Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 26, 2025

HKUST-1 as a Heterogeneous Catalyst for the Synthesis of Vanillin
Published on: July 23, 2016
The Smelling Principle of Vetiver Oil, Unveiled by Chemical Synthesis
Jie Ouyang1, Hanyong Bae2, Samuel Jordi3
1Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Platz 1, 45470, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
Abstract:
Vetiver oil, produced on a multiton-scale from the roots of vetiver grass, is one of the finest and most popular perfumery materials, appearing in over a third of all fragrances. It is a complex mixture of hundreds of molecules and the specific odorant, responsible for its characteristic suave and sweet transparent, woody-ambery smell, has remained a mystery until today. Herein, we prove by an eleven-step chemical synthesis, employing a novel asymmetric organocatalytic Mukaiyama-Michael addition, that (+)-2-epi-ziza-6(13)en-3-one is the active smelling principle of vetiver oil. Its olfactory evaluation reveals a remarkable odor threshold of 29 picograms per liter air, responsible for the special sensuous aura it lends to perfumes and the quasi-pheromone-like effect it has on perfumers and consumers alike.
Related Concept Videos
Aromatic Compounds: Overview
In 1825, Faraday isolated...
Olfaction
The olfactory receptors are embedded in the cilia of the...
Volatilization
Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution: Sulfonation of Benzene
Physiology of Smell and Olfactory Pathway
The olfactory...
Distillation: Vapor–Liquid Equilibria

