Quote:
Originally Posted by
ariodant 
Short of a GC, how would one know if it's diluted or not?
Good question actually. Mostly it comes down to experience.
If you suspect something you can check that the physical properties (colour, viscosity or crystal form, melting point and so forth) are what youd expect for the material. Some common adulterants are also fairly easy to test for if you look.
But in practice youd only go to that trouble with a synthetic material if you noticed something amiss, such as the material not looking as youd expect, having a lower odour yield or not having the expected impact in a blend etc.
With natural materials, which are so frequently adulterated that you almost have to start from the assumption youre
not getting what youre paying for, its sensible to test anything new or from a new supplier.
In general its pretty rare for synthetics to be adulterated, though clearly the temptation must be there, especially with the more expensive materials (Ambroxan or Irone, alpha for example). With something like linalyl acetate or hedione though, the material is so cheap already that going to the trouble of diluting it with a slightly cheaper solvent simply isnt economically advantageous.
