Nomenclature for Natural Complex Substances on the IFRA Transparency List

Within the IFRA Volu­me of Use Sur­vey, repor­ting on natu­ral ingre­dients — spe­ci­fi­cally Natu­ral Com­plex Subs­tan­ces (NCSs) — pre­sents par­ti­cu­lar cha­llen­ges. This is lar­gely due to the fact that many NCSs exist in mul­ti­ple qua­li­ties, each with sig­ni­fi­cantly dif­fe­rent com­po­si­tions. Such varia­tions ari­se from dif­fe­ren­ces in geo­graphi­cal ori­gin, extrac­tion methods, and the plant parts used.

Unli­ke che­mi­cally defi­ned ingre­dients, for which the CAS num­ber typi­cally pro­vi­des a suf­fi­ciently pre­ci­se iden­ti­fier of the mole­cu­lar struc­tu­re, the CAS num­bers assig­ned to NCSs are often too broad. They do not reflect the full com­ple­xity of the­se subs­tan­ces and may cover a wide ran­ge of extracts and pro­ces­sing methods under a sin­gle definition.

To address this limi­ta­tion, IFRA and the Research Ins­ti­tu­te for Fra­gran­ce Mate­rials (RIFM) have esta­blished a spe­ci­fic nomen­cla­tu­re sys­tem to more accu­ra­tely cha­rac­te­ri­ze the NCSs used in the fra­gran­ce industry. In addi­tion to the CAS num­ber, this sys­tem incor­po­ra­tes a nomen­cla­tu­re based on the ISO 9235 Stan­dard (2^nd Edi­tion, 2013-12-01). It con­sists of:

• A let­ter repre­sen­ting the part of the plant used in the pre­pa­ra­tion of the NCS; and
• A num­ber indi­ca­ting extrac­tion method or other pro­ces­sing applied.

1. Root (e.g. Ange­li­ca root oil)
2. Moss (e.g. Oak­moss extract)
3. Bark (e.g. Cin­na­mon bark oil)
4. Wood (e.g. San­dal­wood oil)
5. Leaf/​Twig (e.g. Petit­grain oil, Pep­per­mint oil) whe­re lea­ves, twigs or stems are the main tar­get of the har­vest but may inclu­de other aerial parts.
6. Flo­wer (e.g. Rose petals oil) whe­re the flo­wer is the main tar­get of the harvest.
7. Fruit (e.g. Oran­ge peel oil)
8. Seed or grain (e.g. Corian­der seed oil)
9. Algae (e.g. Sea­weed absolute)
10. Ani­mal by-pro­ducts (e.g. Bees­wax absolute)
11. Exu­da­te (e.g. Oli­ba­num oil)
12. Twig (e.g. Clo­ve stem oil)
13. Mul­ti­ple (e.g. Fusel oil; could be obtai­ned from grain, gra­pe, rice, etc.)

The ISO Stan­dard 9235:2013 on aro­ma­tic natu­ral raw mate­rials was follo­wed and amen­ded as necessary:

2.1 = Abso­lu­te

2.1.1 = Extract of absolute

2.1.2 = Abso­lu­te (x‑less)

2.2 = Alcoho­la­te

2.3 = Aro­ma­tic water

2.4 = Bal­sam

2.5 = Essen­tial oil by cold expression

2.6 = Fol­ded essen­tial oil

2.7 = Con­cre­te

2.7.1 = By-pro­duct of con­cre­te (which can be further processed)

2.8 = Dis­ti­lla­te generic

2.9 = Dry-dis­ti­lled oil (e.g. Cade oil)

2.9.1 = Dry-dis­ti­lled pyro­ge­na­ted oil

2.9.2 = Dry-dis­ti­lled pyro­ge­na­ted oil, puri­fied by steam distillation

2.10 = Essen­tial essen­ce oil (from fruit juice)

2.11 = Essen­tial oil generic

2.12 = Essen­tial oil by steam dis­ti­lla­tion (e.g. Laven­der oils)

2.12.1 = Essen­tial oil obtai­ned by steam dis­ti­lla­tion first gra­de (e.g. Ylang oils)

2.12.2 = Essen­tial oil obtai­ned by steam dis­ti­lla­tion second gra­de (e.g. Ylang oils)

2.12.3 = Essen­tial oil obtai­ned by steam dis­ti­lla­tion third gra­de (e.g. Ylang oils)

2.12 X = Essen­tial oil obtai­ned by steam dis­ti­lla­tion Extra gra­de (e.g. Ylang oils)

2.12 XS = Essen­tial oil obtai­ned by steam dis­ti­lla­tion Extra Super gra­de (e.g. Ylang oils)

2.13 = Extract gene­ric

2.14 = Exu­da­te (not gums and balsams)

2.15 = Gum

2.16 = Gum oleo­re­sin

2.16.1 = Gum oleo­re­sin rec­ti­fied (e.g. tur­pen­ti­ne stump oil)

2.17 = Gum resin

2.18 = Natu­ral oleo­re­sin exudate

2.19 = Natu­ral raw mate­rial (inclu­des fermentation)

2.20 = Non-con­cen­tra­ted extract (e.g. Asa­foe­ti­da in pea­nut oil, ben­zoin in ethanol)

2.21 = Oleo­re­sin (deri­ved)

2.22 = Poma­de

2.23 = Post trea­ted (e.g. deco­lo­ri­zed essen­tial oil, washed essen­tial oil, iron eli­mi­na­ted essen­tial oil)

2.24 = Rec­ti­fied essen­tial oil

2.25 = Resin

2.26 = Resi­noid

2.27 = Super­cri­ti­cal extract

2.28 = ​“Ter­pe­ne-less and ses­qui­ter­pe­ne-less” essen­tial oil

2.29 = ​“Ter­pe­ne-less” essen­tial oil

2.30 = Ter­pe­nes

2.31 = Tin­ctu­re and infusions

2.32 = Vola­ti­le con­cen­tra­te (e.g. oran­ge essen­ce 5 fold)

2.33 = ​“x‑less” essen­tial oil (e.g. partly dementholised)

2.50 = Fixed oil by cold expression

2.51 = Essen­tial oils obtai­ned with sig­ni­fi­cant chan­ges in their composition

2.52 = Extract obtai­ned by ultra­so­nic extraction

2.53 = Extract obtai­ned by micro­wa­ve extraction

2.54 = Sol­vent extrac­tion of dis­ti­lla­tion water

2.55 = Che­mi­cally-modi­fied essen­tial oil

2.56 = Ter­pe­ne­less extrac­tion from fruit jui­ce (e.g. oran­ge essen­ce oil terpeneless)

2.57 = Nati­ve aro­ma­tic water (e.g. Straw­berry nati­ve aro­ma­tic water, corn­mint nati­ve aro­ma­tic water)