New Alicyclic Musks: The Fourth Generation of Musk Odorants

Musk odorants are one of the most important classes of fragrances in perfumery because they impart sensuality to perfume‐oil compositions. Among the three well‐known classes of musks, a new and very exciting generation of musk odorants, the so‐called alicyclic musks , was discovered recently, of which Helvetolide ® ( 2 ) and Romandolide ® ( 3 ) are the most popular representatives so far. To find new, structurally related alicyclic musks, we have synthesized a library of 114 unique alicyclic molecules with modified cyclohexyl moieties. The olfactory properties of all compounds were evaluated to identify the structural requirements to be met for a musk odorant.