Diffusion Coefficients Determination for Commercial Grade Perfume

Abstract

The demand of perfume is increasing globally due to the high market demand and the emergence of aromachology, which uses fragrances for stress reduction. Numerous studies have been done to study the diffusivity performance of self-formulated perfume. However, the guide to link the self-formulated perfume to marketable perfume remains as a grey area, especially on the diffusivity performance. This paper reveals the diffusivity of five commercial available perfumes. The main compounds in the perfume were characterised by using gas chromatography and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy. Results showed that the diffusion coefficients of commercial grade perfume are within the range of 0.6 to 1.3 × 10–6 m2/s, which are at least 10 times slower compared to methanol and ethanol, which are the main compounds in perfume. This is due to the presence of fragrance, essential oil, antioxidants in the perfume. This also creates long lasting fragrance effect on the users. The findings of this research provide a guide to researchers to formulate perfume, which has the similar diffusivity as commercial available perfume.