Hedione (Luminous/Transparent Jasmine)

Smelling hedione, I'm struck by its beautiful, limpid and

luminous character which resembles the beautiful citrusy
floral note of a magnolia blossom blossoming under sunny
skies.Hedione or methyl dihydrojasmonate is an
aromachemical (patented as Hedione by aroma-producing
company Firmenich) that is often used in composition in
substitution for jasmine absolute, but also for the sake of its
own fresh-citrusy and green tonality.
Hedione lacks the clotted cream density of natural
jasmine, recalling much more the living vine in the
warmth of summer mornings and for that reason it is
considered a beautiful material that offers quite a bit in the
production of fine perfumes.Perfumer Lyn Harris, nose of the
brand Miller Harris and also the independent nose behind
many well-known creations not credited to her name, calls it
transparent jasmine and attributes to it the capacity to
give fizz to citrus notes much like champagne. (See? its
not only aldehydes which do that!)
According to Christian Chapuis of Firmenich SA, Edouard
Demole discovered methyl jasmonate in 1957, accomplished
a synthesis of Hedione (from the Greek word /hedone,
meaning agreeable and pleasant) in 1958, synthesized
methyl jasmonate in 1959, placed both materials under
intellectual protection in 1960, and published these
discoveries in 1962. "This simple timeline belies a more
complex history of chemistry and creation".
First used in the classic mens cologne Eau Sauvage,
composed by Edmond Roudnitska in 1966, hedione had been
isolated from jasmine absolute and went on to revolutionize
mens scents with the inclusion of a green floral note. Eau

Sauvage was so successful that many women went on to

adopt it as their own personal fragrance leading the house of
Dior to the subsequent introduction of Diorella in 1972,
composed by the same legendary nose, blending the green
floral with hints of peach, honeysuckle, rose and cyclamen in
addition to the herbal citrusy notes of the masculine
counterpart, all anchored by a base of cool vetiver, patchouli
and oakmoss, lending a mysterious, aloof and twilit air to
women who went for it.
Ten years after its introduction to perfumery, in 1976, it was
the turn of Jean Claude Ellena to coax hedione in a
composition that exploited its fresh and lively character to
great aplomb in the production of First by jewelry house
Van Cleef & Arpels (the name derived from the fact that it
was their first fragrant offering, but also the first scent to
come out of a jeweler too ~subsequently many followed in
its tracks with notable success).
In it, Ellena used 10 times the concentration of hedione used
in Eau Sauvage, married to natural jasmine as well as rose
de mai (rosa centifollia, which is also a "crystalline" variety),
narcissus, orris, ylang ylang and a hint of carnation with the
flying trapeze of aldehydes on top and the plush of vetiver,
amber and vanilla at the bottom which accounted for a
luminous and luxurious floral.
Hedione also makes a memorable appearance in many
other perfumes, such as the classic Chamade by Guerlain
(introduced in 1969), Chanel no.19 (1970) and Must by
Cartier (1981) and in many of the modern airy fragrances
such as CKone, Blush by Marc Jacobs, the shared scent Paco
by Paco Rabanne or ~surprisingly~ in the bombastic Angel
by Thierry Mugler, in which it is used as a fresh top note
along with helional! Perhaps if you want to feel it used in
spades smell L'Eau d'Issey by Issey Miyake: the
aquatic/ozonic notes cannot hide its radiance.
Its uses are legion, especially since it acts as a supreme
smoothener of the rest of the ingredients. In Terre d'Hermes,
perfumer Jean Claude Ellena uses lots of it to bring out the
softer side of hesperidic bergamot and to fan out the
woodier aspects.

High-cis Hedione is an isomer which gives a jasmine tea

profile (not surprisingly, as the component naturally occurs
in tea), more diffusive and less floral and thus useful in
masculine blends, but it costs more than regular hedione
and poses problems of stability in acidic environments. Some
of the Bulgari "tea" scents, such as Bulgari Eau au Th
Rouge and Bulgari Eau au Th Blanc are good reference
points if you want to smell this in action.
Despite hedione's unlikeness to natural jasmine absolute and
essential oil (which are much lusher, narcotic and indolic),
perfumers have used it to supreme results in the history of
fine fragrance of the last 40 years, occassionaly using it up
to 35% concentrations, although it's more usual to be
featured in ratios of 2-15%.