Benzylacetone

What Benzylacetone smells like

Benzylacetone is a sweet, flowery ketone with balsamic and herbal facets. It is described as the most abundant attractant compound in many flowers, and occurs in cocoa. Supplier listings use floral-balsamic and floral-herbal, one adding jasmine and benzyl-acetate-like; a perfumery text quoted by The Good Scents Company describes a floral-green odour, fresher and more lasting than benzyl acetate. A fruity, strawberry-like taste is noted in one listing.

Leading note

Sweet floral

Supporting facets

Balsamic, jasmine, herbal green

Faint facets

Strawberry

Character

Sweet, fresh, soft

• sweet
• floral
• jasmine
• fruity

What makes Benzylacetone distinctive

A fresher, more lasting take on the benzyl-acetate jasmine — floral-green rather than pear-fruity.

How Benzylacetone is used

Used in floral compositions — jasmine and other white florals — for a fresh, sweet floral body, and to scent soap.

Typical role: blender (smooths the joins between other materials).

How Benzylacetone differs from similar materials

Benzyl Acetate*

A perfumery text describes benzylacetone as floral-green, fresher and more lasting than benzyl acetate, which is sweeter and fruitier. (compared directly by a cited source)

An asterisk marks a difference that a cited source states directly. The others compare the published descriptions of each material. 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

Occurs in nature

Odour family

Floral / Fruity

Note position

Heart note

Physical form at room temperature

Liquid

Also known as

4-Phenylbutan-2-one

CAS number

2550-26-7

Molecular formula

C10H12O

Molecular weight

148.2 g/mol

IUPAC name

4-phenylbutan-2-one

The CAS number, formula and molecular weight are taken from PubChem compound 17355, 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 (1,571 of 1,619 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

• Benzyl Acetate

  Aroma chemical · Floral / Fruity — jasmine, fruity, pear, sweet

• Hedione

  Aroma chemical · Floral / Citrus — jasmine, transparent, citrus, airy

• Hexyl Cinnamal

  Aroma chemical · Floral / Powdery — jasmine, floral, waxy, herbal

• Raspberry Ketone

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

Used in formulas and accords

Used in 1 published formula

Benzylacetone is an ingredient in 1 base in the Formula & Accord Library.

• Cranberry Base

  Community Formula · Base · listed as “Benzyl Acetone”

Further reading

• White Floral Accords: Jasmine, Tuberose and Orange Blossom

  How jasmine, tuberose, orange blossom, gardenia and ylang-ylang accords are built — benzyl acetate, Hedione, indole, methyl anthranilate — and their pitfalls.

• 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 Benzylacetone

Sources

• PubChem — compound 17355, 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 — benzylacetone — odour database.
• Wikipedia — Benzylacetone — published perfumery reference.
• Parchem — benzyl acetone — distributor's description.
• 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.