27th BSP One Day Symposium

The BSP returned to Whittlebury Hall, Northamptonshire this year for its annual One Day Symposium on 21st May 2009.

A full programme included six major fragrance supply companies presenting, plus a keynote lecture by Dr. Craig Roberts (see separate report). There were also stands in the foyer by S.Black, Streatley Software Solutions, and IFF organized a quiz, the task was to identify twelve IFF materials, two or three of them were within the IFF presentation, too.

Charabot

Charabot presented a selection of natural materials, including a Coffee CO2 extract which left us longing for the coffee break during the first session!  

Essential oils with lower allergens and safety considerations featured in several of the presentations today.

Lemon Low Furocoumarin oil - a delicious, zesty, citrus, lemon oil.
Ylang Extra Comores oil - Charabot described how they have been working with the local growers in the Comoro Islands to improve the quality of Ylang Extra back to what it was in previous years.
Orris Butter Reco - exactly as it says, a reconstitution of Orris concrete, characteristic, sweet, powdery, milky, good quality but for an economical price.
Coffee CO2 Extract - a 100% pure and natural coffee aroma, powerful roasted coffee notes. This is sure to be in demand, to be able to translate the trends for gourmand notes into natural blends which are also in great demand.
Vetiver fraction - a molecular distillation resulting in a rich, vetiver, precious wood profile, and the elusive grapefruit top note was clearly evident!
Cistus HT MD Absolute - a wonderful, rich, animalic cistus aroma produced by a two-stage process using high temperature and then molecular distillation.
It is always lovely to revisit the naturals but especially when a new production method highlights some new facets of the oils in this way.

 

IFF

IFF presented us with three materials today, demonstrated in a variety of suitable products, followed by the single materials in solution:

Cyclemax - a green, floral, muguet note, somewhere between lilial and cyclamen aldehyde in profile, but with a melon/cucumber top note, also reminiscent of the green note of privet. It is recommended for marine freshness and muguet notes, and was demonstrated in body wash and cologne. There are also no labelling requirements for this material.
Floral Super - this is an aldehydic, floral, cyclamen note which improved impact in the detergent powder formula and added sparkling top notes to a cologne demonstration.
Violiff - this was interesting because although I had seen Violiff before, I had not noticed before the tagette/banana character and personally I also found a cistus note! This just shows the value of smelling in the non-work, much lower odour environment of the Symposium, and of revisiting materials even if you have smelled them before - I for one will certainly be exploring Violiff further when I get back to the laboratory at work! Demonstrated in liquid detergent, it gave the fragrance a lot of "bloom" and was also very effective shown in a candle.

 

R C Treatt

R C Treatt demonstrated their strengths in the naturals area, particularly citrus, and again highlighted their partnership with EarthOil in the organic sector.

Black Tea Treattarome - following the coffee aroma from earlier, we are now shown a really good tea natural top note. It was very tea-like, reminiscent of iced tea. It is distilled from tea, and contains some ionone beta, and alpha and beta damascone, from analysis.
Camomile English Distilled - rich and fruity, herbal, floral, characteristic.
Cinnamon Hot Natural Blend - this is interesting - molecular distillation gives this a "hotter" cinnamon aroma.
Yuzu Natural "Type" - this has natural status but it is a blend of oils with a characteristic yuzu aroma. The yuzu is also related to the Kaffir lime, but it is a hybrid of sour mandarin and Ichang lemon.
Organic Geranium Oil - they told us this is lower in geraniol, linalol and isomenthone than geranium Reunion/Bourbon, but has higher levels of citronellol, citronellyl formate and other components.
Grapefruit RCO Low Furocoumarin - tangy, citrus.
Lemon oil Low Furocoumarin - mouthwatering, lemon and lime (below).
Lime oil expressed Low Furocoumarin
Lime oil Zesty Low Furocoumarin (this one is nature-identical).

 

Synarome

Synarome presented with their UK agents, Stort Chemicals.

Vetiver Acetate - three types of vetiver acetate were shown, supra, extra and vetiver acetate. The vetiver acetate supra has a grapefruit top note, rounded and fresh, with a feminine woodiness and a milky note. The vetiver acetate extra is woody, modern and leathery. The vetiver acetate is the driest, smoky and rooty.
Tetrahydroionol - a violet, woody, leathery note, again shown in a demo formula.
Tetrahydrojasmone - rich, floral, jasmine, with celery and fruity tones.
Cinnamyl iso butyrate - sweet almond, cherry and spicy, cinnamon.
Animalis 1745-03 TEC - the latest version of this classic, animalic speciality.

 

PFW Aroma Chemicals

PFW, by their own admission, "The tonalid people" began by reassuring us with the latest safety information on tonalid. Then, they showed us some other aroma chemicals they should be remembered for:

Iso Jasmone HQ - provides the jasmone note, rich jasmin and celery-like, at a reduced cost, useful for fine fragrance and cosmetic applications with good stability in cosmetics and detergents.
Patchwood - a woody, leathery note but with an interesting "minty/ozonic" top note.
Ultramusk - a mixed product made from the starting materials for phantolid and tonalid mixed together, then performing the reaction on them results in Ultramusk with good substantivity in detergent powder. I found this quite reminiscent of phantolid.

 

S&D Aroma Ltd

For our final presentation of the day, we were treated to an astonishing eleven naturals, with at least three of them totally new to many of us. S&D Aroma Ltd are known for organic essential oils, but Verity explained how they have recently been working to obtain the FSC standard (Forest Stewardship Council) for some of their oils as well, to give extra guarantees in Fair Trade and sustainability. This is the first time the standard has been awarded to essential oils.

Artemisia oil Organic FSC - fresh, herbal, thujone aroma.
Buchu oil: Agathosma betulina and crenulata - the betulina is the characteristic buchu used in minty/blackcurrant fragrances and flavours. The crenulata has a sharper, pulegone note.
Eucalyptus oil Organic - fresh, camphoraceous, I found it a little lemony.
Firetree oil - Xanthorrhoea preissii - this is interesting, quite soft, floral with a rosey note.
Jatamansi oil Organic FSC - another rare oil, believed to be related to the Spikenard of Biblical times, very earthy, dank, cool aroma, in fact one of the principal constituents is patchouli alcohol.
Juniper oil Organic FSC - characteristic juniperberry note, fresh, herbal, woody, balsamic.
Palmarosa oil Organic - fresh, floral, rosey.
Sandalwood oil Organic - this is the Santalum spicatum from Australia, which is all government controlled and the trees are cultivated, with more being planted, but even so, the oil is distilled from wood chippings from branches which have already fallen, so very sustainable.
Wintergreen oil Organic FSC - characteristic methyl salicylate aroma, the essential oil is produced by decomposition during the distillation process.
Xanthoxylum oil Organic FSC - it has a soapy, linalol/linalyl acetate, peppery aroma. Another totally new essential oil!

The BSP would like to thank all of the presenters today for an exciting and intensive session! I am sure we are all in agreement we have been thoroughly spoilt with such a wide array of materials to smell!

 Julie Marlowe

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This report is the writer's interpretation of the event. It is not intended as a verbatim account and should not be read as such.

© Copyright British Society of Perfumers 2009