IFRA Standards - a summary

I’m always being asked what these are and how they apply to fragrances. Most people not in the industry seem to find the IFRA website a bit difficult to navigate too, so I thought I’d make up a summary list for quick reference. This isn’t a substitute for looking up the details, it does not include everything by a long shot and I don’t accept liability for any errors or omissions (!) but you might find it helpful as a way of avoiding some of the more common pitfalls.

All of this material is repeated and kept up to date on my own blog as well as here.

In each case I’m quoting the IFRA limit for Category 4 (which covers fine fragrance and anything in an alcohol base, sprayed on the skin for scent except products intended for freshly shaved skin where some of the limits are lower) or for ‘Leave-on’ products where applicable. All the percentages quoted are on a weight for weight basis and apply to the finished product.

I’ve tried to summarise the main things you are likely to come across from all the Prohibited, Specification~ and Restricted (QRA and non-QRA) Standards.

Acetyl isovaleryl (5-Methyl-2,3-hexanedione)\tProhibited
Alantroot oil (aka elecampane oil)\tProhibited
Allyl heptine carbonate\tProhibited
Allyl isothiocyanate\tProhibited
Amyl cinnamic aldehyde\t10.7%
Amylcyclopentenone \tProhibited
Anisylidene acetone (4-(p-methoxyphenyl)-3-butene-2-one)\tProhibited
cis-and trans-Asarone ((E)-and(Z)-2,4,5-Trimethoxypropen-1-yl benzene)~ *\tProhibited
Benzene\tProhibited
Benzaldehyde\t0.27%
Benzyl alcohol\t2.7%
Benzyl benzoate\t26.7%
Benzyl cinnamate\t2.1%
Benzyl salicylate\t8.0%
Boldo Oil \tProhibited
α-Butylcinnamaldehyde\t0.45%
Cade Oil (crude) and Birch Tar (crude)\tProhibited
Cade Oil (rectified)~ and Birch Tar (rectified)~\tPAHs <1ppb
Celeriax (3-Propylidenephthalide)\t0.01%
Chenopodium oil\t Prohibited
Cinamic alcohol\t0.4%
Citral*\t0.6%
Citronellol*\t13.3%
Citrus oils (expressed)\t6%
Costus root oil, absolute and concrete\tProhibited
Coumarin\t1.6%
Cumin oil\t0.4%
Cyclamen alcohol (up to 1.5% permitted as an impurity in ~Cyclamen aldehyde)\tProhibited
Cyclamen propanal (p-tert-Butyldihydrocinnamaldehyde; Bourgeonal) 0.5%
Dimethyl anthranilate (Methyl N-methylanthranilate)\t0.1%
Estragole*\t0.2%
Eugenol*\t0.5%
Farnesol*\t1.2%
Fig leaf absolute\tProhibited
Galbanum ketone (various trade names; 1-(5,5-Dimethyl-1-cyclohexen-1-yl)pent-4-en-1-one) 1.13%
Geraniol*\t5.3%
Geranyl acetate\t6%
Grapefruit oil (expressed)\t4%
Helional 5.3%
Hydratropic Aldehyde (2-Phenylpropionaldehyde)\t0.17
Hydroxycitronellal\t1%
Hyacinth absolute\t0.3%
Hyacinth butanal (3-Phenylbutanal, Trifernal)\t2.7%
Iso E Super\t21.4%
Isoeugenol\t0.2%
Ivy carbaldehyde (Dimethylcyclohex-3-ene-1-carbaldehyde (mixed isomers)) 2.7%
Jasmine Absolute\t0.7%
Jasmine Sambac Absolute\t4%
Leaf aldehyde (trans-2-Hexenal) 0.002%
Lemon (expressed)\t2%
Lime (expressed)\t0.7%
Linalool~ (Peroxide content less than 20 millimoles per litre)*
Lilial (p-tert-Butyl-α-methylhydrocinnamic aldehyde; BMHCA)\t1.9%
Limonene (d, l and dl) (1-methyl-4-prop-1-en-2-ylcyclohexene) ~ (Peroxide content less than 20 millimoles per litre)*
Lyral (3and4-(4-Hydroxy-4-methylpentyl)-3-cyclohexene-1-carboxaldehyde (HMPCC))\t0.2%
Majantol (lily propanol; 2,2-Dimethyl-3-(3-tolyl)propan-1-ol) 4.5%
Melissa officinalis\t 0.63%
Methyl β-naphthyl ketone (Oranger Crystals)\t0.2%
Methyl eugenol*\t0.02% (‘Fine Fragrance’) or 0.008% (‘Eau de Toilette’)
Methyl heptadienone (6-Methyl-3,5-heptadien-2-one)\t0.002 %
Methyl heptine carbonate\t0.01 % (but total 0.002% if used with MOC)
Methyl Ionone (mixed isomers)\t31.7%
Methyl octine carbonate\t0.002%
3-Methyl-2-(pentyloxy)cyclopent-2-en-1-one\t0.5%
Moskene\tProhibited
Musk ambrette Prohibited
Musk indane (5-Acetyl-1,1,2,3,3,6-hexamethyl indan; AHMI; phantolid, fixolide)\t2%
Musk Ketone 1-(4-tert-butyl-2,6-dimethyl-3,5-dinitrophenyl)ethanone ~ (Musk Xylene content less than 0.1% )
Musk tibetene\tProhibited
Musk Xylene\tProhibited
Nitrobenzene\tProhibited
Oakmoss Absolute\t0.1%
1-Octen-3-yl acetate\t0.3%
Opoponax\t0.4%
Patchouli ethanone (1-(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Octahydro-2,3,8,8-tetramethyl-2-naphthalenyl) ethanone; OTNE)\t21.4%
Peru balsam (crude)\tProhibited
Phenylacetaldehyde\t0.3 %
Quinoline\tProhibited
Rose Ketones\t0.02%
Santolina oil\tProhibited
Safranal (2,6,6-Trimethylcyclohexa-1,3-dienyl methanal)\t0.005%
Safrole, Isosafrole, Dihydrosafrole~\tProhibited (EOs containing these permitted if total below 0.01%)
Savin oil from Juniperus sabina\tProhibited
Styrax (from Liquidambar styraciflua macrophyla or Liquidambar orientalis only)\t0.6%
Silvial / Suzaral / Rhodial (p-Isobutyl--methyl hydrocinnamaldehyde) 1.04%
Styrax (all other species)\tProhibited
Tacrolimus (1-(2,4,4,5,5-Pentamethyl-1-cyclopenten-1-yl)ethan-1-one)\t0.45%
Tea Leaf Absolute\t 0.2%
Tree Moss\t0.1%
Toluene\tProhibited
Trivertal (aka ivy carbaldehyde; Dimethylcyclohex-3-ene-1-carbaldehyde) 2.7%
Ultravanil (vanilla cresol; 2-Ethoxy-4-methylphenol) 0.1%
Versalide (Acetyl ethyl tetramethyl tetralin; Musk 36A)\tProhibited
Verbena absolute (verbena oil is Prohibited)\t0.2%
Vetiveryl acetate~\t1.04%
Ylang ylang extracts\t0.8%

* - the main sources of these chemicals is in natural materials and you need to work out how much is in all the oils that contain them and keep the total in your product below the levels quoted here. These are some of the most complex standards to ensure compliance with.

~ = there is a Specification Standard for this material - check details via the Good Scents link for that material or directly on the IFRA Standards site.

NB The limits for Oakmoss and Tree Moss are cumulative (so the combination of both must be below 0.1%)

Explanation of IFRA Categories: When reading the standards maximum concentrations are given for each of the following 11 categories, but finding what goes in what category on the IFRA site is a bit like a treasure hunt, only not so much fun.

So for those who may be interested in something other than straightforward spray on fragrance, here is a full list of what goes where:

1\tLip Products of all types; Toys;

2\tDeodorant and Antiperspirant Products of all types

3\tHydroalcoholic Products Applied To Recently Shaved Skin; Eye Products of all types; Men’s Facial Creams, Balms; Tampons; Baby Creams, Lotions, Oils

4\tHydroalcoholic Products Applied To Unshaved Skin (includes body mists (aqueous based, alcoholic based and hydroalcoholic)); Hair Styling Aids, Hair Sprays of all types (pumps, aerosol sprays, etc.); Body Creams, Oils, Lotions, Fragrancing Creams of all types (except baby creams and lotions); Ingredients of Perfume Kits; Fragrance Compounds for Cosmetic Kits; Scent Pads, Foil Packs; Scent Strips for Hydroalcoholic Products; Foot Care Products; Hair Deodorant.

5\tWomen’s Facial Creams/Facial Make-up; Hand Cream; Facial Masks; Baby Powder and Talc; Hair Permanent and Other Hair Chemical Treatments (e.g. relaxers) but not hair dyes; Wipes or Refreshing Tissues for Face, Neck, Hands, Body; Hand Sanitizers.

6\tMouthwash; toothpaste

7\tIntimate wipes; baby wipes; insect repellent (intended to be applied to the skin)

8\tMake-up Removers of all types (not including face cleansers); Hair Styling Aids Non-Spray of all types; Nail Care; All powders and talcs (except baby powders and talcs); Hair Dyes.

9\tBar Soap (Toilet Soap); Bath Gels, Foams, Mousses, Salts, Oils and Other Products Added To Bathwater; Body Washes of all types (including baby washes) and Shower Gels of all types; Conditioner (Rinse-Off); Depilatory Face Cleansers of all types (washes, gels, scrubs, etc.); Facial Tissues; Feminine Hygiene – Pads
Feminine Hygiene – Liners; Liquid Soap; Napkins; Paper Towels; Shampoos of all types (including baby shampoos); Shaving Creams of all types (stick, gels, foams, etc.); Toilet Paper; Other Aerosols (including air fresheners sprays but not including deodorant/antiperspirants, hair styling aids spray)

10\tHandwash Laundry Detergents of all types including Concentrates; Fabric Softeners of all types including fabric softener sheets; Other Household Cleaning Products (fabric cleaners, soft surface cleaners, carpet cleaners); Machine Wash Laundry Detergents (liquids, powders, tablets, etc.) including laundry bleaches and concentrates; Hand Dishwashing Detergent including concentrates; Hard Surface Cleaners of all types (bathroom and kitchen cleansers, furniture polish); Diapers; Shampoos for Pets; Dry Cleaning Kits; Toilet Seat Wipes

11\tAll non-skin contact or incidental skin contact. Including: Air Fresheners and Fragrancing of all types (plug-ins, solid substrate, membrane delivery, electrical, pot pourri, powders, fragrancing sachets, incense, liquid refills, air freshening crystals); Animal Sprays; Candles; Cat litter; Deodorizers/Maskers Not Intended For Skin Contact (e.g. fabric drying machine deodorizers, carpet powders); Floor wax; Fragranced lamp ring; Fuels; Infused socks; Insecticides (e.g. mosquito coil, paper, electrical, for clothing); Joss Sticks or Incense Sticks; Machine Dishwash Detergent and Deodorizers; Machine Only Laundry Detergent (e.g. liquitabs)
Odored Distilled Water (that can be added to steam irons); Paints; Plastic articles (excluding toys); Reed diffusers; Scratch and sniff; Scent pack; Scent delivery system (using dry air technology); Shoe Polishes; Toilet Blocks; Treated Textiles (e.g. starch sprays, fabric treated with fragrances after wash, deodorizers for textiles or fabrics, tights with moisturizers) Note: Due to the expected negligible skin exposure from such products the risk of induction of dermal sensitization through the normal formulation and use of such products is considered to be negligible. As such, the concentration of fragrance ingredient is not restricted in the finished product.

No problem. I cant say how much was in Channel Pour Monsieur but I can say that when Im making a masculine fragrance to a commission and dont need to worry about the standards I will typically want to use in the region of 1%. So ten times as much as is now permitted.

Actually its the Eugenol and Geraniol standards that is the most problematic though:

Here is the IFRA list of oils containing Eugenol:
Clove bud/leaf/stem oil < 90
Cinnamon leaf oil < 85
Pimento berry or leaf oil < 85
Bay oil < 56
Carnation absolute < 15
Basil oil (Linalool type) <15
Cinnamon bark oil < 6
Hyacinth absolute < 2
Laurel leaf (Laurus nobilis) oil (sweet bay oil) < 2
Rose oils (Bulgaria, Morocco, China, Turkey) < 1.5
Mace oil < 1.1
Citronella oil (Java, China, Vietnam) < 1
Rose absolutes (VP *) < 1
Tuberose absolute < 1
Cananga oil < 0.7
Nutmeg oil < 0.6
Basil oil (Estragole type) < 0.5
Cassia oil < 0.5
Ylang-ylang extra < 0.5
Ylang-ylang extra super < 0.5
Ylang-ylang type I, II and III < 0.5
Cascarilla oil < 0.3
Lemongrass oils < 0.3
Origanum oil (Spanish) < 0.3
Tolu balsam absolute (VP *) < 0.3
Estragon oil (Tarragon oil, Artemisia dracunculus L.) < 0.2
Tagete patula oil/ absolute. ND dans T. minuta < 0.2
Davana oil < 0.1
Myrtle oil < 0.1
Spike Lavender oil < 0.1
Citronella oil (Ceylon) Traces < 0.1

And the same list for Geraniol:
Palmarosa oil < 85
Citronella oil (Java, China, Vietnam) < 25
Citronella oil (Ceylon) < 23
Rose oil (Morocco) < 23
Rose oil (Bulgaria) < 22
Geranium oil (Bourbon) < 20
Geranium oil (North Africa) < 20
Rose oil (Turkey) < 20
Rose oil (China) < 18.3
Geranium oil (China) < 12
Lemongrass oil < 8
Orange flower absolute (VP *) < 8
Melissa oil (genuine) < 5
Rose absolutes (VP *) < 5
Petitgrain oil (Paraguay) < 4.5
Petitgrain bergamot oil < 4
Petitgrain bitter orange oil < 4
Neroli oil < 3.5
Petitgrain lemon oil < 3.5
Coriander fruit oil < 3
Ylang-ylang extra < 3
Ylang-ylang type I < 2.6
Rosewood oil < 2.5
Ylang-ylang type II < 2.4
Clary sage (Salvia sclarea) oil < 2.2
Carrot (seed) oil < 2
Mentha citrata oil (s) < 2
Cananga oil < 1.5
Litsea cubeba oil < 1.5
Cardamom oil < 1.2
Cistus (Rockrose) oil < 1.2
Coriander leaf oil < 1
Lavandin absolute (VP *) < 1
Lavender absolute (VP *) < 1
Lavender oil (s) < 1
Snakeroot oil (Asarum canadense) < 1
Myrtle oil < 0.8
Ylang-ylang type III < 0.8
Ylang-ylang extra super < 0.7
Lavandin oil (s) < 0.6
Red Thyme oil (Spanish) < 0.5
Cajuput oil < 0.4
Ho oil (s) < 0.4
Lime oil (distilled) < 0.4
Lime oil (expressed) < 0.4
Nutmeg oil < 0.4
Laurel leaf (Laurus nobilis) oil < 0.3
Marjoram sweet oil (Origanum majorana) < 0.3
Basil oil (Linalool type) < 0.2
Hop oil < 0.2
Lemon oil (s) < 0.2
Spike Lavender oil < 0.2

To an extent I think it probably will, though price will prevent either of those two appearing in anything mainstream (as a complete aside I’m a huge fan of narcissus absolute - fab stuff). The flip-side though is that the regulation of the component-chemicals affects novel florals as much as the traditional ones. There may be no standard for narcissus as such, but it contains:

benzyl alcohol\t<6.00 %
benzyl benzoate\t<5.00 %
cinnamyl alcohol\t<3.50 %
coumarin\t<0.50 %

all of which are restricted. This is the difficulty with natural ingredients - the very same complexity that makes them so desirable in a scent also makes them difficult to use because they contain so many potentially ‘dangerous’ things . . .

And no, musk ambrette is a reference to an aroma-chemical of that name not the the natural extract of ambrette seeds.

As to costus root oil - it is still available - it just won’t be used in mainstream perfumery any longer - it is still a permitted flavouring agent. So you could buy some to smell easily enough if you wanted to.

My purpose in this thread was to provide something useful and helpful to people seeking to comply with the IFRA Standards rather than to get into yet another discussion on the politics of IFRA which has been, and will continue to be, explored extensively elsewhere on Basenotes and properly belongs in the ‘Industry and General’ forum rather than here in DIY.

I’m happy to engage in that discussion: I just don’t think it belongs here where we are concerned with the practicalities of making fragrance.

It has occured to me that my attempt to summarise may have courted controversy by giving the impression that nearly all the IFRA standards are concerned with natural materials - that isn’t the case - I’ve included all the natural materials for which there are standards on my list (well I think I have anyway, if I’ve missed anything it was unintentional). There are however a lot of standards that I missed off, that are concerned with aroma-chemicals that don’t occur in nature - I’ve now added a couple of the more common ones that I had missed since I posted the first list.

My reasoning was that as natural materials are so much easier to buy, DIY perfumers are more likely to be using them than some of the chemicals . . . that might have been a bad idea . . . I may go back and add more of the chemicals to restore balance to the list, but on the other hand I don’t want it to end up being just as complex as IFRAs own website - I’ll take votes!

On the other hand there is no doubt that the restrictions on those chemicals common to a lot of essential oils really do impact a lot of natural materials.

Oh yes, very much easier at lower concentrations because all the limits apply to the final product, a fragrance that is compliant at 10% aromatics can easily be non-compliant at 15% and extrait (so called ‘pure parfum’) is often more like 20% - imagine trying to put together a good Lily of the Valley fragrance: even if you use all three of the main aroma-chemicals (hydroxycitronellal, lilial and lyral) at their maximum levels (1%, 1.9% and 0.2% respectively) you still have a very weak fragrance unless you pad it out with a lot of something else. So the tendency will be to use as much as you can of each of those, leaving you no scope for a more concentrated version of the final fragrance.

Jasmine isn’t as bad as it first appears, because the odour yield is so high - a little goes a long way - plus you can boost it easily with various of synthetics or with jasmine sambac. With clove, another high odour yield item, most people use clove bud, which is much lower in eugenol than clove leaf and there are also some anisic aroma chemicals to boost that with too. The same is true of rose - plenty of options - but most of them are nothing like as good of course.

The bottom line though is that reformulating something is like trying to imitate a fragrance for which the formula is unknown - ten times harder than making one from scratch - no wonder many fragrances are just discontinued instead. Something I frequently have to explain to potential customers who imagine I’m going to be able to make them a version of Shalimar at a fraction of the price . . .

Thanks for the kind remarks - I’ve added a few more items and will continue to work on making the list complete over time (assuming my ability to edit the list does not expire - I notice from the recently re-released rules that it’s only meant to last an hour . . .).

One of the things I’ve just added is the strikingly heavily restricted leaf aldehyde - one of the IFRA rules that is harder than most to understand given the huge range of natural materials, particularly fruits and vegetables, that contain the substance. You’ll get far more exposure to leaf aldehyde by taking a trip to your local supermarket and handling a few of those healthy looking tomatoes than in any amount of perfume.

From a practical perfume formulation point of view it’s straightforward to simply use the closely related, similar smelling (though weaker) and completely unrestricted leaf alcohol (cis-3-hexenol) - also widely found in nature.

As a matter of interest, here is the list of things in which the aldehyde occurs naturally:
apple
apricot
avocado
banana
bergamot oil turkey @ 0.01%
blood orange oil italy @ 0.40%
blueberry
cananga leaf oil @ 2.0%
champaca concrete @ trace%
clary sage oil france @ trace%
cucumber
currant
eschweilera coriacea (a. p. dc.) mori flower oil brazil @ 1.40%
eucalyptus globulus oil rwanda @ 0.13%
feverfew flower oil @ trace%
geranium leaf oil india @ 0.05%
geranium stem oil india @ 0.05%
grape concord grape
grapefruit oil california @ 0.03%
guava fruit headspace reunion @ 7.40%
guava fruit oil reunion @ 0.10%
herniaria incana lam. oil greece @ 2.20%
laurel leaf oil turkey @ <0.10%
lemon verbena oil turkey @ 0.17%
melon
mentha longifolia (l.) huds. oil jordan @ 0.20%
peach
pennyroyal oil @ trace%
petitgrain grapefruit oil @ 0.30%
petitgrain lime oil @ trace%
raspberry
rice cooked rice
satureja viminea l. oil costa rica @ trace%
star fruit oil cuba @ trace%
strawberry
tagete oil turkey @ 0.06%
tea black tea
tobacco
tomato

So go carefully in the fruit and veg aisles!

Actually I can understand that more easily - quite a few things will irritate your skin but are safe to eat - anyone who has ever cut up chilli peppers will know how dangerous it can be to spread the juice about: I rubbed my eyes once, half an hour after I’d finished cutting them up and washed my hands, I thought, thoroughly: not a mistake you make a second time! The tearing continued throughout the whole evening and I looked like I’d been in a fight.

What is bizarre though is that I can put as much chilli oil into a perfume as I like - and in fact I have used some (in a very low dose) in a fragrance for a commission. Everyone except the chap who had it made sneezes every time he sprays any in public! It does smell lovely on the skin a few minutes later though.

There is no logic to that - different regulatory bodies take quite different views - the way the QRA system works is that they take a view of what the available evidence says causes sensitisation (and what has been tested depends of course on what has been tested, not on what should be tested) and then they conclude that ten times less than that will be safe. Then they permit ten times less than that in the perfume (roughly).

To massively oversimplify, this is based on the idea that whatever sensitisation level is, this will be based on patch tests on the skin or arms or back, and perfumes and other products may be applied in more absorptive / reactive areas, plus there may be a cumulative effect of an ingredient being present in multiple products and an accumulation increasing the likelihood of a problematic reaction. Further they also try to take account of the general population including some individuals who may be more than usually sensitive to a particular product for racial or other genetic reasons and so the results from small samples may not be reliable for all members of the population. They describe this as taking a conservative approach.

If you want to examine the full scientific rationale it is available in this RIFM document. There are worked examples from page 51 onwards. I must warn you that for the non-specialist (like me) it is tough going.

As a final thought - there are many products - tobacco and rhubarb amongst them - that have a long history of consumer use and consumption. Yet if they were discovered today, they would never pass modern standards of acceptable safety. You can argue a convincing case either way as to whether that fact represents progress or not, according to your perspective.

I’ve added Ivy carbaldehyde, Benzaldehyde, benzyl benzoate, benzyl cinnamate, benzyl salicylate and α-Butylcinnamaldehyde to the list this morning. More as I get time . . .

No problem. I’ve added Amyl cinnamic aldehyde, Methyl heptadienone, Methyl heptine carbonate , 3-Methyl-2-(pentyloxy)cyclopent-2-en-1-one as well now.

Of these Methyl heptadienone is in a few naturals including some lavender and lavandin products, lemon balm and grape as well as various foodstuffs. Amyl cinnamic aldehyde is in soya beans and black tea.

The other two are not found in nature.

There is definitely an issue here - and I’m happy to explore it - at this point my interpretation and yours look rather different, so I’m seeking a more expert opinion before I say anything that might not be accurate.

Also I think we will probably need a separate thread on it, to avoid getting tangled in different numbers: once I’ve got what I believe to be a definitive view I’ll see if I can put something together, but that may take a while.

One thing is very clear - it’s going to give all of us a headache!

You have two options: you either need a specific GC/MS analysis of the oils you are using - you may be able to get that from your supplier if you ask - or you need to use the defined ‘typical maximum’ contents listed by IFRA in Annex 1 to the Code of Practice.

In either case you then need to add up the amounts present in all the oils you are using in each product. A spreadsheet is a practical way to do this. Don’t forget that it isn’t just Eugenol and Geraniol - methyl eugenol is another particularly difficult one. I plan to add to this thread as an when I get time with more of the key practical areas to consider.

I’ve added another batch of aroma chemicals to the OP tonight: celeriax, Hydratropic Aldehyde, Hyacinth butanal, Phenylacetaldehyde, Patchouli ethanone, 1-Octen-3-yl acetate and Tacrolimus.

That completes all the items from the Restricted Standards (QRA) - so if you spot something I’ve missed please say so - all the Prohibited Standards are also in now, so I’ve just to add some of the Specification and non-QRA ones.

Of the new set, the one you are probably most likely to encounter is Phenyl acetaldehyde (it’s more usually written with a space, but IFRA have it without so that’s what’s in the list). Anyway it smells like hyacinth, is usually diluted in Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol (PEA - an aromatic ingredient in it’s own right) and the restriction is quite low. It occurs in a range of natural products including lots of fruit and veg, coriander oil and narcissus absolute among others and the actual scent of hyacinths.

Finally I realised that some of these chems are given such bewildering names (to those not trained in organic chemistry) and have such a wide range of different ways of writing the name, plus in many cases pithier brand names that it can be very hard to know just what you are talking about.

Throughout the list I’ve tried to start with the most commonly used name with other common ones and the name IFRA uses in brackets. With all the new additions I’ve also added a link to the Good Scents page on that material where you can see a list of synonyms, a list of some of the natural occurrences if any and get a link direct to the standard. Eventually I plan to put those in for everything and I wish I’d thought of it to start with . . .

I did think about putting CAS numbers into the list, but in the end I didn’t because they too are subject to some confusion. Take Lyral for example - the name that appears in the IFRA list is

3and4-(4-Hydroxy-4-methylpentyl)-3-cyclohexene-1-carboxaldehyde (HMPCC)

The ‘3and4’ part of which is recognising that there are actually two similar substances involved, with CAS numbers:
31906-04-4
51414-25-6
These same two substances also have the EC numbers:
250-863-4
257-187-9

If you put Lyral into a product you have to declare it on the label, as it is one of the 26 allergens regulated by the EU, but when you do that you have to use the INCI name, which is:
Hydroxyisohexyl 3-Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde
and that has the CAS number:
31906-04-4 (as though it was just the ‘3’ version)

Now if you put 'Lyral IUPAC' into Google the top result is from ChemIndustry indicating it has another CAS number:
68411-90-5

While if you look it up on Wikipedea you find that chemical details are given, including the IUPAC name
4-(4-hydroxy-4-methylpentyl)-1-cyclohex-3-enecarboxaldehyde (as though it was just the ‘4’ version)
plus CAS number 31906-04-4 and EC number 250-863-4 (as though it was just the ‘3’ version)
As well as a list of other names under which it is sold:
Lyral, Kovanol, Mugonal, Landolal

Which, strikingly to me, does not include the name used by my own supplier, and under which it is listed by The Good Scents Company which is Leeral

If I were to attempt to reconcile all that stuff for every entry I’d have failed in my objective to produce a simplified reference summary, so in the end I decided that the best quality, most complete information for the widest range of materials seemed to be that included in The Good Scents Company pages: hence my decision that links there would be useful.

How the ordinary consumer is expected to make any sense out of all this is a mystery!

Right, another update to the OP just completed - I’ve added Dimethyl anthranilate, Estragole, Methyl β-naphthyl ketone, Methyl eugenol, Musk indane and Safranal.

This update completes all the non-QRA Restricted Standards. It also really shows that those who said I should make the list complete were right, because it includes two of the most important and difficult standards (in bold). I’m going to add lists of the natural materials containing these somewhere: I think it might be most useful to put them into the same post with the Eugenol list for ease of reference later.

There are still most of the specification standards left - not quite sure how best to handle those as they are not so easily summarised - and there are also quite a few Prohibited Standards left to add (all the natural materials are in, but not all the synthetics).

This has turned into rather an epic task!

The Sigma Aldrich tip is useful, thanks. Yes I realise the CAS numbers are precise for their purpose: if you buy materials direct from the big manufacturers you always get CAS numbers quoted too.

The whole thing is still very confusing to those of us without the organic chemistry background!

No, no - not at all - I appreciate the idea and link. Once I have the Good Scents links there the CAS number is another thing that can be picked up from them. I can’t be sure how reliable they are for those, not having checked a meaningful sized sample, but pretty much anything else on those pages that I’ve ever cross-checked has turned out to be accurate so it should be - and for Lyral they give full chemical details, including both correct CAS numbers, for both the variants that are present in the commercial product.

I think we are slowly building up a really useful resource here.

I’m not quite certain because I don’t know how the stuff is made, but from my reading of some of MSDS and the EU papers on the subject I believe all the commercial products contain both molecules, presumably either because the mix is desirable or because they are both made in the production process and there is no commercial incentive to separate them.

Yes that is the sort of thing I meant - I’ve oversimplified the Cade and Birch Tar ones in order to essentially turn them back into a number, but some of the standards talk about production methods.

Take this one on Vetiveryl acetate for example:


I can’t see any obvious way of summarising that without rendering it meaningless, yet Vetiveryl acetate is a very commonly used ingredient so I’m loath to miss it out.

OK thanks for the thoughts guys - I’ve just finished adding Versalide, several new links, colour coding and references to Specification Standards. I’ve gone for a combination of:

the Good Scents link - so far they are reproducing the specification in their material data for everything I’ve linked that has a standard.

A generic link to the list of Specification Standards on the IFRA site - hopefully that link should be stable even if the individual pdf links change.

To make them stand out more I’ve also colour coded the *, ~ and ‘prohibited’ notes.

To be continued . . .

Another update - I’ve now added a detailed explanation of the IFRA Categories so that you can see exactly what is included in the Category 4 numbers given in the main table as well as what would fall into all the other categories if you want to look something up. It took me hours of searching to find this information on the IFRA site the first time I needed it, so I thought it useful to include.

Also note that there are a range of products in Category 11 for which the majority of the standards simply state ‘Not Restricted'

I strongly suspect that’s one of the reasons we’ve seen an explosion in sales of reed diffusers in the last year or two. Now, far from being the poor-relations of the home fragrance business you can get some really excellent ones.

The relaxed restrictions are certainly one of the reasons I decided to launch my own range: sometimes making a skin-fragrance you feel as though you’re running with a sack of lead - so it’s nice to put it down and run free every now and then!