Indole was originally isolated through research into the dye indigo. Because it was a main component of coal tar, its name was formed by combining indigo and oleum (oil).
Jasmine from Grasse, which contains a high proportion of this constituent, is extremely expensive and incomparably more sensually stimulating than other varieties.
Roja Dove
Indole is an unpleasant-smelling constituent found in many alluring flowers, including jasmine (in Japanese), ylang-ylang, and lilies. It is unpleasant because its animalic odor is so powerful that it can smell fecal. Interestingly, however, it is so important that it is said a flower’s scent cannot be reproduced without it. In other words, it is a fragrance material that is intensely unpleasant on its own, yet gives astonishingly beautiful vitality when a tiny amount is blended into a floral note.
Its fecal smell also reflects the fact that indole occurs in feces. The protein we eat is made up of amino acids, one of which, L-tryptophan, contains an indole structure. When harmful bacteria in the intestine break down this tryptophan, it is converted into odorous substances such as indole and skatole.
The jasmine sambac that Jean-Claude Ellena discovered had an overwhelmingly animalic scent, rich in a compound called indole. In fact, feces contain large amounts of indole, and the human body also produces it during decomposition. Indole is therefore both a feminine scent and the scent of death.
Chandler Burr
How Does It Smell in Perfume?
At high concentrations, indole can suggest feces or damp animal odors, but at very low concentrations it enriches the floral scent of jasmine and tuberose, adding lively warmth. It also occurs in natural flowers such as jasmine, although the indole added as a standalone raw material in perfumery is usually chemically synthesized. The raw material’s intense odor does not necessarily appear unchanged in the finished perfume. Used in traces, it creates natural shading and sensuality that a purely clean floral scent cannot provide.
