This mini-review on Fragrance Chemistry focuses on milestones in the timeli
nes of musk, ionone/woody and sandalwood odorants, as well as on new perspe
ctives arising from the development of fragrance precursors. After a brief
introduction of the history of perfumery, its mutual interaction with the c
hemistry of odorants, and the current state of the fragrance industry, the
whole spectrum of musk odorants is discussed from the accidental discovery
of nitro musks like Musk Ketone(R) via the parallel evolution of benzenoid
and macrocyclic musks, to new structures like Cyclomusk(R) and Moxalone(R).
Following a description of the structure elucidation of violet odorants, i
onone and irone, Iso ESuper(R) and the structurally related Georgywood(R),
but also Koavone(R) and Timberol(R) are treated. Weissenborn's discovery of
terpenylcyclohexanols lead to sandalwood synthetics that today are mainly
derivatives of campholenic aldehyde like Sandalore(R), Sandal Mysore Core(R
), Polysantol(R), Ebanol(R), and Javanol(R). Finally, lipase labile precurs
or systems, for instance digeranyl succinate, or UV-radiation labile ones l
ike citronellyl coumarate and citronellyl cyclohexylglyoxylate are presente
d, and views on 'secondary benefits', 'anti-perfumes' and exclusive 'Editio
ns de Parfums' conclude this overview on the driving forces and the serendi
pities in the chemistry of fragrant substances.