alpha-Ionone

Say itAL-fuh-EYE-uh-nohn

Sweet violet flower with raspberry fruitiness and a soft powdery-woody base.

What it is: A molecule made in a lab, first made by Haarmann & Reimer (Tiemann and Krüger) in 1893.
When you smell it: Heart: the first hours.
What perfumers do with it: Core of violet and orris accords; adds powdery-fruity softness to rose, raspberry and carnation.
Worth knowing: Tiemann and Krüger created ionone in 1893 while trying to make irone, orris root's costly violet molecule.
Known in: Vera Violetta (Roger & Gallet, 1893)
Also called: Irisone; (E)-4-(2,6,6-trimethylcyclohex-2-enyl)but-3-en-2-one

Not on the label of any of the 232 perfumes read so far.

Sources