question about 'orange oil'

[Saponomancer]

My mother is a chemist who formulates industrial cleaners, and shes suggested using d'limonene, when I lamented about how hard it is to get a orange scent to stick.

I've done a few searches both on google and here in the forum, and so far all I've been able to find out is that its great as a grease cutter, but nothing about safe usage rates, or behavior in cold process soaps

Does anyone have experience with it?

 

[doriettefarm]

Is this the same stuff you're talking about?
http://www.lushusa.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Lush-Site/en_US/Lushopedia-Start?iid=10164

 

[galaxyMLP]

It is not on the list of restricted oils for the ifra. Hope that helps!

 

[Saponomancer]

A quick peek at wikapedia seems to indicate that d'limonene is a specific variant/derivative of limonene?

 

[galaxyMLP]

Yes, the details in the fragrance material specifications refer to d-limonene and l limonene. If I recall correctly it refers to the "handed-ness" of the molecule. Isomers can sometimes come in pairs and occur as mixtures in the environment. Sometimes in equal amounts other times not. If I was to guess, in the case of d-limonene it has to do with double bond orientation.


Eta:
Interesting fact: the body often times uses only one isomer b/c the enzymes in our body are only made to interact with one orientation of the molecule. This is why you will sometimes see the "same" drug in pharmaceuticals come out when the patent expires. A lot of times they learn to isolate the "active" isomer and remove the inactive one. In some cases this can greatly reduce side effects. In nature, compounds do not always exist as 50/50 mixes because they are made by enzymes that already have a preferred orientation. In the lab, things are often in 50/50 mixes called racemic mixtures.

Eta 2:

A quick look at Wikipedia confirms this. The common environmental form is d-limonene (mainly found in lime/lemon). However, when produced in a lab, both d- and l- limonene are produced in a racemic (50/50) mixture.