Pamplewood

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Firmenich synthetic, CAS 216970-21-7. A tenacious woody base carrying grapefruit.

Scent Profile

Dry_woody leads because both the patent and IFRA put woody first. The patent's exo isomer is 'a warm, typical, woody note', IFRA's primary descriptor is 'woody', and the commercial exo/endo ratio favours the woody isomer roughly two to one. Citrus is grapefruit and it is close behind: the patent's endo isomer gives 'a citrus-grapefruit odor, reminiscent of nootkatone, which is very strong', and Boix Camps describes 'a successful combination of grapefruit, citrus and Woody notes'. Amber_resinous comes from the patent naming Ambrox twice - 'woody and amber notes' - and it is what makes this material behave as a base. Fruity is stated directly: 'an intense fruity note, in particular of the rhubarb or grapefruit type'. Under the naming line: earthy for IFRA's third descriptor, vetiver; powdery for the orris comparison in the patent; sour for the rhubarb; creamy_woody for the smoothness the Ambrox comparison implies. Sulphurous is left at zero on purpose. The published grapefruit note carries there from the citrus thiols in the peel oil, and this material's grapefruit is nootkatone, a sesquiterpene ketone with no thiol in it. That absence is the reason this scores 0.7023 against grapefruit and not higher.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeBase · ~24h lasting

Family Woody & Earthy, Fresh & Citrus

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

Origin

3-Methoxy-7,7-dimethyl-10-methylenebicyclo[4.3.1]decane, a Firmenich synthetic. The trade name appears in Firmenich's US patent application 2022/0096355 A1; the molecule is described without that name in the earlier Firmenich patent US 6,008,186, 'Perfuming Ingredients of Woody, Fruity Odor'. It has two stereoisomers that smell like different materials. The patent states the endo isomer 'develops a citrus-grapefruit odor, reminiscent of nootkatone, which is very strong', while the exo isomer 'shows a warm, typical, woody note with an aspect reminiscent of Ambrox... and orris'. The commercial material is the mixture, produced at an exo/endo ratio of about 55-65 to 30-40, so it leans woody.

Usage in Perfumery

Base note. 6 Fragrantica perfumes and 7 Parfumo placements across 7 brands. IFRA's Fragrance Ingredient Glossary gives its odour categories as woody, grapefruit and vetiver in that order. The patent says the isomer mixture has 'a voluminous odor wherein the woody and grapefruit notes are very substantive and tenacious', which is what it is used for: a grapefruit that survives into the drydown instead of flashing off like a cold-pressed peel oil.