Are today's big brands still using animal butts to make perfumes?

Have you ever smelled musk?

There is a good chance that you have smelled the "musk scent" in various forms, including perfumes, toiletries, scented candles, plasters, and even candies and grapes - but is it possible that you can't find musk itself even if you search your memory?

This is not surprising. Not only consumers, but also perfumers with insufficient experience have no chance to come into contact with real musk .

Even fewer people have seen musk in the process of extraction. This is "hairy musk" | Ula Kuanke/Wikimedia Commons

In the minds of the public, musk is perhaps more of a symbol . Some people think it is solemn and dignified, because musk often appears in anecdotes about the imperial palace; some people say it is sexy and charming, because it is said that musk can be used to strengthen men's virility and seduce women; and some people think it is both good and evil, because ancient medical techniques used it as both a life-saving drug and an abortion poison...

Of course, if we knew that musk comes from the hairy butts of animals , we might think it has a barbaric smell.

Restore the true appearance of musk

"Smelly navel", "snake venom", "brown camphor"... These seemingly unrelated names are actually aliases for musk. Humans have been using musk for at least 2,300 years . Around the 4th century AD, musk was introduced to Europe from India via Persia and Byzantium. The earliest text that recorded musk came from the Jewish code "Talmud" which was written around the 5th century AD.

Musk deer in European texts from the 15th and 16th centuries | Wikimedia Commons

Musk comes from the Sanskrit word muṣká, which means "testicles" - but it is not. In fact, musk is a subcutaneous sac near the genitals of male musk deer. If you open the egg-sized musk sac, there will be a pile of coffee grounds-like particles inside, and it exudes a terrible smell of animal urine.

The cut musk sacs are first dried and dehydrated to obtain " hairy musk ", which weighs about 20 grams after processing; the oily musk particles are taken out, called " sac kernels "; the sac kernels can be soaked in alcohol to make " musk tincture ", which is then used in the fragrance industry.

The traditional way to obtain musk is to kill the musk deer and take out the musk sac, dry it and open it. The black thing inside is musk｜Farrukh / Flickr

If we delve deeper, we will find that the most prominent smell in natural musk comes from an organic molecule called " L-musk ketone ", but its content in musk particles only accounts for 0.5%-2%.

Musk is a very complex scent that is warm, soft, sexy, sweet, powdery, and like a gentle string or whisper, it can fill in the gaps in a fragrance formula, enhance the depth and breadth of the scent, and give the fragrance a varnish-like sheen.

The "new musk" from the laboratory

The traditional way to obtain musk is to kill the musk deer for its scent, which has a very low yield. Coupled with the legendary effects of "strengthening sexual desire", species such as the original musk deer have unsurprisingly suffered from overhunting - their population has declined severely, and all species of the genus Musk have been listed as first-class national protected animals. Later, people began to raise wild musk deer in captivity, without having to kill them for their scent, but poaching still occurs from time to time.

In a musk deer farm in China, female forest musk deer roost in a small enclosure. Compared with wild musk deer with a wide range, they have to share their territory with other musk deer.｜hannah

However, the smell of musk is very important to the fragrance industry, and its limited production makes its price comparable to gold. Such supply and demand relationship will inevitably drive chemists to try to synthesize low-cost substitutes in the laboratory - after all, saving money is an important driving force of fragrance chemistry.

The first generation of Musk: Nitro March

The first artificial musks, like all early chemical miracles, were a beautiful accident.

In 1887, German chemist A. Baur tried to improve the structure of trinitrotoluene (TNT) to make new explosives , but unfortunately, he only got a pile of waste. But Baur keenly noticed that the waste exuded a clean, bright, warm and sweet animal aroma. So he immediately applied for a technical patent for "Baur Musk" in Germany, which was officially approved in 1888.

As a pioneer of nitromusk, Bauer musk smells similar to natural musk tincture, but the price is only one thousandth of the latter , which saves perfumers who are worried about their budgets. In the following years, chemists have discovered several other nitromusks, such as xylene musk, ambrette musk, umbrella musk, Tibetan musk and so on.

Molecular structures of common nitro musks | David ORP (2017) EurJOC 2017 (1):4-13

These musks also quickly entered the industrial field. For example, the first edition of Chanel No.5 (1921) used 3.5% ketone musk and 2.5% ambrette musk.

The composition and design of the first Chanel No.5 | Chanel

These nitro musks have different personalities and strengths, but they all have more or less problems , such as causing allergies, being neurotoxic, being difficult to dissolve, being highly active, etc. Therefore, only ketone musk is currently in normal use.

Second Generation Musk: Big Ring Waltz

If the birth of nitro musk is to improve the expensive "defect" of natural musk, then the birth of the second-generation musk molecule is to improve the various side effects of nitro musk , whether it is a sensory defect or a technical defect.

In 1905, Schimmel & Co. of Germany isolated musk ketone from natural musk - but it was not until 20 years later that Leopold Ružička, a chemist at Firmenich SA and later Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, determined the chemical structure of musk ketone.

Molecular structure of musk ketone | Jynto / wiki commons

This discovery not only opened a new chapter in macrocyclic chemistry, but also started an arms race among major chemical companies to synthesize macrocyclic musks . Many famous artificial musks have been synthesized one after another, including cyclopentadecalactone, cyclopentadecenolide, musk enone, novalactone, musk-T, and so on.

The chemical structure of muscene ketone is very similar to that of natural musk ketone | firmenich.com

Third Generation Musk: Multi-Ring Piano

Macrocyclic musks smell good, but they are difficult and expensive to make. It took 110 years for Firmenich to successfully synthesize L-muscone, which was isolated. So chemists began to explore the third generation of artificial musks, which is now the most commercially successful family of polycyclic musks .

In 1951, K. Fuchs discovered that certain benzene compounds can emit musk odor even without nitro groups, which opened a new chapter in polycyclic musks. Currently, seven relatively successful polycyclic musks have been synthesized, including tonafol musk, salifol musk, and vulcan musk.

Polycyclic musks are stable in nature, long-lasting in fragrance and inexpensive, and account for approximately 75% of sales of all artificial musks. Among them, galaxolide discovered and synthesized by International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF inc.) is the most successful polycyclic musk molecule to date .

Molecular structure of Galaxolide | Emeldir / wiki commons

In the 1960s, when Galaxan was first synthesized, it had already successfully occupied the market. In the softeners "Golden Spin" and "Rou Li" at that time, the proportion of Galaxan was as high as 40%, so this artificial musk quickly became the "clean smell" in the hearts of generations.

Galaxan also frequently appears in high-end perfumes. In Poison (Dior, 1985), Obsession (CK, 1985) and Paris (Yves Saint Laurent, 1983), galaxan accounts for 5%; in White Linen (Estee Lauder, 1978) and Ysatis (Givenchy, 1984), its proportion is as high as 20%; in Musc for Her (Narcisse, 2003), the proportion of galaxan is as high as 66%; and in Original Musk (Kiehl's, 1963), the proportion of this artificial musk is no less than 92.8% !

Kiehl's Original Musk Eau de Toilette | kiehls.com

Fourth Generation Musk: Alicyclic Strings

However, polycyclic musks also have problems such as difficulty in degradation and bioaccumulation. Although there is no clear evidence that polycyclic musks are "harmful", this also urges chemists to explore more environmentally friendly and easily degradable artificial musks .

In 1975, BASF SE discovered a group of musk molecules that had neither nitro groups nor macrocyclic or benzene rings, but still emitted a musk-like aroma. They are what we call the new generation of musk - alicyclic musk .

The pioneer of alicyclic musks was Hefeweizen developed by Firmenich in 1990. Later, Roman Musk, Serenity Musk, Musk Fruit Esters, Yucca Musk, etc. also belong to this family. Because they do not have benzene rings that are difficult to degrade and macrocycles that are difficult to synthesize, they have outstanding advantages in environmental protection and economy.

Molecular structure of musk heffy and musk roman | colognoisseur.com

Louis Vuitton's Pur Oud perfume contains hematoxylin and eosin｜louisvuitton.com

These four families of artificial musks seem to have nothing to do with each other, but they have one hidden thing in common - the size of the molecules. The "physique" of all musk molecules is close to 250 Daltons, close to the edge of smell , that is, molecules with a molecular weight larger than them are basically "odorless and tasteless." But because of this, everyone's perception of musk also has physiological differences. For example, about 20% of people may not be able to smell galaxol at all. Therefore, most perfumes use multiple artificial musks at the same time to ensure coverage of different groups of people.

Nowadays, the word "musk" has almost become a general term for these organic molecules, and the smell it represents is no longer the " strong wildness " from animal secretions, but a clean and bright " clean feeling ". Moreover, people have long accepted the use of artificial musk. Many market studies have shown that consumers like perfumes containing high concentrations of artificial musk , and in modern perfumes, it is almost impossible to find "zero artificial musk" perfumes.

Seeing such a clean corner, does the smell of artificial musk float in your mind? | pexels.com

But artificial musk can't save the musk deer

However, even though generation after generation of artificial musks have satisfied and enriched the daily chemical and fragrance markets, there are still countless people who covet the scarcity of natural musk, or to put it more directly, the economic benefits that natural musk can bring.

Countless musk deer are hunted by humans for their musk, and poachers often do not even distinguish between males and females. The survival of all musk deer is seriously threatened , and the situation is not optimistic. An intuitive data is that by 2003, the population of musk deer in China was less than 5% of that in the 1950s.

Musk deer (Moschus moschiferus) is distributed in Northeast Asia and is one of the important sources of natural musk | Erik Adamsson / Wikimedia Commons

Today, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) has listed the Musk Deer as Vulnerable (VU) and the other four species of Musk Deer, namely the Kashmir Musk Deer, the Himalayan Musk Deer, the Spanish Musk Deer and the Black Musk Deer, as Endangered (EN) . Fortunately, all species of Musk Deer are now protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and their international trade is prohibited .

In China, according to the "National List of Key Protected Wildlife (2021 Edition)", all species of the genus Musk are also listed as first-class protected wildlife in the country and are strictly protected. So far, China has completely banned the hunting of musk deer and the purchase of musk, and it is also strictly forbidden to use natural musk in commodities.

Artificial musk won’t save the musk deer, but stricter laws and regulations might, and hopefully will.

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In addition to musk, there are five other common animal fragrances in the fragrance industry. Most of them are expensive, criticized by ecologists, and their frequency of use is decreasing.

Ambergris

Ambergris is the solidified product of sperm whale excrement . When the sperm whale's stomach and intestines are cut by the endoskeleton of a squid, it will secrete some healing substances. These substances will be excreted along with other excrement, and after being exposed to the wind, sun, and ocean, they will eventually become "natural ambergris." Fortunately, only sperm whales can secrete ambergris when they are alive, so people will not kill sperm whales simply for ambergris.

Europeans call ambergris "amber fragrance", and the description of "amber fragrance" has become a "fan creation" of natural ambergris, but there is a lot of artistic processing in it｜Peter Kaminski / Flickr

The availability of natural ambergris is random and unpredictable, so most perfume formulas use synthetic ambergris molecules or plant-based ambergris , such as cistus resin.

Cistus ladaniferus, a member of the family Cistus, is the source of Cistus resin｜SABENCIA Guillermo César Ruiz / Wikimedia Commons

Civet

It mainly comes from the anal secretions of African civets and large civets, and is generally extracted through artificial confinement, collection and extraction, and pure oil extraction.

Although the raw material itself is anal extract, the purified oil has a charming floral and beautiful sweet fragrance , and is an important ingredient in early snuff and men's perfume. Although civet incense is currently allowed for use, it is gradually being phased out for animal rights reasons.

African civets (Viverra civetta) secrete civetone to mark territory | Николай Усик / paradoxusik.livejournal.com

Castoreum

It is a glandular secretion (pouch) of the Eurasian and North American beavers. In Canada and Russia, beavers can be hunted legally to prevent overpopulation. Castoreum has a leathery aroma and is used as an oriental flavoring ingredient and food flavoring.

Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) | Dion Art / Wikimedia Commons

beeswax

Beeswax absolute, after extraction and purification, has a distinct smell of honey, chocolate and floral scents, and can be used to enhance the animal feel of floral scents.

Hyrax incense

Rock hyrax incense, also known as "African stone", comes from the crystallized solidified urine of rock hyrax and has a smell similar to civet incense.

Rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) | Andreas Tusche / Wikimedia Commons

After seeing so many animal fragrances, I am not surprised where their secretions come from - after all, human feces also share the same aromatic molecule indole with jasmine and tuberose. What I am more curious about is what happened to the first person who discovered the magical effects of these animal fragrances...

Author: sunillusion

Editor: Lao Mao, Mai Mai

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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