Elemi Resinoid

• 🏭 Supplier — Firmenich

• 🔎 Botanical Name — Canarium Luzonicom

• 📂 CAS N°: 9000-75-3

• 👁 Aspect — Solid

• 📝 Odour Type — Balsamic

• 👃🏼 Odour Profile — Fresh, very terpenic, spicy peppery with a citrus (not citric) note reminiscent of lemon, with a woody-balsamic background note.

• ⚗️ Uses — To extend the perception of some more volatile notes, citruses and spices. Or by itself as a fixative.

What is Elemi?

Elemi is an exudation of a pathological product from the tree, Canarium Commune, and other species of Canarium which grow wild and \ or cultivated in the Philippine islands, in which is quite abundant. The tree belongs to the same family as do those which yield myrrh, olibanum, and opopanax.

Elemi is one of the most inexpensive natural sources of fixative resinoids. 

Natural Elemi before treatment ( Crude Elemi ) is a semi-solid, pale-yellow, waxy honey-like mass, usually containing pieces of wood, bark, insect debris, dirt, earth, etc. Elemi is graded on the bulking place (locally), and it is possible to get lots that are quite clean, dirt-free, and almost water-free.

Odor Profile

The smell is fresh, very terpenic, spicy peppery with a citrus (not citric) note reminiscent of lemon, with a woody-balsamic background note. The olfactive family is Balsamic (can also be classified as spicy by some other references).

The Resinoid

“ Elemi Resinoid is prepared by extracting the crude elemi with a volatile solvent and removing the latter in a vacuum after proper filtration. Acetone gives a very high yield and is a very good solvent for elemi. The acetone-resinoid is pale yellow, and soon shows white masses of crystals separating in the soft, slowly solidifying resinoid. Benzene gives a lower yield, and the odor of this solvent is more difficult to remove from the resinoid. Ethyl alcohol is a comparatively poor solvent for elemi, but some perfumers prefer to extract only once with one or two parts of ethyl alcohol. It will be necessary to filtrate the extract before it cools off. A smaller yield of resinoid is thus obtained, but it presents the heart of the fragrance of elemi in a more concentrated form: fewer monoterpenes, resin acids, sesquiterpenes, etc., and higher concentration of the rare but important oxygenated components of elemi. One could call this product Elemi Resin Absolute. This is a very interesting fixative for artificial bergamot, lemon, lime, etc., as well as for the various verbena compositions, e.g. Eau de verveine bases, and other cologne types. In lavender colognes, fougères, spicy colognes, etc., it simultaneously introduces freshness and fixation. For many of these purposes, one can omit to evaporate the alcohol and use the concentrated extract (“tincture”) as is. 

The very high content of essential oil in Elemi is not always an advantage, and the factories that produce elemi oil will have a useful pot residue when they have distilled the essential oil out of the crude elemi. “ - Perfume and flavor chemicals, S. Arctander, Denmark 1969. 

Sources, informations and bibliography :

• Fulvio Ciccolo, 2022

• Perfume and flavor chemicals, S. Arctander, Denmark 1969.

• SOLVENT EXTRACTIONSTEAM DISTILLATION