2-phenylethyl alcohol

floral alcohol Key food odorant

Found in 6 ingredients across the CompKitchen flavor graph.

Look up another compound — search by name, CAS number, PubChem CID, or FEMA #.

Key food odorant (intermediary)

Dunkel et al. 2014

Identified in the meta-analysis of 227 food samples as one of 57 intermediary odorants — appears in 5–25% of foods. Characteristic odor: flowery, wine-like.

Source: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2014, 53, 7124–7143

Properties

Odor description: floral
Odor threshold — orthonasal, in clean water: 590 ppb – 2600 ppb median 962 ppb · 4 published values · see all 28 with sources
CAS number: 60-12-8

Not in FEMA GRAS publications 1-33. Of 3,367 listed flavoring substances, none match this compound name. May still be food-safe under other regulatory routes (FDA 21 CFR 172, EFSA, JECFA) — check femaflavor.org for the authoritative current list.

Published thresholds

28 measured values from the literature. Grouped by what was actually measured — a threshold smelled in clean water, tasted in the mouth, or measured in a real food are three different quantities and are not pooled.

Orthonasal, in clean water

590 ppb – 2600 ppb

The reference measurement — smelled in water. OAV is computed against this.

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
590 ppb SIDA	water	Dunkel 2014	—
925 ppb	water_odor	Leffingwell	—
1000 ppb SIDA	water	Rychlik 1998 · 2 studies	—
2600 ppb SIDA	water/ethanol 6:4 (food: american bourbon whisky)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9

In a food matrix

0.390 ppb – 390 ppb

Measured in a real food, where the matrix shifts detection — not a clean-water value.

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
0.390 ppb SIDA	water (food: smoked cooked loin (pork))	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
1.0 ppb SIDA	water (food: tea)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
1.4 ppb SIDA	water (food: rice)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
5.0 ppb SIDA	water (food: longjing green tea infusion)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
7.0 ppb SIDA	water (food: soy sauce)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
7.4 ppb	water (food: honey)	Literature corpus	19326859
11.2 ppb SIDA	water (food: unknown)	Literature corpus	18570373, 26973023, 33995294 +4
34.8 ppb SIDA	water (food: rum)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
87.5 ppb	water (food: cheese)	Literature corpus	42160145
140 ppb SIDA	water (food: reference standard (water))	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
390 ppb SIDA	water (food: japanese soy sauce)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
1491 ppb	water (food: lime)	Literature corpus	30972045, 41048468
Flagged: 133× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
1573 ppb SIDA	water (food: bread)	Literature corpus	18570373, 41613919
Flagged: 140× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.

Retronasal / in-mouth

45.0 ppb – 122 ppb

Tasted rather than smelled — a different sense, not comparable.

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
45.0 ppb SIDA	water_retronasal	Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies	—
122 ppb SIDA	oil_retronasal	Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies	—

Other matrix

125 ppb – 3600 ppb

Measured in a non-aqueous medium (oil, starch, cellulose).

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
125 ppb SIDA	cellulose	Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies	—
211 ppb SIDA	oil_orthonasal	Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies	—
211 ppb SIDA	oil (sunflower oil) (food: gouda cheese)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
211 ppb SIDA	oil (sunflower oil) (food: cocoa beans)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
211 ppb SIDA	oil (sunflower oil) (food: cocoa powder)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
1000 ppb SIDA	wine (food: red wine (cabernet sauvignon))	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
2600 ppb SIDA	ethanol/water (food: rum / red wine)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
2600 ppb SIDA	ethanol/water 40/60 (food: rum (aged))	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9
3600 ppb SIDA	wine matrix (12% ethanol) (food: rum / red wine)	Literature corpus	18570373, 19326859, 26973023 +9

Only values we can attribute are listed. Where a compendium's licence does not permit public attribution its figures are omitted here, so every number on this page traces to a citable source.

Found in

Measured impact first, then profile share

Every ingredient known to contain 2-phenylethyl alcohol. Ingredients with a measured concentration come first, ranked by odour activity; the rest follow by how large a share of that ingredient's profile this molecule is. The figure beside each is how many different compounds that ingredient has in total — not the concentration of 2-phenylethyl alcohol in it.

260 cmpds

301 cmpds

344 cmpds

416 cmpds