness of benzyl acetate. But not its strength. The base loses its acridness and the giant jasmine becomes smaller. Although it still remains to be a mutant jasmine, it’s not the raptorial flower anymore that stupefies you with its smell and digest your flesh with its acrid nectar.
Indole – it was interesting to notice, that small quantities of indole couldn’t really compete with benzyl acetate. And it was easy to overdose. Although this aromachemical gave some idolic properties to the base, it couldn’t really blend with the rest into give a dark narcotic note of jasmine.
still wasn't a real jasmine flower, but rather a decaying mutant flower as big as my hand.
The notes of linalool with linalyl acetate as well as indole were not completely blended into the jasmine smell.
Gardenia type
Patent 3,953,534 Cycloaliphatic compounds as odour- and taste-modifying agents
For Fragrance Use
30.00 phenyl acetaldehyde 10%
50.00 benzyl acetate
250.00 jasmin 10
60.00 ylang ylang oil replacer
90.00 linalyl acetate
30.00 methyl anthranilate
30.00 oranger crystals
100.00 phenethyl alcohol
80.00 hydroxycitronellal
70.00 cinnamic alcohol
30.00 heliotropin
70.00 benzyl salicylate
10.00 methyl salicylate
30.00 musk ketone
70.00 DIPG
1000.00 Total
Gardenia is kind of just basically like jasmine sambac, except with the following added: Gardenol, a creamy-mushroomy tiglate note, and then a very volatile farnesene and ocimene top note.
Citronella or citronellyl acetate is also sometimes used in gardenia accords, adding a somewhat more "lemony" feel direction to the floral smell.
Gardenia has highly fragrant white flowers. In the evening, the opening buds smells slightly green and piquant -- the salicylate aspect. The flowers also smell creamy or lactonic, recalling coconut and peach skin. There is an unmistakably heady indolic element of jasmine. In ripe blooms, they have a sharp green or ‘mushroom’ overtones, almost acerbic. Additionally, gardenias share their floral aspects with lily, lily of the valley, ylang ylang, and a bit of rose.
Creating an accurate imitation of gardenia has remained elusive, but I believe that may simply be due to a lack of understanding of the full profile of chemical constituents that give gardenia its characteristic fragrance.
According to one study, the main compounds in headspace of fresh Gardenia flower included farnesene (64.86%), cis-ocimene (29.33%), linalool (2.74%), cis-3-hexenyl tiglate (1.34%), methyl benzoate (0.25%).
Also cis-3-hexanol (2.5% in EO, 0.76% in fresh flowers), methyl tiglate (4.6% in fresh flowers), indole (0.29% in fresh flowers), phenethyl alcohol (2.4% in absolute), borneol (0.94% in absolute). Hotrienol (dehyrdolinalool, apparently smells tropical, 1.33% in EO), nerol (0.75% in EO), isoeugenol (1.28% absolute, 0.31% fresh flower), hexyl tiglate (3.94% fresh flower), alpha-terpineol (3.05% EO).
(source: Volatile Constituents and Biological Activities of Gardenia Jasminoides, Jarubol Chaichana, Chiang Mai University, Journal Health Res 2009, 23(3):141-145 )
A headspace analysis of the endangered Hawaiian species Gardenia brighamii showed that its gas-phase components contains 41% methyl benzoate, 13% (3Z)-hex-3-enyl benzoate, 7% indole that recalls 'white-flower smell', 7% jasmine lactone that lends the jasminic and coconut touch, and 3.7% (3Z)-hex-3-enyl tiglate that gives the tang of soil fungi and mushrooms to the flower.
Lets take a look at some of these chemical constituents.
Styrallyl Acetate (Gardenol, alpha-Methylbenzyl acetate)
alpha-Methylbenzyl acetate is only found in nature in gardenia flowers and, indeed, the fragrance of this chemical bears more than a passing resemblance to gardenia.
Common synonyms include 1-Phenyl ethyl acetate, styrallyl acetate, gardenol, and methylphenylcarbinyl acetate. It can be synthesized from acetophenone, by reduction to the corresponding alcohol and then formation of the ester. (Acetophenone, by the way, is reputed to smell wonderful, described as something like orange blossom with a bit of artificial cherry/almond)
Odour type is green with a medium odour strength, recommended smelling in a 10% solution or less. Described as green, leafy, gardenia, rhubarb and musty.
Not obviously floral on first sniff, this is an essential ingredient in Gardenia accords and a great modifier in many floral compositions. Widely used but never in very high proportions.
Styrallyl acetate has a dry, intense, green, floral odour reminiscent of gardenia. It is a key ingredient in gardenia, tuberose and other flowery perfumery compositions. Styrallyl acetate is also used in many other blossom compositions, in particular to add dry top notes.
Although Arctander says "it is conventionally classified as a Gardenia-green material, but its odor is typical only of certain stages of maturity of the Gardenia flower, and only of certain species. However, the ester finds use in numerous fragrance types, mostly those including fruity and green notes". I believe that while gardenol (Styrallyl Acetate) has a very characteristic odor of gardenia fragrance, it's also a very minor component of gardenia fragrance. Supposedly, in too high of a concentration it can smell harsh and unpleasant.
This is my evaluation of alpha-methylbenzyl acetate:
The first impression, it smells like burnt plastic, chemical-like, somewhat like nailpolish remover, with a little tire rubber. Trying to smell more carefully, it smells a bit ethereal like lilac, there’s an aspect to the smell that’s very distantly like grapefruit but not the same, the nailpolish aspect smells very perfume-like, possibly floral, kind of sweet. It’s very potent, like overconcentrated jasmine. There’s something a little bit similar to honeysuckle. It does smell a little like part of the gardenia fragrance, not in an unnatural way. I think I'm going to have to agree with Actander when he says "its odor is typical only of certain stages of maturity of the Gardenia flower". It kind of smells like it might be one of the smaller fragrance notes within the overall fragrance of gardenia. By itself, it's only distantly reminiscent of gardenia, but there's something unique to it that's very specific to gardenia.
Not sure that I can recommend this for perfume. If it is used, it's probably going to be in extremely small concentration, only to accentuate other notes. With the way this smells, I'm not even sure it's an essential to synthetic gardenia fragrance.
After 2 hours after the sample was allowed to evaporate on the test strip. The burnt plastic/rubber smell still does not fully go away even after diffusion, but the floral element does shine through a little bit more. What the nail polish odor really reminds me of is model airplane glue. It smells sweet, floral, and sharp very much like artificial plum fragrance. The smell has a "green" aspect but it's a harsh green smell. It's "sharp" in the same sort of way vinegar has a sharp smell. The same "burnt plastic" aspect turns itself into part of the deep cloying (almost musky but different) element of gardenia. The floral aspect of the smell is in a strange twilight zone halfway between rose oxide and orange flower ether (or grapefruit). When I said it smelled kind of like honeysuckle, I mean the small sharp cloying character note in honeysuckle fragrance. To summarize, I am not sure this is really the part of gardenia I want to smell.
This is one more thing I will quickly mention, one more connection that I noticed. The rinds of pomelo (a type of citrus fruit) that have been left out in the open for few days, seem reminiscent to the smell of styrallyl acetate. This smell isn't how the rinds smell fresh, but once you leave them around a little while the smell somehow seems to "shift" towards this direction. (It's not really a good smell but it's not a bad one either)
I don't really know but might guess the fragrance similarity probably has something to do with the fact that alpha-terpinyl acetate is part of the fragrance profile of pomelo and has a molecular structure similar to styrallyl acetate, except with just one more methyl group.
Apparently styrallyl acetate, at lower levels, is where much of the green character, as well as mouth-puckering rhubarb-like aspects of the gardenia fragrance comes from.
It appears that the particular constituent of gardenia is beta-cis-Ocimene, but here is some fragrance information I was able to find about some other ocimenes, perhaps this will help us garner a fuller understanding of the type of scent qualities in this family:
alpha-Ocimene has a medium strength, fruity, floral aroma with a wet cloth note. It is contributor to green odor of unripe mango and of mango ginger (Curcuma amada). It is used in oriental pickles.
beta-Ocimene has a medium strength, tropical, green, terpy and woody odor with vegetable nuances. It is used as a flavoring agent where it has a green, tropical, woody flavor with floral and vegetable nuances. It is a flavor and fragrance additive as well as a common component in many essential oils.
beta-cis-Ocimene has a medium strength, warm, floral, herbal, sweet, citrus-like aroma. It is a component of the chemical communication system of the tea weevil and cotton bollworm.
trans-beta-Ocimene, synonym (E)-ocimene, was found to be the major chemical component in the headspace of Lilac, although not the most characteristic component.
(the fragrance of Lilac also contains small quantities of indole, like gardenia)
The fragrance of Lily also contain cis-ocimene, linalool, and methyl benzoate, which explains the fragrance resemblance to gardenia.
If Lily of the Valley bears some resemblance to gardenia, perhaps part of th reason is because it contains farnesol, which is chemically similar to farnesene but with a hydroxyl group, basically the corresponding alcohol to this terpene.
Early reconstitutions of gardenia often revolve around a tuberose note and aldehyde C-18 and may eschew styrallyl acetate altogether. Still, most gardenia bases almost always call for it. Such bases rely on its powerful rhubarb-like green note in combination with jasmine, rose, lily of the valley, lilac, and a small amount of orange blossom to render gardenia odour characteristics. But styrallyl acetate is rather harsh, so salicylates may be used to soften it along with aldehyde C-14 and C-18 as modifiers. The top note of such bases may call for aldehyde C-8 to C-12 and citrus oils such as lemon, mandarin, orange, or bergamot. To fix the components, heliotropin, coumarin, musk, labdanum, myrrh, tolu balsam, cinnamic alcohol, and synthetic ambergris may be used. Other aroma chemicals such as the mildly floral 'gardenia oxide' (isoamyl benzyl ether) and the citrusy fruity linalyl isovalearate are sometimes incorporated into gardenia compounds. Meanwhile, perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, who professes his love of simplicity, draws a more-or-less complete gardenia note with just three ingredients: the fruity sweetness and coconut of aldehyde C-18 (gamma-nonalactone), the fresh green of styrallyl acetate (Gardenol), and the Concord-grape sweetness of methyl anthranilate.
hint of decatone (gardenia decalone)
Decatone seems like an excellent material to add to a gardenia accord, in trace amounts; it is very potent in small amounts. After smelling this, I don't think it's a coincidence that it has an alternate name "Gardenia decalone". It can add what I perceive as the "grapefruit" note that I can smell in natural gardenia flowers. Decatone is very natural smelling. By itself it smells like 60% grapefruit and 40% rhubarb. But at the same time it is not too obnoxiously rhubarb, and almost has a bergamot tea feel, especially at low concentration levels.
Petal pyranone (Jasmolactone) - good for jasmine or gardenia, gives a feel of jasmine oil, a white opaque creaminess since it is a lactone.
In fact I think it should be mentioned that some sort of lactone like this one is almost essential for either jasmine or gardenia.
I think Floral pyranol (Florol) might be kind of useful for both, although more for gardenia than jasmine, having a smooth feel sort of reminiscent of lily of the valley and clean magnolia, and also a slightly linalool-like effect.
If any of you have things to share, thoughts about jasmine and gardenia, and how they connect, you are welcome to add to these rambling thoughts.
I certainly don't expect this post to come anywhere close to a definitive cover-all of jasmine and gardenia notes, but it is just a few select thoughts.
