Indole

What Indole smells like

Indole is among the most concentration-dependent odorants, in a perfumery glossary: below roughly a tenth of a percent in a formula it reads as a dense, narcotic, creamy floral — the nocturnal weight of jasmine — while neat it is faecal. A forum post quoting a perfume book calls the textbook 'faecal, floral in dilution' formula an oversimplification: both indole and skatole smell faecal in faeces and floral in flowers, and a synthetic jasmine with matching indole can still smell of mothballs where natural jasmine does not.

Leading note

Narcotic indolic

Clear facets

Creamy floral

Supporting facets

Faecal, neat

Faint facets

Mothball

Character

Heavy, narcotic, animalic

• animalic
• indolic
• floral
• narcotic

What makes Indole distinctive

The heart of white flowers and of decay alike — what makes jasmine heady rather than pretty.

Concentration and dilution

Faecal neat; a dense, narcotic, creamy floral at low levels in a formula.

How Indole is used

Used in traces in jasmine, tuberose, orange blossom, narcissus and other white-floral accords.

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

How Indole differs from similar materials

Skatole*

Skatole is more purely faecal, and sources disagree whether it ever turns floral; indole is the narcotic floral heart. (compared directly by a cited source)

Narcissus Absolute*

Narcissus owes part of its narcotic heaviness to indole, with green, honey and hay around it. (compared directly by a cited source)

Jasmine Sambac Absolute

Jasmine sambac carries indole inside a fresh, fruity-green floral; indole alone is the narcotic, animal core.

Indolarome

Indolarome (Indoflor) is a synthetic acetal used in its place: indolic and civet-like with leathery nuances, reported to discolour less than indole.

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

A crystalline solid; dissolve before use and dose from dilution. It discolours, turning pink to brown, especially with light and some materials.

Identity and classification

Type

Aroma chemical

Origin

Occurs in nature

Odour family

Animalic / Floral

Note position

Heart to base note

Physical form at room temperature

Solid

CAS number

120-72-9

Molecular formula

C8H7N

Molecular weight

117.15 g/mol

IUPAC name

1H-indole

The CAS number, formula and molecular weight are taken from PubChem compound 798, 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 classify it (1,996 reports): H302 harmful if swallowed (100% of reports); H311 toxic in contact with skin (99% of reports); H318 causes serious eye damage (11.6% of 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

• Jasmine Absolute (Grandiflorum)

  Absolute · Floral / Animalic — jasmine, floral, indolic, fruity

• Benzyl Acetate

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

• Methyl Anthranilate

  Aroma chemical · Floral / Fruity — orange blossom, grape, sweet, floral

• Orange Flower Absolute

  Absolute · Floral / Animalic — orange blossom, honeyed, indolic, floral

Indole is also suggested as a partner on the pages for Decanoic Acid, Indolarome, Indolene, Jessemal, p-Cresyl Methyl Ether and Skatole.

Used in formulas and accords

Used in 6 published formulas

Indole is an ingredient in 4 perfume formulas and 2 accords in the Formula & Accord Library.

Community formulas

• Lilac Accord

  Community Formula · Accord

RUŌOD House Originals

Original compositions by RUŌOD House.

• Feral Jasmine Accord

  RUŌOD House Accord · listed as “Indole 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Musk Cartouche

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

• Narcissus Hay Loft

  RUŌOD House Creation · listed as “Indole 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Night Jasmine Foundry

  RUŌOD House Creation · listed as “Indole 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

• Orange Blossom Den

  RUŌOD House Creation · listed as “Indole 10% DPG”, at 10% in DPG

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.

• Animalic Notes in Perfumery: From Civet to Synthetics

  The classic animal materials — musk, civet, castoreum, ambergris — why they went, and how indole, skatole and synthetic bases recreate animalic warmth.

• Dissolving Solid Aroma Chemicals: Solvents, Crystals and Cold Tests

  How to dissolve vanillin, coumarin, musks and other crystalline materials: choosing a solvent, method, cold tests, and keeping crystals out of the perfume.

Questions about Indole

Sources

• PubChem — compound 798, checked 19 October 2026.
• PubChem — GHS classification (the ECHA C&L Inventory notifications and any harmonised EU entry), read 26 October 2026.
• Premiere Peau — Indole — published perfumery reference.
• Basenotes — Indole (forum, quoting a perfume book) — published perfumery reference.
• Bioshop — Indole — distributor's description.
• Olfactory profile: the RUŌOD Lab team's synthesis of the published descriptions above, reviewed 24 October 2026. Evidence: more than one published description. Classification and the short description: revision 1. Descriptions of odour are judgement, not measurement.