Koavone

Description and usage notes:

A highly unusual ingredient of great complexity. There is a distinct toffee-caramel note to my nose, that does not seem to have been mentioned by other commentators.

Synergises well with many other materials, adding volume and diffusion.

IFF describe it as: “Woody, floral complex with amber and violet nuances. A highly diffusive product that can be used to enhance amber notes. At high levels an aldehydic, pine needle oil effect is realised”

In Scent & Chemistry the odour of Koavone is described as being “somewhere between n-methyl alpha ionone and isomethyl-alpha-ionone, with pronounced orris facets and an additional woody-ambery character.”  

They go on to suggest that most orris effects in perfumery are created by “touching up different ionone and methyl ionone qualities with woody (e.g. Koavone…) and fatty green-floral odourants such as (2E, 6Z)-nona-2,6-dienal.”