Perfume chemistry
The science of scent explained
Traditionally, perfumes were created from natural ingredients, mixing essential oils extracted from plants such as lavender and rose to create enticing scents. However, nowadays we can artificially engineer aromas by creating pleasant smelling chemicals known as esters. Esters are created when an alcohol reacts with an organic acid, with different combinations producing different smells. For example, when reacted with butanoic acid, the alcohol pentanol will create the penty butanoate ester, which smells of strawberries. By using chemicals, we can create fragrances that are not found in nature, or recreate scents that are otherwise difficult or expensive to obtain. The smell of perfume travels to our noses as the liquid evaporates off of the skin at room temperature.