Exaltolide
Synthetic Ingredient for Perfumery
Exaltolide, a medium-strength musk, offers a unique, sweet, and skin-like aroma with floral and ambrette undertones. This compound is notable for its fixative quality, enhancing perfume wearability, especially on skin. It imparts depth, elegance, and natural muskiness to fragrances, and works synergistically in blends, particularly with Musk T for enhanced diffusion.
Renowned for its exceptional tenacity.
🏭 Manufacturer — Firmenich
📂 CAS N° 111879-80-2
⚖️ MW — 238.37 g/mol
📝 Odor Type — Musk
📈 Odour Strength — Medium, stays 2 weeks on paper.
👃🏼 Odor Profile — intense, sweet, soft, skin-like, ambrette, floral. cosmetic aspect. Diffusive.
👅 Flavor Profile — Vanilla bean, powdery heliotropin, creamy and licorice.
⚗️ Uses — Delicately animal, musky and sweet, extremely tenacious odor of outstanding uniformity. Its fixative effect is absolutely unusual in that it is not a physical fixation, but a true fixative and mellowing effect at an incredibly low concentration of usage. The effect of perfumes containing this Lactone differ from others in the excellent ‘wearability’ introduced by the Lactone. This is particularly conspicuous when the perfume is applied to the skin.Very fine and elegant musk with a natural quality, adds depth and roundness to a wide variety of creations but it also has a synergistic effect on the bouquet of a fragrance.Use up to 5%In combination with Musk T is very good because of the diffusion of exaltolide
What is Exaltolide?
Exaltolide, also known as 1, 15-pentadecanolide or 15-hydroxypentadecanoic acid lactone, is a member of the class of compounds known as macrolides and analogs. Macrolides and analogs are organic compounds containing a lactone ring of at least twelve members.
Physical and Chemical Properties
Exaltolide is practically insoluble in water and is an extremely weak basic (essentially neutral) compound. It appears as white crystals and is solid at 20°C.
Natural Occurrence and Sensory Profile
Exaltolide is an animal, fruity, and musky tasting compound found in fats and oils, green vegetables, and herbs and spices. This makes Exaltolide a potential biomarker for the consumption of these food products.
Cyclopentadecanolide, a related compound, occurs in small quantities in angelica root essential oil and is responsible for its musk-like odor.
Synthesis and Purity
Cyclopentadecanolide is produced synthetically by the ring expansion of cyclotetradecanone. Another synthesis route is the depolymerization of polyesters of 15-hydroxypentadecanoic acid. At greater than 98% purity, this generic compound is equivalent to the Firmenich product Exaltolide (as distinct from Exaltolide Total, which is at 92% purity).
Sources:
National Center for Biotechnology Information (2020). PubChem Compound Summary for CID 9856149, Oxacyclohexadec-12-en-2-one, (12E)-. Retrieved November 25, 2020 from https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Oxacyclohexadec-12-en-2-one_-_12E.
