The irones and their origin

Abstract

The violet fragrance of stored dry rhizomes of certain Iris (sword lily) species is due to the irones, homologues of ionones. The whole family is derived from the parent compound iridal. From the various iridals isolated and characterized, a biogenetic sequence was proposed which is currently under scrutiny. From the knowledge gained it is now possible to obtain the valuable irones in higher yields from their natural sources. © 1990 IUPAC