Database/Perfuming/Coumarin
100% petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Coumarin natural?

No. Nearly all Coumarin is synthesised from petrochemical aromatic precursors; natural tonka-bean extraction is not commercially significant.

INCI nameCoumarin
CAS91-64-5
FormulaC9H6O2 · 146.14 Da
FunctionPerfuming
FeedstockProduced industrially via the Perkin reaction from petrochemical…

How we scored it

Commercial coumarin is synthesised from petrochemical salicylaldehyde and acetic anhydride via the Perkin reaction; 0/146 = 0.0.
What counts. ISO 16128-2 scores the atoms that remain in the final ingredient. Reagents, solvents, catalysts and protecting groups used during manufacture leave no mass behind and are not counted.

How it’s made

Perkin reaction of salicylaldehyde with acetic anhydride, then lactonisation. The film draws the key step and names the steps after it. Each curved arrow moves one electron pair, and the film ends on the score above.

Where it comes from

Produced industrially via the Perkin reaction from petrochemical salicylaldehyde and acetic anhydride. Trace natural coumarin exists in tonka beans but is not the commercial source.

In plain English

A sweet, hay-like fragrance ingredient found naturally in tonka beans but almost always made synthetically from petrochemical starting materials for commercial use.

Natural alternatives with the same function

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Structure

2D structure of Coumarin

chromen-2-one

PubChem CID 323 ↗

References

  1. 1ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017 — Guidelines on technical definitions and criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. ISO, Geneva.
  2. 2Coumarin. PubChem CID 323. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3COUMARIN. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4COUMARIN. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=COUMARIN