Para-nitrophenol is not a standard perfumery material — it's an industrial chemical with a faint sweet, phenolic, slightly medicinal odor reminiscent of carbolic or old-fashioned disinfectant with a balsamic edge. It is toxic and not used in modern fragrance formulation.AI · claude-opus-4-7
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Perfume and Flavor Chemicals, page 1011.
Colorless crystals
1.6% soluble in water, 30% soluble in hot water, soluble in alcohol and oils
Warm-medicinal, sweet 'phenolic'-tarry odor of considerable tenacity
Although mentioned repeatedly in older and a few modern perfumery literature, this material could be considered as obsolete in perfumery.
1) Nitration of Phenol gives a mixture of para- and ortho-Nitrophenol, mainly para. The ortho-isomer is volatile with steam and can be almost quantitatively removed from the mixture. 2) by Nitration of para-Toluenesulfonic ester of Phenol, followed by hydrolysis is obtained a fairly pure material.