Material guide · 13
Material guide: ethylene brassylate — the most accessible macrocyclic musk
· 10 min read
CAS 105-95-3, soft, powdery, clean and faintly vanilla-sweet. With 52 suppliers and 208-hour substantivity, it is an inexpensive, quiet introduction to macrocyclic musks.
The fixation article named musk the most tenacious family. This guide hands you an affordable ticket in, and explains properly why the same musk may read far weaker to someone else than to you.
What matters
- Ethylene brassylate is one of the easiest macrocyclic musks to buy: 52 suppliers, cheap, soft and powdery with a touch of vanilla, 208 hours of substantivity.
- Musk has a three-act history: animal musk → nitro musks (musk xylene was designated very persistent, very bioaccumulative under EU REACH in 2008) → today's polycyclics and macrocyclics. Musk ketone is still in the catalogue; check current regulations before it touches skin.
- The same bottle of musk reads at different strengths to different people. The OR5AN1 receptor study measured it: those with two copies of the sensitive variant (homozygotes) find macrocyclic musks like ethylene brassylate markedly stronger, and the paper opens by noting musks are known for specific anosmia. Remember this when you blind-test.
The record
| CAS | 105-95-3 |
| Formula | C₁₅H₂₆O₄ (a macrocyclic lactone — plainly: the atoms form one big ring, the same family shape as natural muscone) |
| MW | 270.37 |
| Odour | powdery, sweet, floral, ambrette, musk, woody, spicy, vanilla |
| Strength | medium |
| Substantivity | 208 h (neat) |
| Specific gravity | 1.040–1.047 (25 °C) — heavier than water |
| Shelf life | 36 months or longer (cool, dark, sealed) |
| Registers | GRAS, JECFA, CoE, FEMA GRAS, IFRA |
Plain reading: CAS is the material's ID number. 208 hours is another un-conventional substantivity value (not the 400 top-of-scale), and it sits inside the musk-family band the fixation article computed. A genuine last one standing.
Its place in the musk families
Ethylene brassylate is an inexpensive macrocyclic musk. Nitro, polycyclic and macrocyclic materials do not share one regulatory or environmental conclusion, and OR5AN1 genetics alters the strength of some macrocyclic musks. The family history, anosmia and environmental evidence are now in Synthetic musks are not one family; this page stays with the smell and use of ethylene brassylate.
Smelling it
- Evaluate at 10%. Alone it is quiet: powder, clean laundry, a little vanilla sweetness. Like Hedione, it is a formula material, and finding it plain on its own is normal.
- Starter experiment: add 5–10% ethylene brassylate to any accord and smell again the next day. You will understand what a "musk base" is — not a smell, a soft-focus layer.
- It is also the fixation article's practical class: what remains after hour eight is this layer.
The catalogue's musk family
| Item | What it is |
|---|---|
| ethylene brassylate (52 suppliers) | the material itself — the affordable macrocyclic |
| omega-pentadecalactone (52) | the articles' Exaltolide — the other classic macrocyclic |
| isoambrettolide (43) / ambrettolide (13) | the ambrette-side macrocyclics — more floral, more fruity |
| musk ketone (43) | an act-two nitro musk — still listed; read the regulations before use |
| musk specialty / gx etc. (58 / 34) | house bases and trade names |
Regulatory
Listed on GRAS, JECFA, CoE, FEMA GRAS, IFRA. As always, registers carry no limit values. Ethylene brassylate itself is regulatorily uncomplicated; this guide's real regulatory lesson is the generation gap inside the family. Under the one label "musk", nitro and macrocyclic musks receive utterly different treatment. Know which act you are buying.
Buying it
- Enter through ethylene brassylate: 52 suppliers, cheap, and generous dosing is affordable.
- To compare macrocyclic textures, add omega-pentadecalactone to the order and smell them side by side.
- Two-nose acceptance test. Have a second person smell any musk purchase; your receptors may not be on your side.
→ Ethylene brassylate in the database: full properties, supplier list, suggested pairings. → Omega-pentadecalactone | Musk ketone | Search by odour: try "musk powdery" for its neighbours.
References
K. M. Taylor, M. Weisskopf & J. Shine, Human exposure to nitro musks and the evaluation of their potential toxicity: an overview, Environmental Health, 13, 14 (2014). PMID 24618224
N. Sato-Akuhara et al., Genetic variation in the human olfactory receptor OR5AN1 associates with the perception of musks, Chemical Senses, 48, bjac037 (2023). PMID 36625229