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Eau FactsNoses and molecules

Why can't some people smell Molecule 01?

The short answer

Because Molecule 01 is pure Iso E Super, and its maker says some people are highly sensitive to that material while others find it hard to detect. Escentric Molecules adds that regular wearers can stop noticing it, that this is usually temporary, and it suggests a one-month break from the scent.

By the Fragnatique team2 min read4 sourcesUpdated

A faint molecular structure on a dark ground under the words some people can't smell it at all.Watch on Instagram

Key facts

  • 2006Geza Schoen and Paul White co-found Escentric Molecules in London.
  • 100 percentMolecule 01's share of Iso E Super, in a 2019 Beilstein Journal review.
  • About 5 percentThe impurity, now called Iso E Super Plus, credited with the material's characteristic smell.
  • 1999Givaudan chemists publish their analysis of that impurity.
  • 55 and 25 percentIso E Super in Terre d'Hermès and Dior's Fahrenheit, by the same review's table.
  • One monthThe break from the scent the brand suggests to regular wearers.

What is Molecule 01 made of?

One material. Escentric Molecules says the only ingredient in Molecule 01 is the aroma molecule Iso E Super, and a 2019 review in the Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry lists the perfume at 100 percent. The brand was co-founded in London in 2006 by perfumer Geza Schoen and creative director Paul White, and its own page tells of a buyer who first "could smell nothing, I mean nothing at all".

What gives Iso E Super its smell?

Largely a small part of it. The Beilstein review says an impurity of about 5 percent, now called Iso E Super Plus, was found responsible for the material's characteristic smell after it was thoroughly analysed in the laboratories of Givaudan, work published in 1999. The review's own figures for how much stronger that impurity is do not agree, so no ratio is given here.

Why does Iso E Super seem to vanish and come back?

The brand calls it one of the mysterious qualities of Iso E Super that it seems to vanish and reappear, and says regular users may become hyposmic, or less sensitive, to it. Smell research describes the same pattern in general: a 2000 review in Chemical Senses says long exposure to an odour usually lowers sensitivity to it, and sensitivity returns with time away.

Which other perfumes use a lot of Iso E Super?

The Beilstein review's table lists Terre d'Hermès at 55 percent Iso E Super and Dior's Fahrenheit at 25 percent. Escentric Molecules groups the material with musks, as one that some people sense strongly and others barely detect. The brand also names a cold, chronic sinusitis, allergy and loss of smell after a virus as other reasons someone may not smell the perfume.

The full storyMolecule 01: The Perfume Made of One Molecule, Iso E Super9 min read in the Fragnatique Journal

Sources

Primary sources only. Every statement on this page restates one of them, read by the Fragnatique team.

  1. Escentric Molecules, FAQsescentric.com
  2. Escentric Molecules, About Escentric Moleculesescentric.com
  3. Stepanyuk and Kirschning, Synthetic terpenoids in the world of fragrances: Iso E Super is the showcase, Beilstein J. Org. Chem. (2019)pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  4. Chemical Senses, review of olfactory adaptation (2000)europepmc.org

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