Montreal Gazette - Storax facts: From perfume to styrofoam

(Chemistry prof Joe Schwarcz:)

"I had never heard of "storax" until the word caught my ear while watching Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Based on Patrick Suskind's 1985 novel, it's a fascinating film, especially for anyone interested in chemistry.

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a man who has no body odour himself, becomes obsessed with smells and dreams of creating the "perfect" perfume. Believing the ideal ingredient to be the scent of young virgins, Grenouille embarks on a murderous rampage to collect the prized ingredient.

Using a perfumer's technique commonly applied to botanical matter known as "cold enfleurage," he wraps the murdered women in linen soaked in animal fat. Their fragrance diffuses into the fat, from where he proceeds to extract it with alcohol…"