Submission from dsm-firmenich

The innovation.

CLEARWOOD®, the first ever biotech ingredient within the perfumery industry, is a truly inspiring ingredient made possible by the power of science and rendered unforgettable by perfumers' intuition.

The benefits.

Terpenes are the largest class of plant natural compounds and are important raw materials for the fragrance and flavour (F&F) and the pharmaceutical industries. However, problems exist due to limited and fluctuating supplies of the raw material and the challenge of ensuring sustainable production. Work at dsm-firmenich to address this through biotechnology started as early as 2001, with the discovery of terpene synthases relevant to F&F ingredients, creating potential for production of these plant metabolites in microorganisms. In 2006, dsm-firmenich published the first isolation of a key gene involved in the biosynthesis of the fragrance alcohol, patchoulol, from the patchouli plant. In 2014, dsm-firmenich, in collaboration with Amyris, pioneered industrial biotechnology for the fragrance industry with the launch of CLEARWOOD®, a new sustainable ingredient.

Additional materials:

F. Deguerry, L. Pastore, S. Wu, A. Clark, J. Chappell, M. Schalk. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 2006, 454, 123.