Rose Leaf Absolute

#### Rose Leaf Absolute. It is not surprising that such a product does exist. As a matter of fact, it is surprising that it was not produced much earlier. When creating (or "constructing") a rose perfume or a rose base, the perfumer is often very interested in notes that will give him the reproduction of the leaves, the fragrance of the foliage which forms such an important part of the rose gamut; the bouquet of roses is not complete without it. Various chemicals are used, but a good and true-to-nature product exists in Rose Leaf Absolute. It is prepared from a volatile solvent extracted concrète. The concrète is produced by extraction of the leaves of **Rosa Centifolia **in the south of France. Various solvents have been used and experimentally tried, but it seems that chlorinated hydrocarbons (trichloro ethylene or dichloro methane) are the most suitable solvents for extraction of the almost fresh rose leaves. The absolute is obtained by the conventional alcohol washing of the concrète. **Rose Leaf Absolute **is a semi-liquid mass of dark green color and intensely "green-leafy", but also sweet, somewhat woody odor, truly reminiscent of the freshly crushed leaves of the rose plant. The absolute is often "bouquetted" with trace amounts of rose de mai absolute, rhodinol, etc. This is merely a "selling note" which has little or no effect in the perfume where the leaf absolute is incorporated. If it were not such a scarce and very irregularly produced perfume material, the **Rose Leaf**** ****Absolute **would undoubtedly catch the interest of all perfumers who work with high-class lotion perfumes, etc. Apart from its application in the type of true-to-nature rose bases, this material would easily find other applications, e.g. that of the introduction of a natural foliage note in lily of the valley where the rose forms a very important part of the floral complex ("muguet"). Or, in numerous fantasy perfumes, chypres, etc., where the rose leaf absolute would blend well with ionones, oak- moss, lavender, mimosa, cassie, narcissus, sage clary, coumarin, linalool, cyclamal, etc. As mentioned above, **Rose**** ****Leaf**** ****Absolute**** **is not regularly available, but it could be produced on a large scale since the botanical material is abundantly present and the extraction facilities are nearby.