Coming up roses

18 June 2001 00:00  [Source: ICB]

Rhodia's recent acquisition of ChiRex has resulted in the launch of several new perfume products and an increased focus on chiral chemistry. Jorge Nogueira, president of perfumery and specialities at Rhodia, tells Antonia Panayi about the financial and environmental benefits

During the Cannes perfumery congress in France last month, Rhodia's perfumery and specialities business, part of its fine organics division, introduced a number of products to broaden its perfume range. The latest products are Rosilial Plus and Floreol Plus, both of which make use of the benefits of chiral chemistry.

The product launches are a consequence of Rhodia's acquisition of ChiRex, the Boston-based fine chemicals company. 'Rhodia ChiRex provides a new focus for the fine organics unit,' says Jose Carlos Grubisich, president of fine organics.

Apart from the ChiRex acquisition, other milestones for the fine organics unit in 2000 were a new vanillin facility in China for the perfumery enterprise, and a big recovery in the supply of intermediates for the agrochemical industry.

Rhodia's perfumery and specialities business had sales of E247m ($209m) in 2000, of which 47% was in Europe, 10% in Asia, 8% in South America and 35% in North America. Its main facilities are at Saint-Fons, close to the headquarters in Lyon, France; Baton Rouge in Louisiana, US; and the Jade Chemicals and Ruohai chemicals plants based in Wuxi, China, and Zhejiang, China, respectively.

The business offers a wide range of scented notes - Rhovanil, vanillin; Rhodiarome, ethyl vanillin; Rhodiantal, synthetic sandal wood; Rhodiascent, coumarine, and Rhodiafluor, salicylates - which are all used in perfumery, flavourings and hygiene beauty. Rhodia also makes diphenols such as hydroquinone and catechol, used in inhibitors, electronics, agro-intermediates and photography.

'Our strategy is innovation, expansion and technology,' says Jorge Nogueira, president of perfumery and specialities. The perfumers are scent-driven and look for unique and powerful notes which are stable in aggressive environments, biodegradable and affordable.

The first fruits from a new scent development include Petunial, with floral and leathery notes produced by solid phase carboxylation; Natural Rhovanil, a vanilla note produced by bio-fermentation; Floreol Plus, a rosy floral green note, and Rosilial Plus, a rosy floral scent with a citrus facet produced by chirality.

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Chirality is a new dimension in perfumery compositions. Chiral compounds are non- superimposable mirror images of each other. The two forms of a chiral object are known as enantiomers. A mixture containing equal amounts of the two enantiomeric forms of a chiral molecule is called a racemate.

Many aroma chemicals on the market are racemates. A single enantiomer may have identified benefits, including improved scent properties. For example, Floreol Plus has a very natural effect powdery floral green note, otherwise the other enantiomer would be flat floral green. The enantiomers may also have different biodegradation properties, which means they are environmentally friendly.

The existing chiral technology includes separation and synthesis. Rhodia's new ChiRex-based technology, developed for perfumes and patented, is called hydrolytic kinetic resolution (HKR Technology). From the cheap and highly reactive racemate epoxide, using the Jacobsen catalyst, chiral epoxide and chiral diol are produced. These chiral intermediates are used for synthesis creating a range of new notes. Rhodia says it can obtain an affordable chirality for food and fragrances by molecular weight dilution of the chiral part. 'Competitive use value is a key success factor in chirality,' says Frederic Mauger, business manager of perfumery and specialities.

Rhodia is also very technology-driven, and has introduced efficient competitive technologies and clean processes. One example of a novel process technology is cyclopentanone, a key intermediate for Hedione from Firmenich. Rhodia's clean processes for sustainable development include salicylates. The methyl salicylate process has no gaseous rejection, water consumption is less than 66%, and the process protects the ground water. Another example is the production of acetanisole from anisole, which involves chemistry without aluminium chloride and with effluent reduction volume by factor 100.

Rhodia also works with perfumer consultants and customer partnerships in scent performance. This includes scent screening, toxicity testing and performance in applications. In addition, Rhodia is involved with pre-marketing studies including use and value to the market. Nogueira says, however, that the big challenge is 'reducing the time to the market'.

Rhodia is also responding to perfumers' issues. It is keen to comply with growing regulations. Following methyl eugenol, other eugenols, the chief constituent in oil of cloves, could be banned for toxic issues, so the group is looking for eugenol substitutes. Carnaline (a carnation note) is such a substitute produced by oxidation of Rhovanil.

Nogueira says: 'Sustainable development is going to become a key driver for perfumery innovations. This includes reliability in supplies and prices, quality and consistency, product stewardship and Responsible Care commitment and natural resources preservation.' n

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