Jonone

Jonones (also known as ionones) are a group of substances that occur in many plants (in various essential oils) and have a pleasant cedar wood or violet-like smell. The jonon group, which belongs to the terpenes, is divided into different individual substances alpha-, beta-, gamma-ionone. These differ in the position of the double bond in the cyclohexane ring.

All three types of ions have been detected in oils of various plants, e.g. in tea and tobacco plants. They are not very soluble in water, but highly soluble in ethanol and ether. Violet oil contains about 22 % alpha-ion. Beta-ionone is found, for example, in henna shrub. Beta-ionone is a breakdown product of beta-carotene.

Jonones are artificially produced from citral and acetone.

Jonon mixtures are used as flavouring substances in cosmetic formulations(mixed ionones as INCI designation).

1. Ammon H.P.T. et al. (2014) Hunnius Pharmaceutical Dictionary. De Gruyter Publishing House p.956