Rose
Honeyed, transparent, faintly metallic. The scent everybody thinks they know — until they smell the raw absolute, and discover that rose is not sweet: it is a tense equilibrium of citrus-green terpenes, waxy alcohols, and a trace molecule (beta-damascenone) whose threshold sits at 0.002 parts per billion, pulling an otherwise unremarkable floral mixture into the most recognizable smell on earth.
Scent
Terroir & Origins
The Full Story
Did You Know?
Beta-damascenone, present in rose oil at parts-per-billion concentrations, has an odor threshold of 0.002 ppb in water — roughly 20,000 times lower than l-citronellol (40 ppb), the most abundant odorant in the oil. Strip damascenone from a rose reconstruction, and you get a pleasant citrus-floral mix. Return it at trace levels, and the entire olfactory identity locks into focus. It is among the most extreme examples in flavour and fragrance science of a trace compound defining a material's character.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method
Two principal methods. Steam distillation of fresh petals produces rose otto (essential oil) — yield approximately 0.025–0.035%, meaning 3,000–4,000 kg of hand-picked petals per kilogram of oil. During distillation, most phenylethyl alcohol partitions into the aqueous phase and is lost to the distillation water (sold separately as rose water). The resulting otto is proportionally richer in terpene alcohols (citronellol, geraniol) and stearoptenes (rose waxes that solidify below 20°C). Solvent extraction with hexane produces the concrete — a waxy semi-solid — which is then washed with ethanol to yield the absolute. The absolute retains the full phenylethyl alcohol content (up to 60% in centifolia absolutes) and reads as rounder, richer, and more complete than the otto. Rosa damascena petals are harvested in Bulgaria and Turkey; Rosa centifolia in Grasse and Morocco. Harvest occurs at dawn, before solar heat accelerates volatile evaporation from the open flowers.
- Formula
- C₁₀H₂₀O (citronellol, ~20–35% of otto) · C₈H₁₀O (phenylethyl alcohol, ~50–63% of centifolia absolute)
- CAS
- 8007-01-0 (Rosa damascena oil & absolute) · 84604-12-6 (Rosa centifolia)
- Botanical
- Rosa damascena Rosa centifolia
- Appearance
- pale reddish brown viscous liquid
- Odour strength
- Medium (otto) · Medium-Strong (absolute)
- Lasting power
- 168 hours at 100.00%
- Synonyms
- Rosa damascena, Rosa centifolia, rose de Mai, rose otto, rose absolute
- Price range
- 5,000 – 9,000 €/kg (otto, 2025 market)
Natural rose oils carry no blanket IFRA restriction. However, methyl eugenol — a natural constituent of rose absolute — is restricted to 0.01% in fine fragrance (Category 4) under the IFRA 51st Amendment. Formulators must account for methyl eugenol contribution when dosing rose materials above trace levels.
- Boiling point
- 260.00 to 261.00 °C. @ 760.00 mm Hg
- Melting point
- 85.00 °C. @ 760.00 mm Hg
- Flash point
- 183.00 °F. TCC ( 83.89 °C. )
- Specific gravity
- 0.94000 to 0.98600 @ 25.00 °C.
- Refractive index
- 1.50000 to 1.56000 @ 20.00 °C.
In Perfumery
Rose is the heart note — the structural centre of Western perfumery since the French houses formalised the pyramid in the early twentieth century. Alongside jasmine, it defines the floral heart accord. There is no major fragrance family that excludes it entirely: soliflores and bouquets depend on it outright; chypres use it to soften mossy bases; ambers route it through ambery warmth; even fougères and colognes deploy trace amounts as modifiers. Rosa damascena absolute anchors rich, dense constructions. Rosa centifolia absolute — with its higher phenylethyl alcohol content (often exceeding 50%) — serves cleaner, more modern readings. Synthetic reconstructions rely on citronellol, geraniol, phenylethyl alcohol, rose oxide (cis- and trans-isomers), and damascone/damascenone to approximate the natural material at lower cost, though no reconstruction has fully replicated the 280+ compounds present in the genuine article. The rose is present but withheld, like light through frosted glass.