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Fragrance material review on β-methoxy-benzeneethanol
J Scognamiglio1, C S Letizia, A M Api
1Research Institute for Fragrance Materials, Inc. 50 Tice Boulevard, Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677, USA. jscognamiglio@rifm.org
Abstract:
A toxicologic and dermatologic review of β-methoxy-benzeneethanol when used as a fragrance ingredient is presented. β-methoxy-benzeneethanol is a member of the fragrance structural group Aryl Alkyl Alcohols and is a primary alcohol. The AAAs are a structurally diverse class of fragrance ingredients that includes primary, secondary, and tertiary alkyl alcohols covalently bonded to an aryl (Ar) group, which may be either a substituted or unsubstituted benzene ring. The common structural element for the AAA fragrance ingredients is an alcohol group -C-(R1)(R2)OH and generically the AAA fragrances can be represented as an Ar-C-(R1)(R2)OH or Ar-Alkyl-C-(R1)(R2)OH group. This review contains a detailed summary of all available toxicology and dermatology papers that are related to this individual fragrance ingredient and is not intended as a stand-alone document. Available data for β-methoxy-benzeneethanol were evaluated then summarized and includes physical properties, acute toxicity, skin irritation, mucous membrane (eye) irritation, skin sensitization, phototoxicity, and photoallergy data. A safety assessment of the entire Aryl Alkyl Alcohols will be published simultaneously with this document; please refer to Belsito et al., 2012 for an overall assessment of the safe use of this material and all Aryl Alkyl Alcohols in fragrances.
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