Triacetin

What Triacetin smells like

Triacetin is described in a chemical listing as a colourless, viscous and odourless liquid. The Merck Index description, as Drugfuture reproduces it, is a somewhat oily liquid with a slight, fatty odour and a bitter taste; one cosmetics maker calls it mildly creamy-fruity, which no other source repeats.

Leading note

No single note leads in the published descriptions

Character

Neutral, viscous

• odourless

What makes Triacetin distinctive

An odourless, viscous solvent and fixative.

Where the descriptions disagree: Most descriptions give a faint fatty odour or none at all; a single cosmetics maker mentions a mild creamy-fruity note.

How Triacetin is used

Used as a solvent and fixative in fragrance and flavour, and in many other industrial applications.

Typical role: solvent (dilutes or carries other materials).

How Triacetin differs from similar materials

Triethyl Citrate

Triethyl citrate is nearly odourless with a faint fruity, wine-like note neat; triacetin is described as odourless.

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

Check solubility of resins and crystals before using it in place of DPG or triethyl citrate.

Identity and classification

Type

Solvent or carrier

Origin

Synthetic

Odour family

No odour family

Note position

Base note

Physical form at room temperature

Liquid

Also known as

Glyceryl triacetate

CAS number

102-76-1

Molecular formula

C9H14O6

Molecular weight

218.2 g/mol

IUPAC name

2,3-diacetyloxypropyl acetate

The CAS number, formula and molecular weight are taken from PubChem compound 5541, 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 (1,973 of 1,977 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

• Triethyl Citrate

  Solvent or carrier · No odour family — odourless

• Dipropylene Glycol (DPG)

  Solvent or carrier · No odour family — odourless

• Ethanol (Perfumer's Alcohol)

  Solvent or carrier · No odour family — alcoholic, volatile

Used in formulas and accords

Not currently used in any published formula.

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

Further reading

• Is Your Fragrance Oil Already Diluted? Carrier Solvents Explained

  Many purchased fragrance oils are cut with DPG, IPM or benzyl benzoate. How to find out, what it does to your concentration, and how IFRA certificates treat it.

Questions about Triacetin

Sources

• PubChem — compound 5541, checked 19 October 2026.
• PubChem — GHS classification (the ECHA C&L Inventory notifications and any harmonised EU entry), read 26 October 2026.
• Chan Chao — Triacetin product listing — distributor's description.
• Drugfuture — Triacetin (Merck Index monograph) — published perfumery reference.
• 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.