Description and usage notes:
First isolated by Bush Boake Allen (now part of IFF) and notoriously difficult to buy in small quantities. Here at 1% in DEP, suited to customers working in wax, fixed oils and the like, this is geosmin bought pure from IFF, diluted by Pell Wall and still so strong it must be used with caution. Customers working in fine fragrance may prefer to buy the product in diluted in DPG.
We recommend you dilute to 0.1%, 0.01% or less for blending.
Geosmin is the scent of warm earth, a freshly ploughed field, the first rain after a dry period (also known as petrichor), damp and deceptively powerful. Geosmin doesn’t seem particularly strong when you sniff the 1% solution, or even the 10% solution, but even a few drops can fill the room with the scent of turned earth.
Traces in a fragrance can give you a unique effect and greatly increase diffusion. There really isn’t anything else like Geosmin, even though other materials like 2-ethyl fenchol have a superficially similar scent.
According to Brown University: “Geosmin, which literally translates to ‘earth smell’ was scientifically identified more than 100 years ago. In soil, bacteria produce the chemical compound. In water, blue-green algae make it. Along with the pleasant scent of warm, moist soil, geosmin is also responsible for the muddy ‘off’ taste in some drinking water. That is why the substance is of interest to water purification experts and even vintners, who want to keep the benign but pungent substance out of their wine.” You can read more about the production of geosmin by soil bacteria and why they make in this article on The Conversation.
For those working on a larger scale, we also offer Geosmin at 10% in DPG and we can usually offer limited amounts of the pure product: please contact us for availability and pricing if that’s what you need.
Documents
Safety Data Sheet (note this SDS relates to the pure material, hazards are naturally reduced by dilution in DPG)
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