Bourgeonal

What Bourgeonal smells like

Bourgeonal is a powerful, green-aquatic, aldehydic lily-of-the-valley material. Supplier sheets describe a fresh, watery muguet opening with a bright aldehydic edge, a clean watery-green character and a faint woody-sandalwood drydown. At high doses its watery, metallic muguet becomes sharper and almost cucumber-like, and one supplier advises evaluating it diluted because the neat aldehydic top can mislead.

Leading note

Watery aldehydic muguet

Clear facets

Green-aquatic

Supporting facets

Metallic

Faint facets

Woody-sandalwood drydown

Character

Powerful, watery, bright, sharp

• muguet
• aldehydic
• fresh
• green

What makes Bourgeonal distinctive

The most aldehydic and watery of the muguet aldehydes, with a metallic sharpness that turns cucumber-like when overdosed.

Concentration and dilution

Neat, the aldehydic top dominates; diluted it reads as fresh, watery lily of the valley. At high doses it becomes sharp and almost cucumber-like.

How Bourgeonal is used

Used in muguet accords and fresh florals; like other phenylpropanal muguet aldehydes it is unstable in harsh products, and one distributor has stopped stocking it because of its CMR classification.

Typical role: modifier (used in small amounts to change the character of a blend); lift (adds diffusion and radiance, especially at the top).

How Bourgeonal differs from similar materials

Florhydral

Florhydral is greener, with a hyacinth facet; Bourgeonal is more aldehydic and watery-aquatic.

Dupical

Dupical is a strong, transparent aldehydic muguet used as an enhancer; Bourgeonal is more watery and metallic, with a woody drydown.

Silvial*

One distributor offers Silvial as a replacement for Bourgeonal; Silvial is softer, with a citrus undertone. (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.

Formulation considerations

Strong; dose from a dilution. Covered by an IFRA Standard.

Identity and classification

Type

Aroma chemical

Origin

Synthetic

Odour family

Floral / Aldehydic

Note position

Top to heart note

Physical form at room temperature

Liquid

CAS number

18127-01-0

Molecular formula

C13H18O

Molecular weight

190.28 g/mol

IUPAC name

3-(4-tert-butylphenyl)propanal

The CAS number, formula and molecular weight are taken from PubChem compound 64832, whose own record lists this CAS number; checked 19 October 2026.

Safety and compliance

The IFRA Standards Library lists a Standard covering Bourgeonal:

• "p-tert-Butyldihydrocinnamaldehyde" — Restriction, 49th Amendment, published 2020-01

Limits differ by product category and are set out in the Standard itself; this page does not reproduce them. The list above reflects the library as read on 19 October 2026.

Hazard classification of the neat substance, as PubChem summarises it, read 26 October 2026. Companies notifying the ECHA C&L Inventory classify it (1,613 reports): H317 may cause an allergic skin reaction (99.8% of reports); H361 suspected of damaging fertility or the unborn child (91.6% of reports); H315 causes skin irritation (79.8% of reports); H373 may causes damage to organs through prolonged or repeated exposure (79.7% of reports); H412 harmful to aquatic life with long lasting effects (77.7% of reports); H411 toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects (20% of reports); H301 toxic if swallowed (19.2% of reports). 3 of the reports find it does not meet the hazard criteria. A skin sensitiser classification concerns handling the neat material and the dose in a finished product; the IFRA Standards, where they apply, set the limits. 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

• Hydroxycitronellal

  Aroma chemical · Floral / Green — muguet, floral, soft, sweet

• Florol

  Aroma chemical · Floral / Green — muguet, fresh, floral, clean

• Cyclamen Aldehyde

  Aroma chemical · Floral / Green — floral, green, watery, fresh

Bourgeonal is also suggested as a partner on the pages for Florhydral and Lilial.

Used in formulas and accords

Used in 2 published formulas

Bourgeonal is an ingredient in 1 perfume formula and 1 accord in the Formula & Accord Library.

Community formulas

• White Lily Accord

  Community Formula · Accord · listed as “BOURGEONAL”

RUŌOD House Originals

Original compositions by RUŌOD House.

• Bell Glass

  RUŌOD House Original · listed as “Bourgeonal 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

Further reading

• Building a Lily of the Valley (Muguet) Accord After Lilial and Lyral

  Why muguet is always an accord, what changed when Lilial and Lyral were prohibited in the EU, and how modern muguet accords are built and checked.

• 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 Bourgeonal

Sources

• PubChem — compound 64832, checked 19 October 2026.
• PubChem — GHS classification (the ECHA C&L Inventory notifications and any harmonised EU entry), read 26 October 2026.
• IFRA — Standards Library, read 19 October 2026.
• Parchem — Bourgeonal — distributor's description.
• Fraterworks — Bourgeonal — distributor's description.
• CHIMIA — muguet odorants (p-alkylphenylpropanals) — published literature.
• 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.