It is necessary for every perfume company to have an active chemical research team. The difficulties perfumers meet have become more complicated due to the great diversity of new chemicals that have become available during the last fifteen years. Too many products with very similar notes, even though their structures are different, are offered to our sense of smell. Perfumers really don’t benefit by cramming their memories with too many names and formulae having nearly identical olfactive characteristics, even if retention times under certain conditions or spectra are quite different.
Research studies of synthetics are of utmost necessity, provided they are carried out according to the criteria we choose as perfumers. Our basic interest is (1) in a product with a note that can really improve a perfumer’s already wide range of fragrances, (2) in a product the note of which may he common in the field of natural or synthetic products but is of greater use owing to its price and regular production, (3) in a product with a note close to another well-known reference but easier and safer to handle, and finally (4) in products the notes of which aren’t very original but possess advantageous technical performance: stability in certain media and significant advantages based on toxicity tests. (These are two important points, what with the economic and legislative underground which our business is developing.)
