Civetone is a macrocyclic ketone and the main odorous constituent of

civet oil Civet (''Zibeth''; ''Zibet''; ''Zibetum''), also known as civet musk and civet oil, is the glandular secretion produced by both sexes of Viverridae species. Production A number of viverrid species secrete civet oil in their perineal glands, inc ...

. It is a

pheromone A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...

sourced from the

African civet The African civet (''Civettictis civetta'') is a large viverrid native to sub-Saharan Africa, where it is considered common and widely distributed in woodlands and secondary forests. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 200 ...

. It has a strong musky odor that becomes pleasant at extreme dilutions. Civetone is closely related to

muscone Muscone is an organic compound that is the primary contributor to the odor of musk. The chemical structure of muscone was first elucidated by Leopold Ružička. It consists of a 15-membered ring ketone with one methyl substituent in the 3-positio ...

, the principal odoriferous compound found in

musk Musk ( Persian: مشک, ''Mushk'') is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial sub ...

; the structure of both compounds was elucidated by

Leopold Ružička Leopold Ružička (; born Lavoslav Stjepan Ružička; 13 September 1887 – 26 September 1976) was a Croatian-Swiss scientist and joint winner of the 1939 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on polymethylenes and higher terpenes" "including t ...

. Today, civetone can be synthesized from precursor chemicals found in palm oil.

Uses

Civetone is used as a perfume fixative and flavor. In order to attract jaguars to

camera trap A camera trap is a camera that is automatically triggered by a change in some activity in its vicinity, like presence of an animal or a human being. It is typically equipped with a motion sensor – usually a passive infrared (PIR) senso ...

s, field biologists have used the

cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

Calvin Klein's Obsession For Men. It is believed that the civetone in the cologne resembles a territorial marking.{{cite web, url=http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/thoughtful-animal/2013/10/10/youll-never-guess-how-biologists-lure-jaguars-to-camera-traps/, title=You'll Never Guess How Biologists Lure Jaguars To Camera Traps, work=Scientific American Blog Network

References

Perfume ingredients Macrocycles Mammalian pheromones Cycloalkenes Ketones

Uses

See also

References