What Is Sandalwood? Scent, Origin and Chemistry of Santalum album

In short: Sandalwood is the fragrant heartwood of trees of the genus Santalum. The most famous is the white sandalwood tree, Santalum album, from India, whose oil became world-famous as Mysore sandalwood. It smells soft, creamy and milky-woody, quite unlike any other wood. Its scent comes mainly from two forms of santalol, which together make up around 90 percent of the oil. Because the Indian stands were overharvested, sandalwood today comes mostly from Australia or is recreated with synthetic aroma molecules.

Few scents are as ancient and at the same time as modern as sandalwood. In India it has accompanied temples, rituals and everyday life for thousands of years, and in perfumery it is one of the most important base notes of all. In this article you will learn where sandalwood comes from, how it smells, what chemistry reveals about its scent and what to look for whenever a label says "sandalwood."

What is sandalwood?

Sandalwood comes from small, slow-growing trees of the genus Santalum. They are hemiparasites: their roots tap into the roots of neighboring trees for extra nourishment. The fragrant parts are mainly the heartwood at the center of the trunk and the roots. Over the years this wood becomes dense, takes on a beautiful brown hue and fills with essential oil that keeps its scent for years after the tree is felled.

Around 16 species of sandalwood grow across a vast region stretching from India to Hawaii. All share the recognizable sandalwood character, yet their oils smell different:

Species	Origin	Scent profile
Santalum album (white or East Indian sandalwood)	India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia to Timor; today also plantations in northern Australia	creamy, milky, softly woody; considered the king of sandalwoods
Santalum spicatum (Australian sandalwood)	Western Australia	sweet and woody, but without the complex milky facets of Indian sandalwood
other Santalum species	New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga	their own nuances with the recognizable sandalwood character

Beware of one name: so-called West Indian sandalwood oil is not sandalwood oil at all. It comes from the amyris tree (Amyris balsamifera) of the Caribbean, has a different composition and smells different.

What does sandalwood smell like?

Genuine sandalwood oil smells milky and creamy, with a slightly sweet, almost lactonic softness unlike any other wood. Alongside it there is a fine, smoky dryness reminiscent of cedarwood. Perfumers describe the scent as velvety, warm and balsamic-sweet. It recalls warm skin and even a hint of rose petals.

Its calm is just as typical: sandalwood never pushes itself forward. It unfolds slowly, lasts a long time on the skin and supports other notes without covering them. How long sandalwood can keep its scent is shown by an observation from Australia: a piece of freshly dug sandalwood root was still releasing its fragrance four years later.

Where does sandalwood come from? The story of Mysore sandalwood

Sandalwood is one of the oldest raw materials in perfumery. It is already mentioned in the Indian epic Ramayana and has been used for over 4,000 years. In India, sandalwood is still deeply rooted in daily life: in religious ceremonies, in wood carving, in soaps. Burning whole pieces of wood, however, was and remains a luxury only the very wealthy can afford.

The heartland was today's state of Karnataka, south of the city of Mysore. In 1792 Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore, declared sandalwood a "royal tree" and claimed its trade for himself. This state monopoly lasted until recent times and prevented private individuals from planting new trees. In 1916 the Maharaja of Mysore had a large distillery built to make use of the wood left unsold during the First World War. That is how the oil became world-famous as Mysore sandalwood, with a reputation comparable to that of Bulgarian rose oil.

Why is sandalwood so rare and expensive?

Success proved fatal for the tree. Until 1960, around 3,000 tons of sandalwood were felled in Mysore every year, even though the stands were visibly shrinking. For 2010, official figures report only 45 tons. On top of that came theft and black-market trade: armed gangs cut down entire stands on farms in southern India at night. Santalum album is now on the IUCN Red List of threatened species, and India has severely restricted the export of wood and oil.

Plantations offer a way out. In northwestern Australia, around the town of Kununurra, thousands of hectares of Santalum album have been growing since the early 2000s. Within 15 years, around 10,000 hectares of sandalwood plantations emerged there, each planted together with suitable host trees. The trees are harvested after about 15 years, earlier than in India, where growers traditionally waited 40 to 50 years. They are dug up together with their rootstock, because the root is the part richest in oil. India has since relaxed its laws, so private plantations are possible there again.

How is sandalwood oil made?

The essential oil is obtained by steam distillation of the chipped heartwood. Hot steam flows through the wood and carries the aroma molecules with it, which separate from the water after cooling. The yield is about 4 to 6.5 percent. To make it worthwhile, the trees traditionally have to be at least 30 years old. The oil is slightly viscous, almost colorless to yellowish, and is considered one of the most valuable and stable fixatives in perfumery, meaning a material that holds more volatile notes in place for longer.

On modern plantations, the rootstock, trunk and branches are distilled separately and blended afterward, because each part of the tree yields a slightly different oil. Young wood, for example, emphasizes the milky side of the scent.

The chemistry of sandalwood: what are santalols?

Sandalwood oil consists almost entirely of closely related sesquiterpenes, a group of natural compounds with 15 carbon atoms. The leading roles are played by two alcohols, the alpha and the beta form of santalol. Together they account for around 90 percent of the oil.

• Alpha-santalol is the most abundant component at 45 to 47 percent, but its odor is rather weak and contributes dry, cedar-like facets.
• Beta-santalol makes up only 20 to 25 percent, yet it is considered the true carrier of the sandalwood scent. Besides its woody, milky character, it also brings a slightly animalic tone.

The history of this research is fascinating. In 1910 the chemist Friedrich Wilhelm Semmler elucidated the structure of alpha-santalol, the very first structure elucidation of a sesquiterpene alcohol. Around 25 years later, Leopold Ruzicka and his team deciphered the structure of beta-santalol. The first complete synthesis did not follow until 1990. It revealed a detail typical of fragrance chemistry: only one of the two mirror-image forms of beta-santalol has a scent, while the other is odorless.

Besides the santalols, the oil contains around 70 other known components. Some traces strongly shape the overall impression: a compound called furfurylpyrrole, which also plays a role in the aroma of coffee, is considered one of the most important supporting players. Eugenol, known from cloves, and related compounds provide the slightly smoky side.

How the tree produces its aroma molecules was worked out in 2013 by a research team from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and the University of Western Australia in Perth. The researchers found a family of enzymes in the sandalwood tree that turn low-odor precursors, the santalenes, into the fragrant santalols. When they introduced the genes into yeast, the yeast did indeed produce santalols. However, it mainly produced a form that plays only a minor role in the natural oil. So nature has not yet given away its full recipe. The researchers see their work as a first step toward producing sandalwood scent with yeast in the future.

Synthetic sandalwood: how chemists recreate the scent

Because genuine Mysore sandalwood is barely available anymore, most sandalwood accords today are built from synthetic aroma molecules. These molecules are not identical to the santalols. Molecular models show, however, that their shapes are so similar that they apparently activate the same olfactory receptors. The most important groups are:

Group	Examples (trade names)	Distinctive feature
Terpenyl cyclohexanols	Sandela, Sandiff, Santalex	the oldest group, over 1,000 tons per year
Campholenal derivatives	Sandalore, Bacdanol, Polysantol, Ebanol, Javanol	made from pinene, a building block of pine resin; powerful and natural-smelling
Nature-identical beta-santalol	produced synthetically	the same molecule as in the oil, as a mixture of both mirror-image forms

The most powerful of them is Javanol. Its odor threshold is around 25 times lower than that of natural beta-santalol, so even the tiniest amounts in the air can be perceived. One fragrance that shows what these materials can do is "Wonderwood" (Comme des Garçons, 2010): in it, Antoine Lie combined Javanol with the related Pashminol to create a dense, almost overdosed wood note.

Real or not? What to look for in sandalwood oil

Where a raw material is rare and expensive, it is often diluted. For oil from Santalum album there is an international standard (ISO 3518) that requires, among other things, a minimum content of 41 percent alpha-santalol. In 2021, a research team from the Medical University of Lodz in Poland analyzed six oils sold as sandalwood oil. The result was sobering: none met the standard. Only a single one contained the santalols typical of Santalum album at all, and even this one fell just short of the minimum for alpha-santalol. Three samples apparently came from the amyris tree, and two were synthetic blends. The label information was correct for only three of the six products.

What this means for you:

• Check the botanical name: Reputable suppliers state the species, such as Santalum album or Santalum spicatum, and the origin.
• Put the price in context: Genuine sandalwood oil is precious. A strikingly cheap "pure sandalwood oil" deserves skepticism.
• Synthetics are no flaw: Synthetic sandalwood notes are standard in perfumery and spare the trees. What matters is an honest statement of what the product contains.

Sandalwood in perfume: what does it pair with?

Sandalwood is a classic base note. It fixes, binds and gives a fragrance depth and warmth. Perfumers particularly value it as the foundation of rich oriental compositions. Proven partners include:

• Rose: the most important pairing of all. Rose and sandalwood merge into a velvety scent, one example being "10 Corso Como" (1999). Learn more about the queen of flowers in our article Why is rose oil so expensive?
• Flowers and herbs: carnation and lavender
• Freshness: bergamot, which brightens the creamy wood
• Sweetness and creaminess: tonka bean and vanilla. A proven accord for a creamy sandalwood consists of 10 parts sandalwood, 2 parts tonka bean and 0.5 parts vanilla (total 12.5 parts).
• Resins and woods: frankincense, labdanum and oud, with which sandalwood ranks among the traditional scents of the Orient

Is sandalwood listed on the label?

Yes, for perfumes and other cosmetics it may be. Since Regulation (EU) 2023/1545, both santalol and sandalwood oil (Santalum Album Oil) are among the fragrance substances that must be listed individually as potential allergens in the ingredient list. This applies when their content exceeds 0.001 percent in products that stay on the skin and 0.01 percent in rinse-off products. Newly placed products must comply with the rule since July 31, 2026, while older products may still be sold until July 31, 2028. The same deadlines apply in Switzerland. The International Fragrance Association (IFRA) also limits certain synthetic sandalwood materials: for Sandalore, for example, the maximum in perfumes is 1.2 percent (as of October 2026).

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

What does sandalwood smell like?

Sandalwood smells soft, creamy and milky-woody, slightly sweet and balsamic, with a fine smoky dryness. Many people experience the scent as warm and close to the skin.

What is Mysore sandalwood?

This is the name of the oil from Santalum album from the region around Mysore in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is considered the classic and finest sandalwood oil, but because the stands were overharvested it is barely available anymore.

What is the difference between Indian and Australian sandalwood?

Australian sandalwood in the strict sense comes from Santalum spicatum. It smells sweet and woody but lacks the complex milky facets of Indian Santalum album. Today, however, Santalum album is also grown on large plantations in Australia.

Is the sandalwood in perfumes real?

Usually not exclusively. Most sandalwood notes today are built entirely or partly from synthetic aroma molecules such as Javanol, Ebanol or Polysantol, often complemented by genuine oil. This spares the threatened trees.

Why is sandalwood oil so expensive?

The trees grow slowly, the oil sits mainly in the heartwood and roots, and the yield is only about 4 to 6.5 percent. On top of that, the natural stands in India have shrunk dramatically due to overharvesting and theft.

Conclusion

Sandalwood is a scent with a long and eventful history: India's sacred tree, a treasure of perfumery, a victim of its own success and today an example of how plantations and chemistry are rethinking a threatened raw material. Once you know its creamy, calm character, you will recognize it in many fragrances, whether as genuine oil or as an artfully recreated note.

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Sources

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