Used in

perfumery Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

and

aromatherapy Aromatherapy is based on the usage of aromatic materials including essential oils and other aroma compounds, with claims for improving psychological and physical well-being. It is offered as a complementary therapy or as a form of alternative ...

, absolutes are similar to essential oils. They are concentrated, highly

aromatic In chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property of cyclic ( ring-shaped), ''typically'' planar (flat) molecular structures with pi bonds in resonance (those containing delocalized electrons) that gives increased stability compared to satur ...

, oily mixtures extracted from plants. Whereas essential oils are produced by

distillation Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heat ...

, boiling or pressing, absolutes are produced through

solvent extraction A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...

, or more traditionally, through

enfleurage Enfleurage is a process that uses odorless fats that are solid at room temperature to capture the fragrant compounds exuded by plants. The process can be "cold" enfleurage or "hot" enfleurage. Process There are two types of processes: *In co ...

Production

First, plant material is extracted with a hydrocarbon solvent, such as

hexane Hexane () is an organic compound, a straight-chain alkane with six carbon atoms and has the molecular formula C6H14. It is a colorless liquid, odorless when pure, and with boiling points approximately . It is widely used as a cheap, relatively ...

, to yield a

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...

. The concrete is then extracted with

ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a ...

. The ethanol extract is cooled (e.g., to −15 °C) to solidify waxes, and cold filtered to yield a liquid extract. When the ethanol evaporates, an oil—the absolute—is left behind. Traditionally, the absolute was obtained by

, where the resulting pommade was extracted with ethanol to yield the absolute.

Character and use

Some raw materials are either too delicate or too inert to be steam-distilled and can only yield their aroma through solvent extraction. Examples of these are jasmine and

beeswax Beeswax (''cera alba'') is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in or at the hive. The hive work ...

. Absolutes in demand include

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

, jasmine,

tuberose ''Agave amica'', formerly ''Polianthes tuberosa'', the tuberose, is a perennial plant in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae, extracts of which are used as a note in perfumery. Now widely grown as an ornamental plant, the species was o ...

, jonquil,

ylang-ylang ''Cananga odorata'', known as ylang-ylang ( ) or cananga tree, is a tropical tree that is native to the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Queensland, Australia. It is also native to parts of Thailand and Viet ...

mimosa ''Mimosa'' is a genus of about 590 species of herbs and shrubs, in the mimosoid clade of the legume family Fabaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek word (''mimos''), an "actor" or "mime", and the feminine suffix -''osa'', "resemb ...

boronia ''Boronia'' is a genus of about 160 species of flowering plants in the citrus family Rutaceae. Most are endemic to Australia with a few species in New Caledonia, which were previously placed in the genus ''Boronella''. They occur in all Austral ...

lavender ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...

lavandin ''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and easte ...

, geranium,

clary sage ''Salvia sclarea'', the clary or clary sage, is a biennial or short-lived herbaceous perennial in the genus ''Salvia''. It is native to the northern Mediterranean Basin, along with some areas in north Africa and Central Asia. The plant has a leng ...

, violet,

oak moss ''Evernia prunastri'', also known as oakmoss, is a species of lichen. It can be found in many mountainous temperate forests throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Oakmoss grows primarily on the trunk and branches of oak trees, but is also commonly ...

tonka bean ''Dipteryx odorata'' (commonly known as "cumaru", "kumaru", or "Brazilian teak") is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. The tree is native to Central America and northern South America South America is a continent ...

Rose oil Rose oil (rose otto, attar of rose, attar of roses, or rose essence) is the essential oil extracted from the petals of various types of rose. ''Rose ottos'' are extracted through steam distillation, while ''rose absolutes'' are obtained through ...

, jasmine absolute,

absolute,

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

absolute,

orris root Orris root (''rhizoma iridis'') is the root of '' Iris germanica'' and ''Iris pallida''. It had the common name of Queen Elizabeth Root. Constituent chemicals The most valued component of orris root is oil of orris (0.1–0.2%), a yellow-whi ...

oil, ambrette seeds oil, angelica root oil, and orange flower oil are valuable and expensive fragrance and flavor ingredients. Residual solvents may remain in the absolutes. Therefore, some absolutes are considered undesirable for

References

{{reflist Aromatherapy Perfumery

Production

Character and use

See also

References