World's MOST Celebrated Perfume Molecules

Sandalwood tree

Sandalwood- Alpha and Beta Santalol

Category               : Herbs & Supplements

Generic Name        : Sandalwood

Botanical name       : Santalum album
                                       Family             : Santalaceae, the sandalwood family 

                                     Synonyms :  Alpha-santalol, beta-santalol, East Indian sandalwood, Sandalwood oil, white sandalwood.

Sandalwood

Santalum album is a medium-sized evergreen tree with opposite, leathery leaves. The small tree is native to East Asia but has been known in the sub-continent for millennia. The exact origin of sandalwood is not known. It is found in tropical Asia through Australia to Hawaii. Like most species of the genus Santalum it is a root parasite, tapping the roots of other species for water and inorganic nutrients. The wood of Santalum album is highly aromatic. The light sapwood is used for wood carvings, whereas the darker wood from the core is steam distilled, yielding the precious sandalwood oil. Bits and pieces are used for incense sticks, etc. One of the most famous sites of cultivation is Mysore in India. The trees must be 30 years before the oil production pays off. The yield is not more than 5 %.

Freshly distilled sandalwood oil has a wonderful odour - an extremely soft, sweet-woody and delicately animal-balsamic odour. For thousands of years it has been one of perfumery's most precious items. It forms the basis of heavy oriental compositions, and creates delightful combinations with rose, violet, tuberose, clove, bergamot, lavender and a lot of other fragrant materials. Sandalwood oil mainly consists of a number of closely related sesquiterpene (a class of terpenes that consist of three isoprene units and have the molecular formula C15H24). Alpha and beta Santalol are constituents of the prized East Indian sandalwood oil. They amount to more than 90 % of the oil, beta-santalol being the most important character impact compound. Müller and Lamparsky (perfumes expert) describe the odour of the two isomers as:

Alpha- santalol

Beta- Santalol

Alpha-santalol --- A relatively weak, slightly woody odour reminiscent of alpha cedrene.
Beta- santolol --- Typically sandalwood odour, with powerful woody, milky and urinous tonality                                                                                                
*To have a 3-D look on the structure of Alpha and Beta Santalol, please visit 
http://www.leffingwell.com/chirality/santalol.htm

Uses

Sandalwood oil is used in perfumes, skin and hair preparations. As a cosmetic it has moisturising, astringent, balancing, stimulating properties soothing and anti-bacterial properties on the skin. It can be blended with other plant-derived extracts in hair oils and body lotions and is recommended for dry and aging skin. The oil is also used in perfumery, both in India and Europe. It has a characteristic of sweet, woody odour which is widely used in the fragrance industry. It has excellent blending properties and the presence of a large proportion of high-boiling constituents in the oil also makes it valuable as a fixative for other fragrances. The highly aromatic wood of the sandalwood tree is widely used in South Asia for religious and medicinal purposes and it is a prime source of incense and perfumes.

New artificial Sandalwood odorants

Beta-Santalol was synthesized in the laboratory for the first time in 1990 by an 11-step synthesis. Today, the finest substitutes are derived from campholenic aldehyde, for instance Santaliff ®, produced by IFF (International Flavours & Fragrances Inc.). Javanol ®, by Givaudan, is a new 'cyclomethylene analogue' of this compound. It turns out that substituting the alkene double bonds with the almost isosteric cyclopropane rings creates increased olfactory power and stability. Javanol ® has a strongly diffusive, natural, creamy sandalwood note with rosy shadings. Interestingly, 3,7-dimethyl-7-methoxy-2-octanol also has a fine (but weaker) sandalwood character. It was formerly produced by Bush Boake Allen under the name of Osyrol ® (Osyris is another genus of the sandalwood family).

Problems Faced

Sandalwood trees are the source of an attractive and fragrant wood. The wood is popular for wood carving, and is the source of sandal oil. The oil is valued for perfumery and incense. Sadly, the popularity of sandalwood has led to severe conservation problems. India accounts for 90% of world production of sandal oil, but production is declining as too many trees are cut down. East Indian sandalwood and other species have also been harvested for their oil in Indonesia, Fiji and Australia. Overharvesting has been a common problem and USA and France are two of the biggest importers.

References

http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/Issues/2009/February/TheSweetScentOfSuccess.asp

http://www.bojensen.net/EssentialOilsEng/EssentialOils27/EssentialOils27.htm

http://www.healthline.com/natstandardcontent/sandalwood

http://www.kew.org/plant-cultures/plants/sandalwood_landing.html