Anisylacetone

What Anisylacetone smells like

Anisylacetone (4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2-butanone, also called raspberry ketone methyl ether) is intensely sweet, floral and fruity, with a cherry-raspberry flavour at low concentration. Sigma-Aldrich lists cherry, floral, raspberry and sweet; Symrise adds anise and a rose nuance. At 5% it reads sweet, fruity, woody, powdery, honey, vanilla, raspberry and ionone-like. It occurs in anise and makes up much of the odorous fraction of aloeswood.

Leading note

Sweet cherry-raspberry

Clear facets

Floral

Supporting facets

Anise

Faint facets

Powdery, ionone-like, rose

Character

Sweet, fruity, soft

• sweet
• fruity
• cherry
• floral

What makes Anisylacetone distinctive

Berry with a floral and anisic edge — fruitier than the anisyl materials and more floral and anise-tinged than raspberry ketone.

How Anisylacetone is used

Used in fruity-floral and berry compositions and in cherry and raspberry flavours.

Typical role: modifier (used in small amounts to change the character of a blend).

How Anisylacetone differs from similar materials

Dulcinyl

Dulcinyl is raspberry jam and cotton candy with a powdery heliotrope finish; anisylacetone is cherry-raspberry with floral and anise notes.

Raspberry Ketone

Raspberry ketone is plainer raspberry jam, woody and seedy; anisylacetone, its methyl ether, adds floral and anise notes and cherry.

Each difference compares the published descriptions of the two materials. Smell varies with grade, supplier and dilution; compare them side by side on blotters before substituting one for another.

Identity and classification

Type

Aroma chemical

Origin

Synthetic

Odour family

Fruity / Floral

Note position

Heart note

Physical form at room temperature

Liquid

Also known as

4-(4-Methoxyphenyl)butan-2-one, Frambinone methyl ether

CAS number

104-20-1

Molecular formula

C11H14O2

Molecular weight

178.23 g/mol

IUPAC name

4-(4-methoxyphenyl)butan-2-one

The CAS number, formula and molecular weight are taken from PubChem compound 61007, whose own record lists this CAS number; checked 19 October 2026.

Safety and compliance

Hazard classification of the neat substance, as PubChem summarises it, read 26 October 2026. Companies notifying the ECHA C&L Inventory report it as not meeting the GHS hazard criteria (1,567 of 1,572 reports). Unless it is harmonised, this is the notifiers' own classification, not a binding one.

This page is general information, not a safety assessment or a specification. Confirm identity, composition, IFRA status and allergen content from your supplier's documents for the lot you hold.

Materials it works with

• Raspberry Ketone

  Aroma chemical · Fruity / Gourmand — raspberry, fruity, sweet, jammy

• Anisaldehyde

  Aroma chemical · Powdery / Floral — anisic, hawthorn, floral, sweet

• Heliotropin

  Aroma chemical · Powdery / Gourmand — powdery, almond, vanilla, floral

• Benzaldehyde

  Aroma chemical · Gourmand / Fruity — almond, cherry, sweet

Used in formulas and accords

Used in 3 published formulas

Anisylacetone is an ingredient in 1 perfume formula and 2 accords in the Formula & Accord Library.

Community formulas

• Cherry Accord

  Community Formula · Accord · listed as “Anisyl Acetone (CAS: 104-20-1)”

• Strawberry Banana Milkshake Accord

  Community Formula · Accord · listed as “Anisyl Acetone”

RUŌOD House Originals

Original compositions by RUŌOD House.

• Cherry Lacquer

  RUŌOD House Creation

Further reading

• Fruity Notes in Perfumery: Esters, Lactones and Ketones

  How fruit is built in perfumery from esters, lactones, ketones and sulfur materials, why 'C-14' is a lactone, dosage, stability and restrictions.

Questions about Anisylacetone

Sources

• PubChem — compound 61007, checked 19 October 2026.
• PubChem — GHS classification (the ECHA C&L Inventory notifications and any harmonised EU entry), read 26 October 2026.
• ChemicalBook — 4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2-butanone (CAS 104-20-1) — odour database.
• The Good Scents Company — anisylacetone (with Symrise's description) — odour database.
• Olfactory profile: the RUŌOD Lab team's synthesis of the published descriptions above, reviewed 20 October 2026. Evidence: more than one published description. Classification and the short description: revision 1. Descriptions of odour are judgement, not measurement.