Biotechnology in Perfume: Ingredients From Fermentation

Biotechnology in perfume means making fragrance ingredients with the help of living organisms — usually fermentation, in which yeasts, bacteria or fungi convert a simple feedstock such as sugar into a useful molecule, or enzymes, which carry out a specific chemical step. It is a third route alongside harvesting natural materials and synthesising molecules by conventional chemistry. Biotech ingredients can recreate scarce or protected materials, reduce the land or petrochemicals needed, and give more consistent quality. They are still molecules made in a factory, and whether they may be called "natural" depends on the standard being applied.

Three ways to make a fragrance ingredient

From nature — distilling, pressing or extracting plants and resins. See How Perfume Ingredients Are Extracted.
By chemical synthesis — building molecules from other chemicals, often derived from petroleum or from plant sources such as turpentine. See How Synthetic Molecules Created Modern Perfume.
By biotechnology — using microorganisms or enzymes to produce or transform molecules.

How fermentation works

Microorganisms naturally produce many molecules as part of their metabolism. In industrial fermentation, a strain — sometimes selected, sometimes engineered — is grown in large tanks and fed a feedstock such as sugar. It converts that feedstock into the target molecule, or into a precursor that is then finished by a further step. The molecule is separated and purified. The same broad approach is used to make many foods, medicines and food flavourings.

A biotech ingredient grows in a tank rather than a field — but it still has to smell right.

Examples in perfumery

Ambery woods

Ambergris, formed in sperm whales, was once prized in perfumery and is now rare. Its role was taken over by synthetic ambery-woody molecules, traditionally made from a starting material extracted from clary sage. In 2019 Givaudan announced a version of one such ingredient, Ambrofix, produced from sugarcane by fermentation, which the company describes as requiring far less land than the traditional route. See Amber Fragrances.

Vanillin

Vanillin, the main aromatic molecule of vanilla, is made in several ways: extracted with the bean, synthesised chemically, or produced from natural precursors by fermentation. Vanillin made by fermentation from a natural starting material can, under some food and flavouring rules, be described as natural. See Vanilla in Perfume.

Other materials

Fragrance companies have developed fermentation routes to woody, musky and other molecules, and enzymes are used to make or refine some materials. Most ingredients are still made by harvesting or conventional synthesis.

Why use biotechnology?

Scarcity and protection. It can relieve pressure on scarce or protected sources — as synthetic musks did for the musk deer. See What Is Musk in Perfume?.
Consistency. Fermentation is not subject to harvests and weather.
Feedstocks. It can use renewable plant sugars instead of petrochemicals.
New molecules. Some molecules are difficult to make any other way.

What biotech does not mean

It does not mean "natural" in the everyday sense. The molecule may be identical to one in nature, but it is produced industrially. Some standards count it as natural or "naturally derived"; others do not. See Is Natural Perfume Better Than Synthetic?.
It does not guarantee a smaller environmental footprint. That depends on the feedstock, energy and process, and claims should be read critically.
It does not change how you choose a perfume. A biotech molecule smells like the molecule. Judge the perfume on your skin; see How to Test a Perfume Before You Buy It.

How all these materials come together in a finished perfume is the subject of How Is Perfume Made?.

Common questions

Are biotech fragrance ingredients natural?

It depends on the definition. They are made from natural feedstocks by living organisms, but in a factory. Some standards count them as natural or naturally derived.

Are biotech ingredients safe?

They are subject to the same safety assessment and rules as any other fragrance ingredient.

Is a biotech molecule different from a synthetic one?

The molecule can be identical; only the way it was made differs.

Will most perfumes soon use biotech ingredients?

Biotech is growing, but most fragrance ingredients are still harvested or synthesised conventionally.

Sources

Givaudan, announcement of Ambrofix produced by fermentation of sugarcane (October 2019), as reported in the trade press (Cosmetics Design Europe, 30 October 2019).