ASSIGNMENT

ON
PERFUMES

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY:

Dr. VIKAS RANA SANGITA YADAV
M. PHARM (2ND SEM )
21301105
DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE AND DRUG RESEARCH
PUNJABI UNIVERSITY PATIALA
147002
CONTENTS
1. Introduction
2. Notes in perfumes
3. Classification
4. Aromatic sources
5. Composition
6. Manufacturing
7. Allergens
WHAT IS PERFUME?
• Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aromatic compounds,
fixatives and solvents used to give the human body , animal , food objects
and living spaces a pleasant scent.

• It is usually in liquid form and used to give a pleasant scent to a person's

body.

• Perfumes are supposed to release a continuous pleasant fragrance that will

provide a long lasting feeling of freshness.

• Initially it was only used for religious purpose but now it has become an
ornament of sophistication for both men and women.
NOTES IN PERFUME

• Perfume is described in a musical metaphor having three

notes, making the harmonious scent accord.
• These notes are created carefully with knowledge of the
evaporation process of the perfume .
• The three notes are:
a) Top notes
b) Middle notes
c) Base notes
a) TOP NOTES: They are generally the highest of all notes and recognised
immediately after application. Top notes consist of small, light molecules with high
volatility that evaporate quickly.
Common fragrances of top notes include citrus(lemon, orange zest), light
fruits ( grapes, berries), and herbs (clary sage, lavender).

b) MIDDLE NOTES: The middle notes or the heart notes, makes an appearance once
the top notes evaporate. The middle note compounds form main body of a perfume
and act to mask the often unpleasant initial impression of base notes, which become
more pleasant with time.
common fragrances of middle notes includes rose, nutmeg, jasmine etc.

c) BASE NOTES : Base notes or bottom or dry notes appear while middle notes are
fading. The base and middle notes together are the main theme of a perfume. Base
notes bring depth and solidity to a perfume. Common fragrances of base notes
include sandalwood, vanilla, amber and musk.
CLASSIFICATION OF PERFUMES
• Perfumes are classified into five major groups on the basis of
concentration of fragrance and duration of lasting:
CLASS % OF AROMATIC DURATION (hours)
COMPOUND
Parfume(perfume) 20-30 6-8
Eau de Parfume 15-20 4-5
Eau de toilette 5-15 2-3
Eau de cologne 2-4 2
Eau fraiche 1-3 2
Perfumes can further be classified into following classes:
1. Traditional
2. Modern

TRADITIONAL:

Single floral:
Fragrance that are dominated by a scent from one particular flower, in French called
soliflore (e.g.: serge Lutens’sa Majeste La rose which is dominated by rose).

Floral bouquet:
Containing the fragrance of several flowers in a scent.
Eg: Amber, Wood, Leather, Chypre, Fougere. 
MODERN:
Bright floral: Fragrance from one or several flowers.

Green: Fragrance from cut grass or leaf. A light or more modern interpretation of the
chypre type.

Aquatic: A very clean, modern smell leading to many of the modern androgynous
perfumes. E.g. Christian Dior’s Dune

Citrus: Has freshening effect.

Fruity: Aromas of fruits other than citrus. E.g. Genette Botrytis

Gourmand: Scent with edible or desert like qualities. E.g. Thierry Mugler’s Angel.
DESCRIBING A PERFUME FRAGRANCE WHEEL ?
The Fragrance wheel is a relatively new classification method that is widely used in retail and
in the fragrance industry.

The method was created in 1983 by Michael Edward.

The new scheme was created in order to simplify fragrance classification and naming scheme,
as well as to show the relationships between each individual classes.

The five standard families consist of Floral , Oriental , Woody, Fougère , and Fresh , with the
former four families being more classic while the latter consisting of newer bright and clean
smelling citrus and oceanic fragrances that have arrived due to improvements in fragrance
technology.

With the exception of the Fougère family, each the families are in turn divided into three sub-
groups and arranged around a wheel.
COMPOSITION:
Perfumes are mainly composed of –

1.Essential oils: Derived from natural aromatic plant extracts and/or synthetic aromatic
chemicals. E.g. limonene, linalool, geraniol, citral etc.

2. Fixatives: Natural or synthetic substances used to reduce the evaporation rate. E.g.
benzyl benzoate, benzyl alcohol etc.

3. Solvents: The liquid in which the perfume oil is dissolved in. It is usually 98%
ethanol and 2% water. Alcohol allows fragrance to spread along with it and does not
permit microbial growth in the perfume. 
Essential Oils
• Peppermint oil : Menthol, menthone, cineole, limonene, Mentha furan. (Mentha Piperita,
Labiatae, Steam Distillation)
• Spearmint Oil: Carvone (55%) (Mentha spicata/cardiaca , Labiatae, dried leaf Steam
distillation)
• Lavender Oil: Linanol, linalyl acetate, cineole. (Lavendula officianalis, intermedia etc,
Labiatae., Fresh Flowering Tops)
• Rosemary Oil: Cineole, borneol camphor, bornyl acetate and monoterpene hydrocarbons,
(Rosmarinus officinalis, Labiatae)
• Rose Oil: geraniol, citronella, nerol and 2-phenyl ethanol, (From various Rosa alba and many
other rosa species, Rosaceae)
• Lemon Oil: Citrus limon, Rutaceae, Peel, without heat.
• Clove Oil: eugenol, esters, ketones, alcohols, sesquiterpenes. (Syzgium aromaticum,
Myrtacaeae, dried flower buds, distillation.
• Eucalyptus Oil: Cineole (Various Eucalyptus species. Myrtaceae, Distilled Fresh Leaves).
• Sandalwood Oil: Santalol a sesquiterpene, Heart wood of Santalum album, Santalaceae).
Fixatives:
• A fixative is used to equalize the vapor pressures, and thus reduces the volatilities of
the raw materials in a perfume oil, as well as to increase the tenacity.

• Fixatives can be resinoids (benzoin, labdanum, myrrh, olibanum, storax, tolu balsam)

or the molecules like ambroxide, civetone and muscone, which were originally
obtained from animals, but are now mostly synthesized synthetically because it is
more economical, more consistent and more ethical (animals were either killed or are
kept in captivity to collect the secretions from their perianal glands).

• Synthetic fixatives include substances of low volatility

(diphenylmethane, cyclopentadecanolide, ambroxide, benzyl salicylate) and virtually
odorless solvents with very low vapor pressures (benzyl benzoate, diethyl
phthalate, triethyl citrate).
Solvents:
• Perfume oils are often diluted with a
solvent, though this is not always the case,
and its necessity is disputed.
• By far the most common solvent for
perfume-oil dilution is alcohol, typically a
mixture of ethanol and water or a rectified
spirit.
• Perfume oil can also be diluted by means of
neutral-smelling oils such as
fractionated coconut oil, or
liquid waxes such as jojoba oil.
MANUFACTURING PROCESS
Perfumes can be manufactured by following steps:
• Collection
• Extraction
• Blending
• Aging

1. Collection :
• Before the manufacturing process begins, the initial ingredients must be brought
to the manufacturing center.
• Plant substances are harvested from around the world, often hand-picked for their
fragrance.
• Animal products are obtained by extracting the fatty substances directly from the
animal.
• Aromatic chemicals used in synthetic perfumes are created in the laboratory by
perfume chemists. 
2. Extraction:
Many oils are extracted usually from plants through the following methods:
• Steam Distillation
• Solvent Extraction
• Enfleurage
• Maceration
• Expression 

Steam Distillation:
In steam distillation, steam is passed through plant material held in a still, whereby
the essential oil turns to gas. This gas is then passed through tubes, cooled, and
liquefied. Oils can also be extracted by boiling plant substances like flower petals
in water instead of steaming them.
Solvent Extraction
Under solvent extraction, flowers are put into
large rotating tanks or drums and benzene or a
petroleum ether is poured over the flowers,
extracting the essential oils.

The flower parts dissolve in the solvents and

leave a waxy material that contains the oil, which
is then placed in ethyl alcohol.
The oil dissolves in the alcohol and rises. Heat is
used to evaporate the alcohol, which once fully
burned off, leaves a higher concentration of the
perfume oil on the bottom.
Enfleurage

• Flowers are spread on glass sheets coated with grease. The glass sheets
are placed between wooden frames in tiers. Then the flowers are
removed by hand and changed until the grease has absorbed their
fragrance.
• Enfleurage is a special method for making concretes and absolutes. The
petals are pressed onto a coating of pure lard and changed often.
• After several days, the lard has dissolved the released essential oils.
• The essential oils are then removed from the lard with alcohol.
• The residual lard is pomade.
• After extraction, the lard is used to make soaps etc.
Maceration
• It is similar to enfleurage except that warmed fats are used to
soak up the flower smell. As in solvent extraction, the grease and
fats are dissolved in alcohol to obtain the essential oils.
• It is the ratio of alcohol to scent that determines perfume, eau de
toilette, and cologne.

Expression
• It is the oldest and least complex method of extraction.
• This process, now used in obtaining citrus oils from the rind, the
fruit or plant is manually or mechanically pressed until all the oil
is squeezed out.
3. Blending

• Once the perfume oils are collected, they are ready to be blended together
according to a formula determined by a master in the field, known as a
“nose’’.
• It may take as many as 800 different ingredients and several years to
develop the special formula for a scent. After the scent has been created, it
is mixed with alcohol.
• The amount of alcohol in a scent can vary greatly. Most full perfumes are
made of about 10-20% perfume oils dissolved in alcohol and a trace of
water.
• Colognes contain approximately 3-5% oil diluted in 80-90% alcohol, with
water making up about 10%.
4. Aging

• Fine perfume is often aged for several months or even years after it is
blended.
• Following this, a nose will once again test the perfume to ensure that the
correct scent has been achieved.
• Each essential oil and perfume has three notes: Notes de tete, or top notes,
notes de Coeur, central or heart notes, and notes de fond, base notes.
• Top notes have tangy or citrus-like smells; central notes (aromatic flowers
like rose and jasmine) , and base notes (woody fragrances) provide an
enduring fragrance. More notes, of various smells, may be further blended.
Stages of Analyzing Perfumes
1. Sensorial Evaluation: smell, viscosity, color and clarity are assessed.

2.Odour/Smell test: which helps to determine if an oil is really what it is

claimed to be, since certain adulterants can be identified by this test.

3. Physical Test: specific gravity, optical rotation and refractive index are
determined.

4. GC-MS evaluation

5. Toxicity Studies
Olfactory Characterization
Electronic Nose zNose® invented by Electronic Sensor Technology,
Southern California is known for separation and quantification of the
individual chemicals with an odor in few seconds. 
Optical Rotation:
This is an important property to check whether a material is having dextro rotation or
levo rotation.
Generally most of the known essential oils and aromatic materials are having optical
rotation and a range is set for individual materials as per nature of components present
and standards are available. This gives an idea about the nature of a particular
material.
Generally samples not falling in set range of specified limits are doubted for presence
of adulterants/mixing of cheap natural materials, or natural variations in composition of
a material.
For example in case of Indian sandal wood oil which has generally specified optical
range from -13 to -20, sometimes it is observed that the range exceeds this set limit and
it may be doubted for mixing of African variety of sandalwood oil which is highly levo
rotatory in nature. Such doubts need to be confirmed by other tools like GC & Olfaction
etc.
Optical rotation is carried out in a polarimeter (Manual and Digital)using polarimeter
tubes.
Specific Gravity & Refractive Index:
• These are also important parameters to check quality of a fragrance
material .
• SG is the ratio of density of a particular material w.r.t to the density of
water at particular temperature.
• R.I is the ratio of sin of angle of incidence to sin of angle of refraction at
particular temperature.
• A range has been set for most of the essential oils for these two parameters
in the reference standards and any deviation is an indication for presence
of adulterants, cheap materials or natural variations.
• SG and RI are checked by using pycnometer/ or a density meter and
refractometer (manual or Digital) respectively.
GC-MS Evaluation
• GC/MS allows perfume makers to separate, identify and quantify the
aromatic compounds within a sample.
• headspace analysis is conducted in tandem with GC/MS to extract the
volatile and semi-volatile compounds within a perfume sample. There are
two types of headspace analysis: static and dynamic

 Static Headspace Analysis

Static headspace analysis can offer a more accurate depiction of how perfume
is actually used. However, only a small fraction of the sample makes it into
the GC column, so it’s typically used when a sample has high concentrations
of compounds.
How it Works: In this type of analysis, the sample is placed in a vial, sealed and heated
to a specific temperature so that the volatile components escape into the open headspace
above. The headspace gas is then injected into a gas chromatograph to separate the
various components of the sample based on size and polarity. The separated components
then go into a mass selective detector for identification.

 Dynamic Headspace Analysis

Dynamic headspace analysis allows more headspace vapor to travel to the GC column,
while also leaving behind water that could degrade the analysis. However, the typical
sensitivity for compounds analyzed by dynamic analysis is a nanogram per gram.

How it Works: This technique is a form of a “purge and trap” method. First, the sample
is placed in a heated vessel and then purged with a gas. The gas then flows from the
vessel through a sorbent material, which collects the outgassed components. Lastly,
outgassed components are flushed from the sorbent material onto the column for GC/MS
analysis.
TOXICITY STUDIES
The main ways in which topical toxicity might be associated with the
perfuming of products are:
1. ocular toxicity (damage to eye tissues possibly with impairment of vision);
2. skin irritancy
3. mucous membrane irritancy
4. contact sensitization
5. phototoxicity and/or photosensitization
Patch-Testing: Skin and mucous membrane irritancy are
occasionally predictable on theoretical grounds, in the case of
perfume for consumer products.
Patch test procedure- skin patch testing is usually performed on a
group of 50, 100 or 200 volunteers. It consist of repeated
application of patches containing the test product on the back of
test subjects, for a period of 6 weeks.
Thus, the repeated contact with a potential allergen in the formula
will generate series of immunological reactions in the body of the
test subject and induce a visible reaction on the application site.
The reaction is observed, recorded and evaluated by a
dermatologist.
Examples of substances for which such steps have proved necessary are
cinnamic alcohol and aldehyde, isoeugenol and phenylacetaldehyde.

Photo allergy: Human photo patch testing is considered to be the definitive

test. While true photo allergy is rare, it must be assessed. Patches containing
the material for testing are applied in duplicate and immediately covered
with light opaque material. Twenty-four hours later one set of patches is
exposed to 5 J/cm2 of UVA and evaluated after 48 hr.
Allergic contact dermatitis:
• RIFM has approached sensitization studies with fragrance materials as
primary prevention of sensitization in the healthy, normal population.
• The current method is a 3-phase sensitization safety evaluation.
• It involves a hazard assessment using an animal model, followed by an
exposure assessment using declared levels of use, and finally, a safety
assessment in a human repeated insult patch test (HRIPT).
• The animal test method is used to identify the sensitization potential and
a No Observed Effect Level (NOEL).
• Following a review of the NOEL and the maximum skin level, a safety
assessment in humans can be conducted.
INGREDIENTS LISTED AS ALLERGENS IN EU
REGULATIONS:
Category No. of individual No. of natural extracts Examples
fragrances

Established in humans 54 28 Citral, geraniol, turpentine

oil, eugenol, linalool

Established in animals 18 1 Isocyclocitral, Dibenzyl

ether, Jasminum Sambac
flower extract
Likely 26 - Ethyl vanillin, Methyl
cinnamate, Phytol

possible 35 13 Benzyl acetate, Phenyl

propanol, Illicium venum
fruit oil
INGREDIENTS CAUSING ALLERGIC REACTIONS
INGREDIENTS USE SIDE EFFECTS

Sandal wood fragrance Hypersensitivity

Limonene Slightly astringent smell Irritates the skin

Benzyl alcohol Fixative Skin irritant causing redness and

pain

Benzyl benzoate Fixative Skin irritation like blister, itching,

scaling, redness

Acetone Solvent Inhalation causing dryness of mouth

and throat

Ethyl acetate Solvent Defatting effect on skin & may

cause drying & cracking.