Phenylethyl Benzoate

What Phenylethyl Benzoate smells like

Phenylethyl benzoate is sweet, rose-like and honey-like, in ChemicalBook's description, and is used in trace amounts to fix honey and fruit flavours. In perfumery it is mainly a fixative and a blender for the heavier part of a fragrance, in carnation, neroli, rose and oriental bases. Parchem's specification gives soft rose, balsam, honey and floral.

Leading note

Sweet rose-honey

Supporting facets

Balsamic, honey

Character

Faint, soft, tenacious

• rosy
• balsamic
• honey
• faint

What makes Phenylethyl Benzoate distinctive

A quiet rose-honey fixative, blending the heavy end of a floral rather than leading it.

How Phenylethyl Benzoate is used

Used as a fixative and blender in carnation, neroli, rose and oriental bases, and in traces in honey and fruit flavours.

Typical role: fixative (slow to evaporate; helps a blend last and holds lighter notes); blender (smooths the joins between other materials).

How Phenylethyl Benzoate differs from similar materials

Phenylethyl Cinnamate

The cinnamate is a heavier, sweeter balsamic rose; the benzoate leans more towards honey.

Phenylethyl Alcohol

Phenylethyl alcohol is the light, fresh rose; its benzoate ester is a faint, tenacious rose-honey fixative.

Benzophenone

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

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

Floral / Resinous

Note position

Base note

Physical form at room temperature

Liquid

Also known as

Phenethyl benzoate

CAS number

94-47-3

Molecular formula

C15H14O2

Molecular weight

226.27 g/mol

IUPAC name

2-phenylethyl benzoate

The CAS number, formula and molecular weight are taken from PubChem compound 7194, 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 (150 reports): H411 toxic to aquatic life with long lasting effects (17.3% of reports). 124 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

• Phenylethyl Alcohol

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

• Benzyl Benzoate

  Solvent or carrier · No odour family — faint, balsamic

• Phenylethyl Phenylacetate

  Aroma chemical · Floral / Gourmand — honey, rose, balsamic

• Rose Oil (Rosa damascena)

  Essential oil · Floral / Fruity — rose, honeyed, spicy, fresh

Used in formulas and accords

Not currently used in any published formula.

The Formula & Accord Library lists Phenylethyl Benzoate 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 Phenylethyl Benzoate

Sources

• PubChem — compound 7194, checked 19 October 2026.
• PubChem — GHS classification (the ECHA C&L Inventory notifications and any harmonised EU entry), read 26 October 2026.
• ChemicalBook — phenethyl benzoate — odour database.
• Scent.vn — Phenethyl benzoate — odour database.
• Parchem — phenethyl benzoate specification — distributor's description.
• Olfactory profile: the RUŌOD Lab team's synthesis of the published descriptions above, reviewed 26 October 2026. Evidence: more than one published description. Classification and the short description: revision 1. Descriptions of odour are judgement, not measurement.