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I get to synthesize some scent molecules in a few weeks!

post #1 of 5
2/29/08 at 9:17am
Thread Starter 
I am not currently a perfume DIYer, though I've been wanting to get into it for a while. However, I got so excited when I found out that I get to choose a molecule to synthesize for my last month of organic chemistry lab I just had to share! There are a bunch of molecules that we get to choose from to synthesize, and three of them are scent- and food-related. Those are:

Musk ketone
Beta-ionone (which according to wikipedia has a "woody, dry, fruity, raspberry and violet smell")
Piperic acid (found in peppers)

OMG I'm sosososo excited! Which one should I pick? I listed them in order of my current preference, but musk ketone and beta-ionone are both pretty close in the running.
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post #2 of 5
2/29/08 at 10:10am
Musks don't necessarily have a strong smell in a bottle by themselves, IME, and sometimes people are anosmic to them. I don't have any experience with musk ketones specifically, so they could differ, but I'd go for the ionone.

Note that I say this from a perfumery standpoint. I don't know which one might be more fun to synthesize.
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post #3 of 5
2/29/08 at 12:38pm
Yeah, beta ionone would be my pick. I can tell what musk ketone does to my concotions, but I can hardly detect its smell by itself.
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post #4 of 5
2/29/08 at 1:38pm
Thread Starter 
I just got back from my lab and it turns out that the powers that be have nixed all of the fun chemicals. It's down to a sulfa drug and caproic acid, which smells like goat pee.

I think I might go with the caproic acid! Très animalic. Eeeew.
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post #5 of 5
3/2/08 at 11:20am
Quote:
Originally Posted by marnut View Post

I just got back from my lab and it turns out that the powers that be have nixed all of the fun chemicals. It's down to a sulfa drug and caproic acid, which smells like goat pee.

I think I might go with the caproic acid! Très animalic. Eeeew.

That would take any 'dirty' fragrance to a whole new level!
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