ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am really grateful to the chemistry department of

our school, our teachers, Mr. S.K Jain, Mrs. Kaur &
the lab assistant for the successful completion of
this project

(Victor Parmar)
XII A
Roll No. ..

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

This is to certify that Victor Parmar is a bonafide

student of class XII A, APJ School, NOIDA and the
following project is of his own compilation.

Signature

INTRODUCTION

The word Perfumes has originated from the

Latin word perfumum meaning through smoke.
In early times, various aromatic gums and barks
have been burnt as incense during worship. The
ancient Egyptians had used sweet smelling resins
for embalming the dead bodies.
The role of perfumery materials as a curative
and prophylactic agent of disease was long
recognized by the Chinese and British. For e.g. the
Chinese considered Musk as a cure for epilepsy and
other ailments. Even in modern times, the Chinese
peasants make use of the fragrant of musk to repel
snakes.
The perfume industry has made significant
advances not only in matter of producing perfumes
and cosmetics for personal use but also in providing
acceptable odours for a wide range of consumer
goods such as detergents, disinfectants, polishes,
inks, packing, leather, textiles and paper.

WHAT IS A GOOD PERFUME?

Anything that smells nice cannot be called a

perfume. The essential requirements of a good
perfume are harmonious odour, stability, lasting
fragrance, diffusiveness and ability to get fixed in
the required cosmetic and other products.
A good perfume having harmonious odour is
prepared by blending of compatible perfumery
materials. This means that the odourous principles
must be such that they do not clash with one
another but, on the other hand, permit progressive
evaporation so that each component contributes its
separate as well as combined effect to the total
fragrance.
Generally speaking, a well-composed and
blended perfume will have three notes: The top
note or head odour, the middle note or the
modified note, and the end or the base note.
An exhaustive and extremely useful
classification of odouriferous substances has been

developed by Poucher. A scale of 1-100 is used and

the position of the substance on the scale is
determined by its volatility, which is measured by
noting the time of its complete evaporation from a
paper slip. The most volatile substance comes in the
range of 1-14 on the scale (top note/head odour).
The middle notes are obtained from compounds in
the group 15-60 (middle/modified note). The
remaining (61-100) constitute the base note.
A typical perfume composition will have volatile
notes, such as Citrus oil for immediate perception,
middle notes such as Ionones and for base notes,
Musk and Vanillin for a persistent odour response
and balance. The skill of a perfumer consists in
selecting and blending only such top, middle and
base notes which can finally merge into a pleasant,
smooth and harmonious chord.

COMPOSITION OF PERFUMES

A perfume mainly consists of three parts:

1. The odouriferous constituents (2-10%).
2. The fixatives (these make the perfume last longer
by reducing its volatility.
3. The dilutant is invariably pure ethyl alcohol, which
serves to dilute the blended perfume to the
desired odour strength.

There are three ways for creating odour. The first

approach is that the natural scent may be recreated
or slightly modified. The second approach is that a
number of floral notes may be combined into one
harmonious bouquet.
The perfumery materials can be classified
according to their origin whether they are from
natural sources (e.g. plants & animals) or synthetic.
The perfumery materials from plants are basically
the essential oils from flowers, fruits, stem, roots,
leaves, seeds, etc. The active ingredients of essential
oils differ from oil to oil. These are mainly Terpenes,
Esters, Aldehydes, Ketones and Alcohols.
The most important terpene based perfumery
chemicals found in essential oils are:
LIMONENE
CAMPHOR
GERANIOL
TERPENEOL
The important products used in perfumes from
animals are:
MUSK
CIVET

SYNTHETIC PERFUMERY MATERIALS

These are perfumery compounds synthesized in

the laboratory from suitable starting materials. If

the source is natural, the compound is called semisynthetic otherwise it is referred to as synthetic.
The natural perfumery materials are extremely
expensive. Thus towards the end of the 19th century,
extensive experiments were carried out to evolve
cheaper organic substituents.

FORMULATION & BLENDING OF PERFUMES

The selection and blending of perfume materials

to produce a satisfactory end-point is by no means
an easy task. It is a lengthy process requiring skill
and patience. The perfumers workbench is like an
organ which has about 1500-perfumery materials
orderly arranged in a semi circle. Needless to say,
the perfumer must be a chemist with a highly
developed sense of smell so that he can recognize
and distinguish between thousands of different
odours and notes.
The different types of perfumery materials that
are used generally include:
ALDEHYDES
KETONES
ALCOHOLS
ESTERS
PHENOLS

EXPERIMENT NO.1

AIM: - To prepare Ethyl Salicylate

APPARATUS: - Boiling tube, water bath, beaker and
separating funnel
PROCEDURE: 1 gm. of salicyclate was taken in a boiling tube.
2 ml. of Ethyl Alcohol and 1-2 drops of
concentrated sulphuric acid were added.
Then the boiling tube was heated in a boiling
water bath for about 20-25 minutes.
The contents of the boiling tube were poured in a
beaker containing cold water.
The odour was noted.
The ester, separating in the lower portion of the
beaker, was obtained using a separating funnel.
RESULT: - The compound obtained smelled of
wintergreen and thus was Ethyl Salicylate.

EXPERIMENT NO.2

AIM: - To prepare Methyl Salicylate

APPARATUS: - Boiling tube, water bath, beaker and
separating funnel
PROCEDURE: 1 gm. of Salicylic acid was taken in a boiling tube.
2 ml. of methyl alcohol and 2-3 drops of
concentrated acid were added to it.
The boiling tube was heated in a boiling water
bath for about 20-25 minutes.
The contents of the boiling tube were then poured
in a beaker containing cold water.
The odour was noted.
The ester, separating in the lower portion of the
beaker was obtained by using a separating funnel.
RESULT: - The compound obtained had a pungent
and characteristic odour of wintergreen and thus
was Methyl Salicylate.

EXPERIMENT NO.3

AIM: - To prepare Ethyl Benzoate

APPARATUS: - Boiling tube, water bath, beaker and
separating funnel
PROCEDURE: 1 gm. of Benzoic acid was taken in a boiling tube.
2 ml. of ethyl alcohol and 2-3 drops of
concentrated acid were added to it.
The boiling tube was heated in a boiling water
bath for about 20-25 minutes.
The contents of the boiling tube were then poured
in a beaker containing cold water.
The odour was noted.
The ester, separating in the lower portion of the
beaker was obtained by using a separating funnel.
RESULT: - The compound obtained had a pungent
and fruity odour and thus was Ethyl Benzoate.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Reference books:
Comprehensive Chemistry Lab Manual
Britannica Encyclopedia