This section provides an overview of ambroxide (ambroxan) powder, covering its manufacturing processes and regulatory status, as well as its applications in the tobacco, food, flavour, fragrance, personal care, fabric care, and scented candle industries. Also, please check out the introduction to ambroxide manufacturers, supply chain issues, ambroxide suppliers, and ambroxide prices. Sinofi can help you buy ambroxide powder at bulk prices, based on FEMA 3471 and CAS 6790-58-5.
Table of Contents
What is Ambroxide (Ambroxan)?
Ambroxide is marketed under several trade names, including Ambroxan, Ambrofix, and Ambrox Super, and ranks as one of the most vital aroma chemicals in modern perfumery. It reproduces the warm, woody, musky-ambergris character historically obtained from natural ambergris, a rare secretion of the sperm whale, and it does so without any animal-derived input. Ambroxide, Iso E Super, Sandenol, and Eugenol are the signature aroma ingredients of woody notes. Beyond its distinctive odour, ambroxide is prized as a fixative: it anchors more volatile top notes and extends a fragrance’s longevity on skin, fabric, and hard surfaces. These properties have made it a near-ubiquitous base note across fine fragrance, personal care, and home care formulations, and they underpin steady structural demand for the molecule in bulk form. Ambroxide is a saturated tricyclic ether derived from the labdane (terpenoid) family, frequently described as a norlabdane oxide. The CAS number 6790-58-5 refers specifically to the levorotatory single enantiomer, (−)-ambroxide, which corresponds to the naturally occurring, high-impact configuration found in ambergris. A point of practical importance is that the racemic form, (±)-ambroxide, is a distinct entity carrying a different CAS number (3738-00-9) and is marketed principally as Cetalox. The single (−)-enantiomer is generally regarded as the higher-impact, more diffusive material, whereas the racemate is often perceived as softer, rounder, and creamier. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), ambroxide is approved to be used in the flavour and fragrance industries.
Regulatory Status and Safety Considerations
Ambroxide has been evaluated by major regulatory bodies such as JECFA, RIFM, ECHACHEM, NIST, IFRA, and WHO. It holds FEMA GRAS status (FEMA No. 3471) and is widely regarded as a well-tolerated material at normal use levels in fragrance and personal-care applications. As with all aroma chemicals, formulators should consult the current supplier safety data sheet, the applicable IFRA guidance, and relevant regional regulations, and should confirm the specification, enantiomeric purity, and manufacturing route of the specific grade being sourced. Standard chemical-handling precautions apply, including avoiding dust inhalation with powdered forms and using appropriate personal protective equipment.
It should be emphasized that the name “Ambroxan,” although originally a specific trademark, is now frequently used generically across the industry to denote this molecule regardless of manufacturer.
Sensory Profile
The odour of ambroxide powder is characteristically ambergris-like: warm, dry, woody, and ambery, with musky and subtly animalic facets and occasional marine or “clean-skin” nuances. Descriptors commonly associated with the material include amber, woody, cedar, labdanum, tobacco, and a soft, powdery musk. Its odour detection threshold is extremely low, on the order of fractions of a part per billion, which accounts for its efficiency in use. As a base-note fixative, it extends the longevity and enhances the diffusion of a broad range of accords, and it is valued for its ability to blend seamlessly with woody, ambery, floral, and musky compositions alike.
Natural Occurrence
Ambroxide occurs naturally as one of the principal odorants of ambergris, formed by the autoxidation of ambrein, the parent compound secreted by the sperm whale. Because natural ambergris is rare, costly, and ethically and ecologically problematic, the industry relies on manufactured material.
Ambroxide VS Ambroxan VS Ambrofix VS Ambrox Super
Ambroxide is sold by all of the major fragrance houses and by numerous specialty suppliers, each under proprietary trade names. Although the trade names differ, materials sold under CAS 6790-58-5 correspond to the same (−)-enantiomer, differing chiefly in manufacturing route, physical form, and purity grade. The principal commercial designations include the following:
| Trade name | Supplier | Notes |
| Ambrox, Ambrox Super | DSM-Firmenich (Firmenich) | The original trademark; “Classique” is a prized captive grade |
| Ambroxan | Kao Corporation (originally Henkel) | Widely used name; often used generically in the trade |
| Ambrofix | Givaudan | Biotechnologically produced from sugarcane (renewable route) |
| Ambermor, Ambermor-Ex | IFF | House trade names |
| Ambroxide crystals | Symrise | House trade name / crystalline grade |
| Ambermox, Amber Ether, Amberol Synthetic, Super Amber | Various suppliers | Generic and secondary trade designations |
CAS No.: 6790-58-5
According to the American Chemical Society, the CAS number of ambroxide is 6790-58-5.
CAS Name: (-)-Ambrox
Molecular Formula: C16H28O
Molecular Mass: 236.39
Appearance: White crystalline solid.
JECFA Number: 1240
Food Chemicals Codex Listed: No
Melting Point: 73.00 to 75.00 °C. @ 760.00 mm Hg
Boiling Point: 120.00 to 121.00 °C. @ 1.40 mm Hg
Solubility: Soluble in ethanol, common fragrance solvents, and oils; insoluble in water.
Other Names:
♦ Naphtho[2,1-b]furan, dodecahydro-3a,6,6,9a-tetramethyl-, (3aR,5aS,9aS,9bR)-
♦ Ambroxide
♦ Ambrox
♦ (-)-Ambrox
♦ (-)-Norlabdane oxide
♦ (-)-Ambroxide
♦ Amberlyn Super PM 577
♦ Amberlyn Super
♦ Ambroxane
♦ (-)-Ambroxan
♦ Ambrafuran
♦ Ambrofix
♦ Ambermor Ex
Ambroxide Odor
Odor Strength: High, recommend smelling in a 1.00 % solution or less.
Substantivity: > 400 hours at 10.00 % in dipropylene glycol.
Odor Description: At 1.00 % in dipropylene glycol, ambergris sweet, labdanum dry.
FEMA Number 3471
According to the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA), the ambroxide FEMA number is 3471.
Bulk Ambroxide Manufacturers
The bulk manufacturing landscape for ambroxide distinguishes between the integrated fragrance houses that hold the premium branded positions and the specialty producers that supply generic material at scale. Top ambroxide manufacturers like Kao Corporation, DSM-Firmenich, Givaudan, IFF, and Symrise developed and commercialized the molecule, and they continue to hold the premium positions. These manufacturers compete primarily on olfactory quality, consistency, sustainability credentials, and their integration into broader captive-ingredient portfolios rather than on price. Capacity among individual Chinese ambroxide manufacturers is often quoted as several tonnes per month, and they position themselves explicitly as bulk exporters to Europe, the Middle East, North America, and Asia.
Sinofi is a bulk ambroxide manufacturer in China, and we have a manufacturing facility with 2,500 square meters for the production of ambroxan. We supply high-quality ambroxide powder at bulk prices and serve the tobacco, food, flavour, fragrance, personal care, fabric care, and scented candle industries worldwide.
Manufacturing Process of Ambroxide (Ambroxan) Powder
The manufacturing challenge is therefore twofold: to assemble the tetracyclic-like bicyclic terpenoid skeleton with the correct trans ring fusion, and to install the oxygen bridge that closes the furan ring, all while controlling stereochemistry. Two broad strategies dominate industrial practice. The first is semi-synthesis from a natural diterpene feedstock, historically sclareol, in which the carbon skeleton is largely pre-assembled, and the process reshapes and functionalizes it. The second, more recent strategy is biocatalysis, in which an achiral open-chain precursor is cyclized in a single enzymatic step.
Route A: The Classic Three-Step Semi-Synthesis from Sclareol
The dominant industrial route begins with sclareol, a labdane-type diterpene diol (C₂₀) extracted from clary sage (Salvia sclarea) by hydrodistillation and solvent extraction. Sclareol supplies most of the target skeleton but carries a four-carbon side chain that must be removed and reorganized. The classic sequence proceeds in three conceptual stages: oxidative degradation, reduction, and cyclodehydration. According to the Nature Scientific Reports, (−)-ambrox can be synthesized from (−)-sclareol via a one-pot process.
Step 1 — Oxidative degradation of sclareol to sclareolide
The side chain of sclareol is oxidatively cleaved to furnish (+)-sclareolide, the C₁₆ γ-lactone that anchors the remainder of the synthesis. Mechanistically, cleavage of the side-chain olefin, followed by a decarboxylation event, generates a methyl ketone; intramolecular condensation then produces a cyclic enol ether (sclareoxide), which is further oxidized to cleave the residual olefin and, after hydrolysis and ring closure, delivers the lactone.
Step 2 — Reduction of sclareolide to ambradiol
The lactone carbonyl of sclareolide is reduced to the corresponding 1,4-diol, ambradiol (also called sclareol glycol or sclareodiol).
Step 3 — Cyclodehydration of ambradiol to ambroxide
In the final step, the two hydroxyl groups of ambradiol are closed into the fused tetrahydrofuran ring with the net loss of one molecule of water.
A convenient shorthand for the overall route is:
sclareol → (oxidative degradation) → sclareolide → (reduction) → ambradiol → (acid-catalysed cyclodehydration) → (−)-ambroxide
The route is robust and has been optimized over decades, but its recognized disadvantages, expensive or toxic reagents, multiple unit operations, long reaction times, and significant effluent, have motivated the search for cleaner technologies.
Route B: Biocatalytic Cyclization via Homofarnesol
The most significant recent advance replaces the diterpene feedstock and multi-step chemistry with a fermentation-derived precursor and a single enzymatic cyclization. This is the chemistry underpinning fermentation-based commercial grades such as Givaudan’s Ambrofix. The precursor is (E, E)-homofarnesol, a C₁₆ open-chain alcohol. It can be reached from (E)-β-farnesene, a sesquiterpene now produced at scale by the microbial fermentation of sugar (typically sugarcane), which is chemically elaborated to homofarnesol.
Route C: Microbial Biotransformation of Sclareol
A complementary biological strategy retains sclareol as the feedstock but replaces the harsh chemical oxidation of Step 1 with a whole-cell biotransformation. Certain yeasts and fungi selectively metabolize the sclareol side chain to give ambroxide precursors directly, according to Eric Eichhorn’s research.
Bulk Ambroxide Suppliers
Bulk supply of ambroxide is broader than the manufacturing base, as it encompasses the integrated fragrance houses that produce and sell captive material. Top ambroxide suppliers like Kao Corporation, DSM-Firmenich, Givaudan, IFF, and Symrise produce ambroxide and sell it directly or as part of captive portfolios. These suppliers compete on olfactory refinement, sustainability credentials, consistency, and technical service rather than on price, and they are the natural choice for premium fine-fragrance programs. Some specialty distributors hold stock and provide regional service for smaller buyers.
Sinofi is a bulk ambroxide supplier in China, and we have a warehouse with 1,200 square meters for high-quality ambroxan powder. We sell different grades of ambroxide powder at wholesale prices, serving end-users in the tobacco, food, flavour, fragrance, personal care, fabric care, and scented candle industries.
Supply Chain of Ambroxide (Ambroxan)
The ambroxide supply chain is best understood not as a single line but as a converging, multi-stream structure overlaid by cross-cutting enablers. Its parallel agricultural, fermentation, and synthetic feedstock streams give it inherent resilience.
Supply Chain Structure
The chain can be read as a sequence of seven stages, fed by parallel upstream streams that converge at the manufacturing stage, and overlaid throughout by a set of cross-cutting enablers, namely regulation, quality assurance, logistics, and sustainability certification.
Feedstocks and Precursors
The distinguishing feature of the ambroxide chain is that its raw material base is split across fundamentally different origins. The traditional stream begins with the agricultural cultivation of clary sage, from which the diterpene sclareol is extracted and converted through the intermediates sclareolide and ambradiol. This stream carries genuine agricultural exposure: crop yields, growing-region concentration, and the resulting volatility in sclareol pricing feed directly into cost. The newer stream begins with fermentable sugar, typically from sugarcane, which is converted by microbial fermentation to a farnesene precursor and onward to homofarnesol for enzymatic cyclization. A third, fully synthetic stream draws on petrochemical and terpene feedstocks.
Manufacturing and Conversion
This stage is where the market’s competitive structure is clearest. The concentration of high-purity production capacity, both among a handful of Western majors and within a specific set of Asian producers, is the single most important structural fact for buyers to weigh when assessing continuity of supply.
Distribution and Trade
Finished ambroxide reaches buyers through four routes that differ markedly in service and cost. Producers sell directly to large or strategic accounts while specialty flavour-and-fragrance distributors hold regional stock and provide logistics, repackaging, and consolidated documentation.
Downstream: Compounding, Brands, and End Markets
Ambroxide is rarely used in isolation. It enters fragrance houses as a raw material and is dosed into fragrance compounds, the blended oils that brand owners buy, where it functions as a fixative and woody-amber base note. Those compounds are then incorporated by consumer-goods manufacturers across several application segments: fine fragrance, personal care, home and fabric care, and the fast-growing category of scented candles and diffusers, with a small additional presence in food and flavour under the molecule’s GRAS status.
Wholesale and Buy Ambroxide Powder in Bulk
Buying ambroxide in wholesale quantities requires an unambiguous specification, a rigorous qualification process, complete documentation, and a dual-sourcing posture that distinguishes a dependable bulk supply from a costly one.
Define Exactly What You Are Buying
The most common source of error in this category is imprecise specification, so the first step is to define the material unambiguously before approaching any supplier. Begin with the name and identifier. “Ambroxan” is a registered trademark of Kao Corporation, while “ambroxide” is the generic chemical name, and the unambiguous reference is the CAS number 6790-58-5.
Purity is the primary variable: fine-fragrance use generally requires 99 percent and above, whereas some generic material is offered at 95 to 97 percent and trades at a discount.
Documentation and Compliance Checklist
The following package should be obtained and verified before purchasing ambroxide in bulk, with requirements tailored to the destination market and application.
• Certificate of analysis, safety data sheet, and technical data sheet for each lot.
• IFRA compliance documentation for fragrance use.
• ISO 9001 or equivalent quality-system certification for the manufacturing site.
• FEMA GRAS status confirmation where the material is used in flavour applications.
• Batch-level traceability and, ideally, independent verification of purity and contaminants.
As a bulk ambroxide manufacturer and supplier in China, we wholesale ambroxan powder to end users in the tobacco, food, flavour, fragrance, personal care, fabric care, and scented candle industries. We also supply ambroxide powder to small customers. Normally, they want to buy ambroxan powder in small quantities. To serve them, we can sell ambroxide at bulk prices and provide a one-stop purchasing service.
Ambroxide (Ambroxan) Prices (USD/Kg)
Fragrance Grade Ambroxide Prices (GC Content >=99.0%)
| Volume | Unit Price | Shipment |
| 50g | 60 USD | Express |
| 500g | 300 USD | Express |
| 1Kg | 430 USD/Kg | Express |
| 25Kg | >= 30% cheaper | Express |
| 100Kg-Above | negotiable | Express / Sea |
Ambroxide prices command roughly USD 700 to 1,100 per kg at retail in North America and Europe, while Chinese ambroxide sells at USD 300 to 600 per kg in bulk 25-kg-drum. Kao Ambroxan at Perfumer’s Apprentice tops out at USD 1,097 for 1 kg. The dominant structural story of the past decade is the shift from semi-synthesis out of clary-sage-derived sclareol toward biotechnological (fermentation and biocatalytic) routes pioneered by Firmenich and Givaudan, which decouple the molecule from agricultural sclareol supply and underpin “100% renewable carbon” marketing. Demand is driven by the ubiquity of the ambery-woody note in fine fragrance and functional fragrance (laundry, home care) and by sustainability and vegan substitution away from natural ambergris.
Furthermore, the above price quotations of ambroxide powder do not include the express fee. The reason is that the shipment cost may exceed the sample value of ambroxide. However, the wholesale prices for ambroxide powder will be much lower than for small orders. Please contact us for more details.
Ambroxide Specification
| Appearance | White crystalline powder |
| Odor: | Ambergris sweet, labdanum dry. |
| Purity (GC, %) | >=99 |
| Loss on Drying (%) | <=0.5 |
| Ash (%) | <=0.3 |
| Total Heavy Metals (as Pb, mg/kg) | <=10.0 |
| Optical Specific Rotation (20°C) | -21o – -24o (C=1, 95% ethanol solution) |
| Solubility | 1ml sample is dissolved in 10ml 100% ethanol |
Ambroxide Uses
Ambroxide is highly tenacious and substantive. It clings to skin, fabric, and hard surfaces and persists for many hours, which is the basis of its role as a fixative. These properties make the molecule valuable both as a featured ingredient and as a behind-the-scenes performance booster.
Fine Fragrance
The most prominent use of ambroxan powder is in fine fragrance, where it serves simultaneously as a base note and a fixative. As a base note, it contributes the warm, ambery, skin-like character that gives many contemporary perfumes their depth and sensuality. As a fixative, it anchors more volatile top and heart notes, slowing their evaporation and extending the fragrance’s longevity on the skin. Perfumers use it in two broad ways: as a discreet foundation that adds warmth, diffusion, and longevity without announcing itself, and as a deliberately prominent feature that showcases its clean, radiant character.
Functional Fragrance and Home Care
Beyond fine fragrance, ambroxan powder is used in very large volumes in functional fragrance, the scenting of everyday consumer products. Its stability and strong affinity for fabric make it especially valuable in laundry detergents and fabric softeners, where it survives the wash cycle and deposits onto textiles, leaving a lasting, clean, ambery impression on dried clothing. The same durability suits it to all-purpose cleaners, dishwashing products, soaps, and air fresheners. It is also widely used in scented candles and reed diffusers, where its tenacity and diffusive warmth help a scent fill and persist in a room.
Flavour and Food Applications
A smaller but established use of ambroxide powder is as a flavouring agent in the food and tobacco industries. It holds recognized food-flavouring status and is used, in modest quantities, to contribute warm, ambery, and woody nuances to certain flavour compositions.
Personal Care and Cosmetics
Ambroxide is a common ingredient in the fragrance components of personal-care and cosmetic products. It is found in body lotions and creams, deodorants and antiperspirants, shampoos and conditioners, shower gels and bar soaps, and shaving and aftershave products.
Ambroxide as an Ambergris Substitute
A defining reason for the molecule’s widespread adoption is its role as an ethical and practical replacement for natural ambergris. Natural ambergris is scarce, expensive, variable in quality, and ethically and legally problematic because of its origin, whereas ambroxan provides a comparable olfactory effect consistently and at scale. As consumer and brand preferences have shifted toward sustainable, vegan, and cruelty-free ingredients.
Ambroxide Benefits
The benefits of ambroxide are unusually well aligned across the interests it serves. It delivers superior longevity, substantivity, stability, and efficiency to the formulator.
Performance Benefits
The most important benefits of ambroxan are functional, and they explain its value to anyone formulating a scented product.
Foremost is longevity. Ambroxide powder is a powerful fixative that resists evaporation and clings tenaciously to skin, fabric, and hard surfaces, so it anchors more volatile ingredients and extends the life of a fragrance for many hours. This directly addresses one of the most common consumer complaints about scented products, namely that the fragrance fades too quickly.
Closely related is substantivity, the tendency to deposit on and adhere to a surface. Ambroxide’s strong affinity for skin and textiles means that its warm, ambery impression persists after application and, in the case of laundry products, remains perceptible on dried clothing long after washing.
A further benefit is potency at low concentration. Because the molecule is effective in small amounts, a little delivers a pronounced and lasting effect, which is efficient both in formulation and in cost terms.
Sensory Benefits
Beyond measurable performance, ambroxide offers distinct sensory advantages. Its odour is warm, dry, woody, and ambery, with clean, slightly musky facets that are frequently likened to the scent of clean skin. This gives products a sensation of sophistication, warmth, and cleanliness that consumers find appealing and that reads as both intimate and refined.
Ethical and Sustainability Benefits
One of the most significant benefits of ambroxan is that it provides an ethical alternative to natural ambergris. Natural ambergris originates from the sperm whale, and its harvesting and trade are ethically fraught and, in some jurisdictions, legally restricted. Ambroxide delivers a comparable olfactory effect without any animal-derived material, which makes it suitable for vegan and cruelty-free products and removes any dependence on a marine mammal.
Economic and Supply Benefits
Ambroxide carries clear commercial advantages. It is far more cost-effective than natural ambergris, which is scarce, expensive, and unpredictable in both availability and quality. Because ambroxan is manufactured rather than gathered, its supply is reliable and scalable, and it does not depend on chance discoveries or on a single natural source.
Regulatory and Formulation Benefits
From a compliance and handling standpoint, ambroxide is a convenient material to work with. It is broadly permitted in fragrance applications and, at present, is not subject to any specific usage restrictions under the International Fragrance Association’s standards, which simplifies its incorporation relative to more tightly restricted materials. It also holds recognized food-flavouring status for its minor use as a flavouring agent.
A Fragrance with a Cologne-style Profile Using Ambroxide
Include the following ingredients (by weight):
Musk-scented compound, 6%; Roman Musk, 10%; Galaxolide, 15%; Ambroxide, 25%; Eugenol, 10%; Iso E Super, 10%; Helional, 10%; Floralozone, 8%; Nerolin, 4%; Cis-3-hexenol, 2%.
Musk-scented compound: 1-(1-(1-(3,3-dimethylcyclohexyl)ethyl)-4-methyl-2,3-bis(methylamino)succinate.
In conclusion, ambroxide powder has made it indispensable to the tobacco, food, flavour, fragrance, personal care, fabric care, and scented candle industries. As a bulk ambroxide manufacturer and supplier in China, we offer various grades of ambroxan powder at wholesale prices to clients worldwide.