Benzophenone

What Benzophenone smells like

Benzophenone has a faint, sweet rose odour with a light herbal, geranium-like nuance, in several industry references; one retailer calls it powdery rose and sharp geranium with a plastic-metallic edge. Arctander, as quoted, notes its extensive use for sweet-woody-geranium notes in low-cost fragrances and soap perfumes, and as a fixative whose effect is perceptible mainly in mixtures with lower-boiling materials. One glossary considers its odour too weak to matter.

Leading note

Faint sweet rose

Supporting facets

Geranium

Faint facets

Woody, metallic

Character

Faint, sweet, tenacious

• sweet
• rosy
• geranium
• balsamic

What makes Benzophenone distinctive

A rose-geranium fixative so faint that its effect shows mainly in what it holds.

Where the descriptions disagree: One glossary calls its odour barely detectable and not used for its scent; Arctander records extensive use for sweet-woody-geranium notes.

How Benzophenone is used

Used historically as a fixative in soap and low-cost perfumes for sweet rose-geranium notes. Its regulatory status should be checked before use.

Typical role: fixative (slow to evaporate; helps a blend last and holds lighter notes).

How Benzophenone differs from similar materials

Phenylethyl Benzoate

Both are faint fixatives for the heavy end of a floral; phenylethyl benzoate leans towards honey, benzophenone towards geranium.

Rose Oxide

Rose oxide is a powerful, metallic-green geranium-rose top note; benzophenone is a faint rose-geranium fixative.

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.

Formulation considerations

A solid that must be dissolved. Its regulatory status in cosmetics has been reviewed in some markets; check the current position before use.

Identity and classification

Type

Aroma chemical

Origin

Synthetic

Odour family

Floral / Resinous

Note position

Base note

Physical form at room temperature

Solid

Also known as

Diphenylmethanone

CAS number

119-61-9

Molecular formula

C13H10O

Molecular weight

182.22 g/mol

IUPAC name

diphenylmethanone

The CAS number, formula and molecular weight are taken from PubChem compound 3102, 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. It has a harmonised EU classification (Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008, Annex VI): H350 may cause cancer. Companies notifying the ECHA C&L Inventory classify it (4,790 reports): H411 toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects (74.8% of reports); H373 may causes damage to organs through prolonged or repeated exposure (37.4% of reports). 84 of the reports find it does not meet the hazard criteria. 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

• Geranium Oil

  Essential oil · Floral / Green — rosy, green, minty, fresh

• Phenylethyl Alcohol

  Aroma chemical · Floral / Green — rose, honeyed, soft, floral

• Diphenyl Oxide

  Aroma chemical · Floral / Green — geranium, rosy, metallic, green

• Benzyl Benzoate

  Solvent or carrier · No odour family — faint, balsamic

Used in formulas and accords

Not currently used in any published formula.

The Formula & Accord Library lists Benzophenone here as soon as a published formula, accord or base uses it.

Further reading

• Perfume Fixatives Explained: What They Do and What They Don't

  What fixatives are in perfumery, how low-volatility materials change evaporation and longevity, and the myths worth dropping before you formulate.

• Perfume Materials by Odor Family: A Formulator's Palette Map

  Which materials build each odor family — citrus, floral, woody, amber, musk and more — their usual roles, what to watch for, and links to each in depth.

Questions about Benzophenone

Sources

• PubChem — compound 3102, checked 19 October 2026.
• PubChem — GHS classification (the ECHA C&L Inventory notifications and any harmonised EU entry), read 26 October 2026.
• The Good Scents Company — benzophenone (with Arctander) — odour database.
• Fraterworks — benzophenone crystals — distributor's description.
• Premiere Peau — Benzophenone — published perfumery reference.
• 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.