Melilotus Extract

#### Melilotus. Closely related to the clover are several species of **Melilotus**, among which **Melilotus**** ****Officinalis**** **and **Melilotus**** ****Arvensis**** **have particularly attracted the interest of the perfume- and flavor industries. The plants grow wild in most parts of Europe and Asia Minor; other species are found in the United States, Asia and Africa. The above two species are used for the extraction of a so-called **Oleoresin Mellilotin**, a petroleum ether or benzene extraction product of the dry flowers. Chlorinated aliphatic and olefinic hydrocarbons have also been used, e.g. methylene dichloride. Extraction takes place in England, France, Germany, and the U.S.S.R. The above plants have very little odor or flavor when fresh, but upon drying, various chemical reactions (decomposition of glycosides) take place, and coumarin, coumarin derivatives and other odorous materials are set free. This drying or curing is quite frequently met, e.g. bitter almond, tonka, vanilla, liatris, wintergreen, woodruff, etc. The extract is theoretically a concrète (according to the definitions in Part One of this book), but it is usually called a "resinoid" or "oleoresin" perhaps on account of the fact that the manufacturers present the extract in a more or less liquid form. **Melilot Extract **(so-called **Oleoresin**) is a viscous, dark green liquid of a very sweet, herbaceousroot-like and rich odor. Although this odor is often described as "tobacco-like", the author of this book disagrees since the odor of melilot extract is an odor type which is artificially introduced in cured tobacco for the purpose of flavoring the tobacco with this sweet note. Coumarin, liatris, methylcoumarin, prune juice, flouve oil, etc. are all used in the flavoring of tobacco when the root-like coumarin notes are wanted. Unflavored tobacco leaves have no sweet odor, but rather a distinct amine-like, dry-herb odor. However, the coumarin-type odor has become more or less synonymous for tobacco odor for many people. **Melilotus "Oleoresin" **is used extensively in the flavoring of tobacco in countries where the use of coumarin-containing preparations is permitted in tobacco flavoring. It was used in the flavoring of cheese at one time, but substitutes have now replaced melilotus for this purpose. In perfumery, the "melillotin" is most useful in the new mown hay, fougère, lavender, pine and forest type fragrances where it is an excellent blender to "round off" the effects of sharp smelling synthetic materials. Melilotus extracts blend well with maté extracts, oakmoss, dimethyl benzyl carbinylacetate, amyl salicylate, labdanum products, fir needle absolute, lavandin and lavender oils, bois de rose oil, nerol, nitromusks and cinnamic alcohol (for "powdery" notes!), etc. An **Absolute of Melilotus **has been prepared, and it offers the advantage of producing no resinous or insoluble separations in alcoholic perfumes, etc. In connection with the above statements with respect to "tobacco odor", the reader may be interested in studying Georges Igolen's contribution to the problem in "Les Parfums de France", 1936, vol. 14, page 225. Obviously, the coumarin concentration in the **Absolute**** ****of**** ****Melilotus**** **is beyond the saturation point (compare absolute of tonka, etc.), but a high concentration of coumarin will remain in the liquid phase of the absolute which contributes distinctly to the so-called "tobacco-odor". The annual production of **Melilotus **extracts (all types) is declining, not because of any shortage of the abundant wild growing herb, but mainly because of the coumarin-ban in the most important fields of application for these materials. In perfumery, they continue to attract the interest of many perfumers, and only the intense deep-green color is a distinct disadvantage in perfumery application. This problem should be rather easily solved since many commercial lots of melilotus extract are colored artificially with chlorophyll in order to look more "natural". Lavandin concrète, synthetic coumarin, various methylcoumarins, etc. are known to be used as adulterants of melilotus extracts at the present time.