Aldehyde C18 – Coconut

Description and usage notes:

A widely used, powerful lactone which is reminiscent of dessicated coconut. See also gamma-Octalactone for an alternative which is softer and more like fresh coconut.

According to Arctander “This material is one of the most frequently used Lactones in perfumes and flavors. Its field of application reaches from the finest luxury perfumes to inexpensive masking odors, from Gardenia flower bases to Coconut candy flavors, etc. etc.

Its intense sweetness and tenacity is often utilized along with that of Undecanolide (so-called Aldehyde C-14) in  Gardenia, Tuberose, Honeysuckle, Stephanotis, Plumeria, Jasmin and many other heavy floral types. Modern fantasy perfumes with emphasis on musk and lactones may include the title material and produce unusual fixative effect of overwhelming sweetness, and novel versions of Oriental fragrance types can be made with Sandalwood, Styrax and the title lactone as part of the base.

Its power is often underestimated by the perfumer (if he has no experience as a flavorist) and the lactone will ‘grow’ out of the perfume and unpleasantly dominate the fragrance.”