Firsantol

Firsantol is not found in nature.

Chemistry

Its systematic name is 2-methyl-4-(2,2,3-trimethylcyclopent-3-en-1-yl)pent-4-en-1-ol. Its formula is C₁₄H₂₄O and its molecular weight is 208.34.

Raw material

The turpentine used for this molecule is upcycled from the paper industry, often from mills that use softwood to make cardboard. It is fractionated to recover α-pinene and β-pinene, the two main molecules obtained from it. Pinenes are unsaturated bicyclic monoterpenes, and pinene is the major component of the liquid extracts of conifers. Turpentine from kraft pulping is rich in pinene, whereas the sulfite process gives a product rich in cymene.

Sandalwood and its substitutes

Sandalwood oil is obtained by steam distillation of chips and billets cut from the heartwood of various species of sandalwood trees, mainly Santalum album and Santalum spicatum. The oil contains more than 90% sesquiterpenic alcohols, of which 50 to 60% is α-santalol, while β-santalol makes up 20 to 25%. Oil from Santalum album has a santalol content of about 90%, against around 39% for Santalum spicatum. Because sandalwood is so rare and expensive, synthetic substitutes of similar structure and scent are used instead. Firsantol is one of the common synthetic substitutes, with Brahmanol, Ebanol and Sandalore among the others. The scent of sandalwood oil is hard to reproduce with a single molecule, so a mixture of several synthetic sandalwood substitutes is needed to obtain the complete profile of the natural oil. Research allowed woody sandalwood notes to enter perfumery, which until then had been limited by the natural production of sandalwood.

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Related: Bacdanol · Indian Sandalwood · Mysore Sandalwood · Paraguayan Green Sandalwood · Sandalore · Sandalwood · Sandela · Santamanol