Magnolan gets a facelift    
 
Magnolan is definitely one of the molecules I'd take with me if I had to be stranded on a desert island: I find it so pleasing and rounded and sunny, even all by itself. 
 
Part of that roundedness, it has emerged, is because magnolan actually contains *multiple* isomers which (surprise surprise) all smell fairly different. This will be no shock to those who frequent Leffingwell's insightful archives, but is definitely not obvious when smelling normal magnolan.
 
Neomagnolan, which is the rel-(2R, 4R, 4aR, 9bS) isomer, is the concentrated, fresh, grapefruit-rose part of the OG magnolan. More sheer and transparent, it both graces with lightly veiled rosiness and pierces with acerbic sourness.
 
Check back for a newsletter soon, where I'll say more about how Symrise managed to diastereomerically enrich this already loved material, removing the slightly plastic note and placing it among perfumery greats like Paradisone and Arborone.