Iris Aldehyde

Note Profile

Molecule

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About

Iris aldehyde is another name for 2-nonenal, an aldehyde that smells of orris, fat and cucumber. Perfumers use traces of it to give an iris accord a cool, green, waxy edge and more lift.

Scent Profile

Iris Aldehyde smells fatty and waxy, with a green cucumber and melon edge and a bright aldehydic lift. Behind that sits a rooty, orris-like note. In a finished perfume it reads as a cool, clean iris with a feel of line-dried linen, not as sweet cosmetic powder. It carries a soft floral side, like petals, under the waxy green.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeHeart · ~7h lasting

Family Waxy & Fatty, Fresh & Citrus, Floral, Green & Aromatic

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

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Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can use this material directly to make Iris Aldehyde.

Iris Aldehyde Non-2-enal orris · cucumber · melon

Smell words come from published sources.

A given perfume with this note may use some of these, or something else.

Origin

A single aroma molecule, 2-nonenal (CAS 2463-53-8; the trans isomer is CAS 18829-56-6). The Good Scents Company lists 'iris aldehyde' among its synonyms. One account says Givaudan gave it the name. It also occurs in nature, for example in cucumber and aged beer. Of its two isomers, the (Z)-isomer is the one described as smelling of orris.

Usage in Perfumery

Used in traces to lift an iris or violet accord. Bedoukian says traces added to ionones and methyl ionones lend power and diffusion. Parfumo lists it in 7 perfumes on 2026-10-10, most often as a top note. Nomenclature iri_del (2015) was built around it. Olfactive Studio Iris Shot (2020) pairs it with orris concrete. Armani Code Parfum (2022) pairs 'Aldehydes of Iris' with a Moroccan iris resinoid, clary sage, cedar and tonka bean.