Quinoline is a compound isolated from coal tar, first discovered in 1834 by the German chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge. It was in demand as a high-boiling solvent for manufacturing paints and pharmaceuticals, and later attracted perfumers’ attention for its sharp, distinct, intensely earthy smell.
In perfumery, no discussion of quinoline is complete without De Laire (in Japanese). De Laire, now Symrise, was once a highly renowned maker of perfume bases. It is also famous for having employed Edmond Roudnitska (in Japanese), regarded as the twentieth century’s greatest perfumer, and Henri Robert (in Japanese), Chanel’s second in-house perfumer. Their achievement lay in finding ways to make synthetic materials that many perfumers of the time considered unpleasant and difficult to handle easier to use, creating bases that went into many celebrated fragrances.
One was the legendary base Mousse de Saxe, which used the quinoline derivative isobutyl quinoline. It brought out isobutyl quinoline’s earthy, leathery, and green notes, while adding softness through rose and violet. The base became hugely popular and was used in era-defining chypres such as Coty’s Chypre (1917), Caron (in Japanese)’s Nuit de Noël (1922), Hermès’s Calèche (1961), and Grès’s Cabochard (1959). More recently, it has been used in Frédéric Malle (in Japanese)’s Rose & Cuir (Jean-Claude Ellena (in Japanese), 2019).
How Does It Smell in Perfume?
Isobutyl quinoline is a synthetic quinoline fragrance material that adds a strong shadow of earth, leather, roots, and nuts even in very small amounts. It has a bitter, dark-green character and a dry leather quality, blending well with the earthy facets of oakmoss and vetiver. Added to amber, woody, or tobacco compositions, it reins in sweetness while creating a firm, classical depth. In IFF’s product, the main component is 8-sec-butylquinoline; it is not a fragrance material extracted from natural leather or moss.
