By 1879 it was listed that Yardley exported over a score of different varieties of scented soaps to the United States, whilst the British company Crown Fragrances was exporting 49 different fragrances to 47 different countries. Perfumers focused on mass production techniques for aroma chemicals, glass bottles and alcohol to service an ever-growing market demand. Products were branded to encourage consumer loyalty, and the first tentative steps to marketing their olfactory wonders were being made by the giants of their time. Perfumers of France, England and Spain widened their horizons to a global marketplace. At the end of the nineteenth century, science, industrialization, market demand and individuals of the moment had conspired to catalyse growth in the use of scent and the pleasure gained from it. Perfume was finally reaching the masses. This set the scene for the twentieth century, the age of fashion, which spurred a truly explosive growth in the use of fragrance in many forms. In the background of this flurry of activity on the perfume front, major strides had been taken in the synthesis of aroma chemicals which greatly influenced and aided the formulation chemists and perfumers in their choice and cost of materials. Table 2.2 summarizes some of the key
Year |
Event |
Attributed to |
1701 |
Observations that some flowers provided no essential oils on steam distillation |
Nicholas Lemery |
1759 |
Reaction of oil of amber with fuming nitric acid gave a musky odour |
Berlin Academy |
1800 |
Investigations into ambra (or ambergris) component chemistry |
|
1833 |
Empirical formulae reported for anethole, borneol and camphor |
Dumas |
1834 |
Isolation of cinnamic aldehyde |
Dumas, Peligot |
Preparation of nitrobenzene |
Mitscherlich |
|
1837 |
Isolation of benzaldehyde |
Liebig, Wohler |
1843 |
Methyl salicylate determined as main component of wintergreen oil |
Cahours |
1853 |
Preparation of benzyl alcohol |
Cannizzaro |
Synthesis of aliphatic aldehydes |
Piria |
|
1856 |
Synthesis of cinnamic aldehyde |
Chiozza |
1859 |
Preparation of aldehydes from pyrolysis of calcium formate mixtures |
Bertagnini |
1859-1860 |
Large-scale preparation of salicylic acid |
Kolbe |
1863 |
Preparation of benzaldehyde |
Cahours |
1865 |
Determination of structure of benzene |
Kekule |
1866 |
Structure of cinnamic acid determined |
Erlenmeyer |
1868 |
Synthesis of coumarin |
Perkin |
1869 |
Discovery of heliotropin |
Filtig and Mielk |
1871 |
Structure of heliotropin determined |
Barth |
1874 |
Synthesis of vanillin from guaiacol |
Reimer and Tiemann |
1876 |
Discovery of phenylacetic aldehyde |
Radziszewski |
1875-1877 |
Synthesis of cinnamic acid |
Perkin |
1877 |
Production of anisaldehyde from p — hydroxybenzaldehyde |
Tiemann, Herzfeld |
1878 |
Structure of terpin hydrate determined |
Tilden |
1880 |
Quinolines discovered |
Skraup |
1884 |
Identification of D-limonene and dipentene |
Wallach® |
1888 |
Discovery of nitro musks |
Baur |
1889 |
Discovery of citronellal |
Dodge |
1890 |
Synthesis of heliotropin from safrole |
Eykmann |
1893 |
Synthesis of ionone |
Tiemann, Kruger |
1894 |
Structure of a-pinene determined |
Wagner |
1885 |
Structure of terpineol determined |
Wallach, Tiemann, Semler |
Continued |
Table 2.2 Continued
a Five Nobel prize winners in the first half of the twentieth century were involved with aspects of aroma chemistry. |
Decade |
Background |
Development and Exploitation |
Fragrance used in |
Emergent fashion designers |
1900s |
Fin de Siecle, emancipation |
Coumarin, heliotropin, ambreine |
L ‘Origan |
Worth |
1910s |
Peace and war |
Undecalactone |
Mitsouko |
Poiret, Caron |
1920s |
Prohibition, exhibition |
Aldehydes CIO, Cl 1, C12 |
Chanel №5 |
Chanel, Patou |
1930s |
Recession, depression |
Phenyl ethyl acetate, civettone |
Tabu |
Schiaparelli, Dana |
1940s |
War and peace |
Hydroxycitronellal, musk ketone |
L’Air du Temps |
Dior, Balenciaga, Balmain |
1950s |
Rock and roll |
Amyl salicylate, cedryl acetate, nitromusks |
Youth Dew |
Rochas, Nina Ricci |
1960s |
Flower power |
PTBCHA,3 c/s-hex-3-salicylate |
Fidji |
Laroche, Quant |
1970s |
Global village |
Methyl dihydrojasminate |
Chanel №19 |
Cacharel, Paco Rabanne |
1980s |
King consumer |
Ethylene brassylate, helional |
Obsession |
Montana, Jean Paul Galtier |
1990s |
Fin de Siecle, millennium |
Dihydromyrcenol, synthetic musks, Ambrox® (Firmenich) |
Cool Water |
Thierry Mugler, Hugo Boss, Joop |
ap-/-Butylcyclohexyl acetate. |
compounds of interest to the industry, their discovery dates and the chemists involved.