Virginia Cedarwood Oil

#### Cedarwood Oil, Virginia. One of the most important cedarwood oils from the United States of America is the oil of **Juniperus Virginiana**, known as Virginia cedar or "Southern Red Cedar" (see also **Cedarwood**** ****Oil, Texas**). The so-called "Eastern White Cedar" is now used only for the production of cedarleaf oil. At present, the wood of that tree is not distilled (see **Cedarleaf**** ****Oil**** **= "Thuja oil"). The Virginia cedarwood oil is also known in the U. S. A. as **"Bedford Cedarwood Oil".** **Juniperus Virginiana **is a shrub or a tree; it occasionally grows to a considerable size, and is found growing wild all over the southeastern United States. The wood from these trees is highly appreciated for the manufacture of cabinets, chests, etc.; the essential oil is steam distilled from the sawdust and other waste wood from the lumbermills. Older trees are preferred since they contain more of the reddish heartwood which not only gives a beautiful surface when polished, but also yields much more essential oil than the wood from young trees or sapwood (which is white). The annual production of **Cedarwood**** ****Oil**** ****Virginia**** **amounts to 200 or 300 metric tons, and it has been steadily increasing since World War II. **Virginia Cedarwood Oil **is a pale yellow to slightly orange-yellow colored oil which, on rectification, will yield a water-white, oily liquid. It is slightly less viscous than Atlas or Texas cedarwood oils and it does not deposit crystals at ordinary temperatures. The odor of Virginia cedarwood oil is at first oily-woody and almost sweet, mild and pleasant, somewhat balsamic and typical of cedarwood (lumber). The odor becomes drier and more woody, less balsamic as the oil dries out on a perfume blotter (Texas cedarwood oil smells sweeter as it dries out). The odor of Virginia cedarwood oil is well known to many eastern American owners of cedar chests, cabinets, boxes, etc. On the unpolished surface of such wood, one can often see small crystals. The oil, too, may deposit crystals on cooling or prolonged standing. The crystals are cedrol crystals and their appearance in the oil is to a certain degree a sign of high cedrol content or a sign of age—or both. According to Schimmel, an absolutely pure cedrol, recrystallized, is odorless. The content of cedrol in Virginia cedarwood oil is usually rather small, and this oil is not a good source for the isolation of cedrol. **Cedrol**, like camphor and menthol, is comparatively volatile, and the odor of very old cedarwood chests could not be due to this material which may disappear completely on ageing. However, the main constituent of the oil, **Cedrene**, a sesquiterpene, is slowly converted to **Cedrol **and **Cedrenol **during ageing of the oil. Due to the fact that Virginia cedarwood oil is usually rectified, various fractions are also commercially available: - **Cedarwood**** ****Oil,**** ****Light**** ****Fractions,**** **consist mainly of the sesquiterpene Cedrene which represents the very dry topnote in the odor of various cedarwood oils. Cedrene can be converted into interesting chemical derivatives of great value in perfumery. - **Cedarwood Oil **#1025 consists of high-boiling materials and it represents the balsamic-woody parts of the "cedarwood odor". It is conceivable that the typical sweet part of the cedar- wood odor is mainly due to **Cedrenol **and similar constituents, present only in the high- boiling fractions, and found in the total oil only in a small percentage. However, some chemists claim that a chemically pure Cedrenol is virtually odorless (see above). **Virginia Cedarwood Oil **is used extensively in perfumery, particularly in soap perfumery, as a fixative and cost-reducer for vetiver oil, sandalwood oil, patchouli oil or even in the comparatively cheap guaiacwood oil. The dry-woody character and the fixative effect of cedarwood oil, Virginia, make it almost universally applicable. The oil is frequently used as the only active perfume ingredient in room sprays, disinfectants, insecticides, cleansers and other industrial products, household products, etc. Mixed with Ceylon citronella oil, it was once a popular mosquito- repellent, but it has now been replaced by more active chemicals. **Virginia**** ****Cedarwood**** ****Oil**** **is also found quite frequently as an adulterant in the above mentioned essential oils as well as in numerous others. For the isolation of **Cedrol **and **Cedrenol **and for the production of **Cedryl Acetate**, **Cedrenyl Acetate **and other esters (or "acetylated cedarwood oil"), the oils from **Cedarwood East Africa **and **Cedarwood Texas **are far superior. See these monographs. Virginia cedarwood oil is a good source for the isolation of **Cedrene**** **which is a starting material in the production of various interesting perfumery chemicals.