I am warning you all, it will be a long ride so please have your coffee, tea, beer etc. and give this article some time..

I am going to be honest with you, what you will read is my second article.

I re-write almost whole article after discussing the first trial with one of my friend.

He asked me to change my language because when I wrote my article first time, I mostly was seized by hatred and rage at what humankind could do for fame, vanity and power..

So I change many things to make this article less hateful :)

Lets start..

The Musk Renaissance

Beauty, cruelty, blood, life, death, sensuality, sexuality, pain, oppression, obsession, discrimination, science, development…

Imagine a story provides all of these above and makes you cry, smile, angry, happy, disturbed..

This is the story of Musks, a 5000 years old tale, praised by Mohammad in Hadith, a perfume for the Gods in prehistoric times, a spiritual touch to far east dynasties, the most desirable scent to Arab world, most wanted vanity in western kingdoms..

Story of lust and desire.

Irresistible invader of hearts.

Crown jewel of bedrooms.

An inviting and sensual note that almost gives a semblance of romance to a perfume…

If it was a color then musk would be an almost transparent white. Soft, subtle, yet exclusive!

Soft, subtle, yet all inclusive!

What is Musk?

It is a little complicated to describe Musk clearly and I will try to simplify it for you.

Definition of Musk varies according to 2 different eras;

Before the late 19th century

After the late 19th century

Before the late 19th century

Musk is an animal-derived aromatic substance that is used in perfumery and many other applications since ancient times.

It is completely natural and an animal-derived substance.

There are three most common sources for natural musks in this era;

1 - Musk Deer - native to Tibet, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Korea.
2 - Civet Cats - native to sub-saharan Africa
3 - Beavers - native to North America

After the late 19th century

I will mention it later but yes you can imagine how cruel and expensive is to get musk from poor animals.

Late 19th century, thanks to new regulations, awareness of humankind, scientific and engineering developments, we are allowed to “copy” and “mimic” aroma molecules in nature.

And we "manufacture" many aroma molecules copy the scent of Musk.

So, Musk becomes a "family" of aromatic substances.

They are NOT animal-derived anymore but mostly chemically synthesised and plant-derived.

Now musk is a “family of substances” contains more than 300 compounds and around 50 of them are commonly used in perfumery industry for different purposes.

In perfumery, synthetic musk molecules are extremely powerful tool for many formula

Name “Musk”

So lets satisfy a little linguistic lovers and give some info about the origin of the word “musk”.

The Late Greek μόσχος 'moskhos'

Sanskrit मुष्क ‘muskah’ (meaning “testicles” o,O )

Persian - Mushk

Proto-Indo-European - múh₂s (meaning “mouse”)

Sanskrit is an ancient classical language of India in which ever the first book of the world Rigveda (one of the most sacred texts of Hinduism) was compiled.

Musk is a substance derived from animals testicles and defined from this language first and derived from “Muskah”.

HISTORY of MUSK

and now "The History Time.."

Smell has always played an important role in many different areas for Humankind since ancient times.

You know we smell everything not only for pleasure but also for many other reasons, especially in ancient times "scent" found itself in very special roles.

The most significant role of olfactory signals in humans appears to be the modulation of their behavior and interpersonal relationships, of their affiliation to certain groups or social classes, having a major influence in their tastes and personality.

Scent is not only for “smelling good” but also for rituals, hygiene, fame, burial practices, divinity, popularity and many more activities.

Let's see the most important roles of Musk in the History.

Musk is known to have been used in medicine, rituals, offerings and as a fragrance over 5000 years born in India and as the silk trade flourished so this alluring fragrance became more popular in Arabic world, then to rest of the Europe.

As far back as prehistoric times, Musk was used predominantly as a sacrificial offering to pay homage to the Gods.

Musk perfume was also known to the Carthaginians and Phoenicians.

The musk scent was thought to have been used in the early civilisations of ancient China and ancient India in ritual purposes.

In ancient China Musk perfume assigned to the sphere of sensual desires and an embodiment of the spiritual ideal.

By the eighth century AD, during the Tang dynasty in China, musk had become so fashionable that one minister had the scent applied to the walls of his pavilion.

In the tenth century AD musk was among the five most important components of perfume of the contemporary Arab world.

The Arabs brought musk to the Middle East where they mixed the scent with mortar for use in the construction of mosques, for example at Kara Amed and Tabriz, in Iran.

Musk was praised by Mohammed in Hadith (the major source of guidance for Muslims after the Qur’an) when describing paradise (6579: “...the water‘s fragrance is better than musk”).

There're +300 pharmaceutical preparations in traditional Chinese and Korean medicine includes Musks, as a sedative and a stimulant to treat a variety of ailments relating to the heart, nerves, breathing and sexuality.

There are many more examples of Musk in history but let's move on to the most harassing part of the story.

NATURAL MUSK PRODUCTION AND CRUELTY

In this part I will explain traditional production methods of animal-derived Natural Musk and most probably it is where you hate the humankind.

As mentioned before, the main sources of animal musks are;

Musk Deer

Civette Cats

and Beavers.

Let's take a look at them one by one.

Musk Deer

The musk deer is a small, solitary and very shy animal that lives in the mountainous forests of Asia and eastern Russia.

Its total numbers are put at somewhere between 400,000 and 800,000 animals (2002 WWF estimation).

Solitary, shy and beautiful. Musk Deer from Asia

The male of the species has

a scent gland sometimes called “the musk pods” where the raw musk is taken from.

This gland of the musk deer is approximately walnut-sized (4 to 6 cm long and 3-4 cm wide) and is situated in the prenuptial region of the male animal, between the abdomen and the genitals.

Where musk pods are...

The gland of Musk pods

must be removed

from the animal and when it is removed

the gland is left to dry,

whereupon the red-brown creamy substance within blackens and becomes granular and powdery.

Traditionally, musk pods are harvested by killing the deer, although it is possible to obtain musk from a live deer and I am not sure if the animal prefers to live with all these pain in removal of the gland or to be killed immediately..

Musk granulas and a pod

Dried Musk pods

A male musk deer produce musk from the age of 12-18 months onwards.

Most musk is produced by animals between three and eight years of age, averaging 25 g of musk, per animal, per year.

However, according to WWF report hunters kills 3-5 deers to find a single male deer and with a rough calculation 150-160 deer are killed for each kg of Musk.

"In Europe alone, the amount of raw musk legally imported in the past two decades represents the loss of tens of thousands of wild musk deer, and imports seem to be increasing.”

WWF-UK international conservation officer, Stuart Chapman.

Natural Musk was one of the most expensive natural product on the market, before animal-derived musk banned completely, in 1998 Gold price was USD10 per Gram where a gram of Natural Musk was USD30-50.

After centuries of hunting, Musk Deer specie were placed on the International Protected Specie List in 1979.

Civet Cats

A civet is a small, lean, mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests.

African Civet Cat

Natural animal Musk is obtained from civets in Africa.

The majority of Civet musk originated in Ethiopia, where the native civet is caught from the wild and kept in captivity so that its musk can be forcibly extracted.

In the wild, civet musk is naturally excreted from the perineal gland at ehe base of the tail of the Civet, and used for scent marking.

A thick, yellow, greasy secretion, it has a distinctive smell that can be detected for up to 4 months.

Caged-Civet in Ethiopia

Civet cats

who are rarely bred in captivity, are captured in the wild and held in

tiny cages barely larger than their bodies

where they are kept without release in hot, smoke-filled sheds

for up to 15 years. 15 YEARS!

The vast majority of civets die within the first three weeks of captivity, after severe mental distress and physically pain during capture, transportation and quarantine.

According to WSPA (World Society for the protection of Animals) research (1999) carried out in 2 Major Civet farming companies in Ethiopia, Wild civets are confined to a cage 3 ft x1 ft x 1 ft for the rest of their lives.

Every 10 days or so the musk is brutally extracted from the glands of the conscious civets. Many of the civets cease to eat after the first extraction is performed. :(

Channel No.5, Calvin Klein Obsession, Guerlain Shalimar and Our 27 are the most famous fragrances that utilised Civet Musk. Chanel No. 5, claims that natural civet has been replaced with a synthetic substitute (Civettone) since 1998. And other producers also stop using animal-derived Musk.

Main importer country is France. Officially 1000 kg of Civet Musk is exported each year and 97% of it going to France for Perfume and Cosmetic Industry (1999)

I hear you say it was 25 years ago, it is not like this anymore now and no producer uses animal-derived musks.

But, if you make "a little" research you will see cruelty-based musks have still buyers all around the world.

Like Musk Deers, after centuries of hunting, Civet Cats specie were placed on the International Protected Specie List in 1972.

OK. I am going to stop here to give more information about animal-derived musks and skip Beavers and some others. I think it is enough..

So lets move to synthetic musks.

It is the part of science after awareness, development after sensitivity, engineering after sustainability, where we can support and acknowledge the idea of “humanity is also nice”..

New Era in MUSKS, synthetically and plant derived..

After centuries of cruelty, harassment and oppression on animals, some good people, especially in Europe, start saying “no” to the usage of animal-derived musks resulting first restrictions and finally banning.

And now synthetic and plant-derived musks are used almost exclusively in perfumery and cosmetic industry.

Let's have a look at them.

SYTHETIC MUSKS

Thanks to organic synthesis, chemists were able to recreate musks, maintaining their fixative properties, mimic the scent of Animal-derived Musk.

Towards the end of the 19th century, the first musky-scented molecules were synthesised using isobutylene nitration and with different techniques allows us to designed different types of musk.

There are 4 main types of synthetic musks (sorted by the time of discovery).

Nitro musks (1888 onward)

Polycyclic musks (1950 onward)

Macrocyclic musks (1926 onward)

Linear or alicyclic musks (1990 onward)

Synthetic Musks by discovery time

Currently, about 100 chemical compounds with the smell of musk are known, but only some 30 are economically important.

Let's have a look at the types of Synthetic Musks.

NITROMUSKS

Nitromusks are artificial compounds, i.e., they are not found in nature, they are designed by scientists.

First SMC vs TNT :)

The first product of this group was accidentally discovered in 1888 by Albert Baur. While researching explosives TNT (nitrating aromatic compounds), Baur perceived the sweet musky odor of one of his intermediate reaction products.

I can hear him saying "guys guys guys, I am working on something that will blow your mind ehe ehe!".

Yes Albert, you did mate, you did indeed :)

Well this group of substances belongs to the benzene derivatives which are technically easy to manufacture.

The price for a kilogramme was recently around US$5-20

As mentioned above, the very first synthetic Musk developed is “Baur Musk” (of course he named it after his name:) ) followed by Musk Xylene, Musk Ketone, Musk Ambrette, Musk Tibetan and Musk Moskene.

Chemical structure of Nitro Musks

Lets check NitroMusks one by one;

Musk ambrette (1891) sweet, musk, floral, seedy, ambrette notes. Banned since 1981, because of its photo-toxic and neurotoxic nature.
Musk xyxlene (1893) and musccetone (1894) fatty, dry, sweet, musk notes. Both musks have been identified (in trace amounts) in human breast milk.
Musk moskene (1930) sweet, musk, powdery, dry notes. Banned
Musk tibetene (1935) musk, sweet, powdery, fatty. Banned in Europe.
Musk Ketone (1893) sweet, persistence, animal, musk. Musk Ketone remains the only nitromusk still used in Europe.

Olfactively, these musks are the most powdery with animal nuance.

Glade (SC Johnson) Air Freshener label

All nitro-musks are considered to be toxic and are banned by IFRA.

Except Musk Ketone is the only nitrated musk still in use.

The nitroaromatics are rather dangerous to manufacture; indeed, several musk factories have experienced severe explosions.

Do not play with Nitrogen kiddos!!

So of course, safer options were sought and, in the 1950s, a newly- discovered substance group of polycyclic musk scents with distinctive musk character was found that could successfully compete with the older representatives of this fragrance group.

Yay..

POLYCYCLIC MUSKS

In the middle of the 20th century, while investigating musk compounds without the aromatic nitro group (which creates a lot of manufacturing and environmental issues), the polycyclic musks were discovered.

Like the nitromusk compounds they are based on petrochemical base materials and not found in Nature.

My very bad illustration of Polycyclic Musk :) Sorry ..

And of course F&F giants lead the science fiction race to find more specialised musky compounds over years.

Ambral from Givaudan is the very first Polycyclic musk discovered and was never introduced to the market, and inspired chemists to synthesise many related nitro-free aromatic musks.

And finally, the first commercially-available member of this group was Phantolide 1951.

You can see Polycyclic Musks above according to their discovery dates and odor profile:

Phantolide (1951 - Haarman&Reimer a.k.a Symrise) strong, sweet, musk

Versalide (1953 - Givaudan) sweet, musk, ambrette

Tonalide (1954 - PFW) soft, musk, fruity, powdery, sensual

Celestolide (1955 - IFF) musk, animalic, powdery, clean

Galaxolide (1962 - IFF) strong, sweet, floral, musk

Cashmeran (1969 - IFF) warm, balsamic, musk, woody

Traseolide (1977 - Quest a.k.a Givaudan) musk, sweet, creamy

Moxalone (1979 - Givaudan) soft, fruity, clean, powdery

Vulcanolide (1989 - Firmenich) musk, earthy, slightly amber

Novalide (no data)

Musk 89 (IFF) musk I couldn't find the discovery date but I guess 1989 :)

Okoumal (1989 - Givaudan) musk, amber, tobacco, woody

Nebulone - IFF (no data)

After a sharp decline in the use and production of nitro musks, polycyclic musk compounds (PMCs) have become the leading commercial synthetic musks that now dominates the global market.

Mainly, PMCs sold as Galaxolide and Tonalide (our stars in PMCs) account for approximately 95% of all fragrances in the perfume industry.

You can not believe how many tonnes of these materials I sold during my career. :)

The price for a kilogramme of polycyclic musk compounds on average is about US$10-40

MACROCYCLIC MUSKS

The macrocyclic musk scent era was initiated with the structural elucidation of Muscone in 1926 by the Nobel laureate, L. Ruzicka.

Macrocyclic musks represent the latest advancements in synthetic musk technology, characterised by their large molecular structures and enhanced odor retention properties.

These musks offer perfumers greater flexibility in creating unique fragrance compositions while addressing concerns related to biodegradability and persistence in the environment.

a great visual of Macrocyclic Musks by discovery date from scentspiracy.com

These macrocyclic molecules are very similar to those of natural musk consist of both nature-identical and artificial substances.

Muscone (1905 - Firmenich) powdery, musk, little animalic note
Civettone (1912 - Firmenich) musk, warm, animalic, powdery
Exaltone (1924 - Firmenich) musk, powdery, animalic, greasy
Exaltolide (1926 - Firmenich) musk, powdery, woody
Ambrettolide (1927 - Givaudan) musk, ambrette, fruity-berry
Globanone (1928 - Symrise) musk, balsamic, waxy, floral, animalic
Musk T or Ethylene Brassylate (1933 - Takasago) musk, powdery, sweet, floral
Cervolide (1936 - Givaudan) musk, woody, sweet, waxy, fruity
Exaltenone (1966 - Firmenich) musk, powdery, animalic, camphor
Muscenone (1967 - Firmenich) musk, leather, chypre, warm
Velvione (1970 - Givaudan) dry, musk, powdery, amber, civet
Habanolide (1971 - Firmenich) musk, sweet, powdery, hot-iron
Nirvanolide (1997 - Givaudan) musk, fruity, powdery, lactonic
Cosmone (1998 - Givaudan) musk, warm, powdery, sweet
Aurelione (2003 - Symrise) musk, balsamic, powder
Polvolide (2004 - Soda Aromatic) sweet, musk, clean, animalic

Macrocyclic musks are found not only in the animal kingdom, but also in plants.

For example, Exaltolide is found in angelica root oil.

Our stars here are Ethylene Brassylate and Globalide, they are the most commonly-used macrocyclic musk scents.

The manufacture of these complex molecules remains expensive and the price for a kilogramme of macrocyclic musk compounds is between US$30 and US$3000.

My fav part of the body, neck, is the best carrier of perfumes..

Macrocyclic musks are clearly superior to other artificial musk compounds, so that they are now used virtually exclusively in fine fragrances applications.

Macrocyclic musks represented only 5-7% of the worldwide production of artificial musks (by volume).

Nirvanolide and Muscenone are the most important discoveries of the past 30 years in this group.

They are the quintessence of modern musk accords, in terms of power, diffusivity and character.

I would love to enter into details of this sentence but it has been pages of the article and this will be for another day.

LINEAR MUSKS

Alicyclic musks are the 4th generation of musk odourants and are known as the linear musks.

Alicyclic musks are dramatically different in structure than previous musks (nitro, polycyclic, macrocyclic) in that they are modified alkyl esters.

Another poor illustration of mine..

The first compound of this class was introduced 1975 with Cyclomusk, though similar structures were noted earlier in citronellyl oxalate and Rosamusk.

Although they were discovered prior to 1980, it was only in 1990 with the discovery and introduction of Helvetolide at Firmenich that a compound of this class was produced at a commercial scale.

Helvetolide (1990 - Firmenich) clean, white, milky, fruity musk
Serenolide (2001 - Givaudan) soft, powdery
Romandolide (1998 - Firmenich) musk, sweet, fruity-berry, ambrette
Alpinolide (2003 - Givaudan) musk, animalic, warm
Applelide (2002 - IFF) musk, warm, creamy, powdery
Sylkolide (2003 - Givaudan) musk, soft, animalic, amber

Helvetolide and Romandolide are the most popular representatives so far.

RECOGNIZING MUSKS BY SMELL

In perfumery, few scent families possess the timeless allure and complexity of musk. Its aroma and multifaceted character guide us to a mysteries of exploration.

So let's try to identify Musk families according to their scents.

If the Musk has a sweet and soft character, then it’s very likely to be a Polycyclic Musk.
if the Musk has a cosmetic, skin like character, it’s very likely to be Macrocyclic One
If the Musk has an animalic nuance, Nitromusk would be a common choice.
If the Musk has a floral and fruity (pear-like) undertone, i’ll be most likely a linear (alicyclic).
If the Musk has an ambrette note (slightly powdery as well), our choice will be Exaltolide or Ambretolide (the last one will have fruity ambrette seed impact).

SYNTHETIC MUSK MARKET

The global synthetic musk market was valued at $136.5 million in 2022, and is projected to reach $189,5 million by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 4,8% from 2022 to 2020.

SMC global market share - by type - by region

Graph above shows some interesting information.

If you check the market by type you see Linear Musks and MacroCyclic Musks generates more revenue. They are superior musks and have much higher prices per kilo. (+200 USD per kilo)

Volume-wise, Polycyclic Musks and Nitro Musks are much higher than other types.

Especially Galaxolide (USD7-9 per kg) and Tonalide (USD12-18 per kg) from Polycyclic Musks and Musk Ketone (USD 15-17 per kilo) from NitroMusks makes the great volume in total SMC sales.

You might think that this value 136 M USD is not that big.

But please remember that Musk family is very big and very important, there are more than 100 materials in the market, however F&F Giants like Givaudan, Firmenich, IFF, Mane etc. has discovered more than 300 materials and not marketed. They are using internally and this consumption is NOT included in this number.

SMC market by Type

SMC market by type clearly shows that the biggest increase in volume per year will be in Polycyclic musks.

As we know they are much cleaner and the performance of environmental and health issues are much better than NitroMusks.

SMC by End-Use

SMC are mostly used in Cosmetic and Personal care fragrances. Homecare fragrances mostly includes PolyCyclic and NitroMusks. Very few amount of SMCs utilise in flavouring formulations.

HEALTH & ENVIROMENT ISSUES

Smell is beautiful, but Synthetic Musk Compounds (SMCs) has some disadvantages too.

Synthetic musks are highly persistent compounds that may bioaccumulate in water, soil, and the food chain and, therefore, may pose a risk to the environment.

Regarding their environmental properties, Synthetic Musks are considered semi-volatile, lipophilic, bio-accumulative, and partially biodegradable.

The lipophilicity of Synthetic Musk Compounds indicates a high bioaccumulation potential that concerns not only the environment, but also impacts food safety and, consequently, public health and other species (Cavalheiro et al., 2013; Zeng et al., 2005).

They have been identified in small quantities in human breast milk, body fat, blood, and umbilical cords.

Recent studies have shown that SMCs may cause harmful health effects, such as endocrine disruption through anti-estrogenic activity (Wong et al., 2019) and have also been shown to accumulate in living tissues and blood with potential adverse health effects.

SUMMARY

In the realm of perfumery there are very few ingredients can rival the ubiquity and significance of Musk.

Yes.. The utilisation of all chemical derivatives of Musk have profoundly expanded the Perfumer's palette.

Yes.. The importance of chemical and physical properties of Musk challenge companies to innovate more and push further.

Yes.. Amazingly rich olfactory possibilities of Musk giggle the scientist to work harder to unfold new molecular synthesis techniques.

These would be my summary if I am able to forget what we have done to animals for centuries.

I would not write more if I didnt know that we STILL do "killing" deers and caging "beavers" and "civet cats" NOW..

But I know we keep doing it...

So I am forced to add couple of sentences more..

I know, It is a poignant reminder that "progress" often arises from the shadows of cruelty.

We have experienced this many times in our short existence.

Siberian Musk Deer and her fangs.

Words like growth, sustainability, progress, innovation, development, advancement, green, evolution, ethic .... etc are in every companies' vision, in every governments' mission, in every organisation' direction..