Allylix, a specialty chemicals company in San Diego, has reported about the development and commercialization of Epivone, which is a rare and high-valued terpene. Primarily, the company will commercialize the use of Epivone in fragrance applications.
The structure of Epivone is associated to beta-vetivone, which is one of the main constituents of vetiver oil. There has been no commercial availability of Epivone, as it cannot be artificially manufactured in a cost effective way. Allylix has used its own biosynthetic production processes and has produced a highly purified form of Epivone. The company has received important intellectual property related to Epivone, which includes a number of recently issued patents.
Many prominent perfumers have tested the Epivone compound, which has good strength and character at 1% dilution and a fragrance described as cassis, vetiver, woody, rich yet fruity and offers a grapefruit effect. Qualified perfumers have identified that Epivone stays for approximately 500 hours on a perfumer blotter and can be used in cologne, personal care and hair care fragrance applications.
Carolyn Fritz, CEO of Allylix stated that Epivone is a highly valuable component. The company is expecting to be the only commercial provider of Epivone, as it has the patents that claim the fragrance and its manufacturing process.
The fermentation technology platform of the biotechnology firm has allowed it to create various high-value terpenes and specialty chemicals for several industries. The company is expecting the first commercial production of Epivone in the Q3 of 2012.