Wintergreen Oil

#### Wintergreen Oil. ##### Gaultheria oil: The once popular and well known essential oil of **Wintergreen**, also called **Gaultheria Oil**, is about to become obsolete on the perfumer's and flavorist's shelf. More correctly, it has been replaced by synthetic **Methyl Salicylate**. Wintergreen oil is a typical American essential oil, derived by water distillation of the leaves of **Gaultheria**** ****Procumbens**, a small plant of the heather family. Prior to distillation, the leaves are exposed to enzymatic action in warm water. During this process, the methyl salicylate is formed as a decomposition product from a glycoside in the plant material. Traces of other volatile constituents are either present in the leaves, or they are formed during the water distillation as decomposition products (diacetyl is a possible trace component in the oil, as is formaldehyde, etc. These materials are presumably derived from carbohydrates in the re-used distillation water). The leaves are practically odorless, and methyl salicylate makes up more than *95** ***%**** **of the water distillable oil. The plant is a native of eastern North America, and grows wild abundantly in the eastern states from the southern part of Canada to Georgia in the southeast of the U.S.A. The production of wintergreen oil is steadily decreasing, and is often closely connected with the distillation of oil of **Sweet Birch **(see monograph on **Birch Bark Oil). **The actual production of pure and genuine wintergreen oil may not be counted in tons any more, but merely in hundreds of kilos. **Wintergreen Oil **is a pale yellow to yellowish or pinkish colored liquid of intensely sweet-aromatic odor and flavor, often displaying a peculiar creamy-fruity topnote and a sweet-woody dryout which may have a tarlike note in poorly distilled oils. The suggested use level in finished flavored goods is about 0.20 to 0.50 mg%, and the **Minimum Perceptible **is 0.05 to 0.10 mg%. (There are toothpastes, however, in which the synthetic methyl salicylate is used at a concentration of 300—700 mg%) The oil is still used in pharmaceutical preparations as a flavor corrector. In candy, toothpaste, industrial products, etc. the oil has been replaced by pure synthetic methyl salicylate which is much less expensive and is readily available in car-loads. Methyl salicylate is not exactly toxic, but it is harmful to human beings in larger dosages. Many people, particularly children, die from accidental intake of industrial preparations that have been flavored with this all-American popular chemical. Its use in "rootbeer" (American carbonated beverage) has made the methyl salicylate flavor still more popular, and this flavor may attract the curiosity of children if they meet the odor in certain industrial (and non-edible) products. Hence the many accidents. Methyl salicylate is the main flavor ingredient in several large brands of toothpaste, and it is a "must" in many types of candy and chewing gum. It blends excellently with anethole, safrole, vanillin, menthol, spearmint oil, linalool, estragole, etc. Methyl salicylate is a natural constituent of the extract of coca-leaves (decocainized) which is used in the world famous coca-cola flavor complex (see monographs on **Cola, Sarsaparilla**** **and **Sassafras**, North American). Methyl salicylate (or "wintergreen oil") is useful in perfumery where traces of this powerful odorant can add natural notes to ylang-ylang, tuberose, narcissus, lily, gardenia, etc. and it is used frequently in fougères and other forest notes.