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4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol

spicy phenol Key food odorant

Found in 3 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: clove-like.

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

Properties

Odor description
clove, spicy, smoky, honey
Odor threshold — orthonasal, in clean water
7.1 ppb – 18.0 ppb median 18.0 ppb · 3 published values · see all 24 with sources
CAS number
97-53-0
Retention index
2164
Regulatory · United States

FEMA GRAS — Generally Recognized As Safe for flavoring use

? Partial match
FEMA number
2467
GRAS publication
GRAS 3
FEMA primary name
EUGENOL-4-Allyl-2-methoxyphenol; 4-Allylguaiacol

Use-level matrix not extracted for this substance — check the source publication for current ppm guidance.

Source: FEMA GRAS publications 1-33.

How this molecule is described

Sources disagree about odour more often than they disagree about chemistry. Rather than show one answer, here is every description on file with how many ingredient records carry it.

Descriptions on file

Ordered by how many independent descriptor streams give each wording, then by how often it appears. The bar is still replication — one source copied onto many ingredients scores high there — so the two can disagree.

clove-like FlavorDB 2.0
1
spicy FlavorDB 2.0
1
clove-like, smoky FlavorDB 2.0
1
clove, spicy, smoky, honey shown above Llm Adjudicated
—

Bars are the share of ingredient records carrying each description. High agreement means the sources replicate each other — not necessarily that they are right.

Published thresholds

24 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

7.1 ppb – 18.0 ppb

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

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
7.1 ppb water/ethanol 6:4 (food: american bourbon whisky) Literature corpus 11272845, 12467918, 17898464 +53
18.0 ppb water_odor Leffingwell —
18.0 ppb SIDA water Rychlik 1998 · 2 studies —

In a food matrix

0.220 ppb – 645 ppb

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

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
0.220 ppb water (food: banana) Literature corpus 11272845, 12467918, 17898464 +53
0.301 ppb water (food: peach) Literature corpus 37476402
0.400 ppb water (food: chocolate) Literature corpus 17898464
0.710 ppb water (food: reference standard (water)) Literature corpus 11272845, 12467918, 17898464 +53
1.0 ppb water (food: smoked cooked loin (pork)) Literature corpus 11272845, 12467918, 17898464 +53
3.6 ppb water (food: rum) Literature corpus 30715633
4.6 ppb water (food: lime) Literature corpus 30972045
4.9 ppb water (food: grape) Literature corpus 36890905, 41900883
8.9 ppb water (food: wine) Literature corpus 32619948, 32630090, 34577084 +2
15.2 ppb water (food: tomato) Literature corpus 39789073
24.0 ppb water (food: unknown) Literature corpus 11272845, 12467918, 19753606 +36
40.2 ppb water (food: pepper) Literature corpus 36235112
90.0 ppb water (food: litsea pungens fruit) Literature corpus 11272845, 12467918, 17898464 +53
149 ppb water (food: honey) Literature corpus 11272845, 12467918, 17898464 +53
645 ppb water (food: tea) Literature corpus 36323840, 39468086
1357 ppb water (food: bread) Literature corpus 38519512
Flagged: 152× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
1392 ppb water (food: rice) Literature corpus 40468875
Flagged: 156× 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

1.0 ppb

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

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
1.0 ppb SIDA water_retronasal Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies —

Other matrix

7.1 ppb – 44.0 ppb

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

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
7.1 ppb ethanol/water (food: rum / red wine) Literature corpus 11272845, 12467918, 17898464 +53
7.1 ppb ethanol/water 40/60 (food: rum (aged)) Literature corpus 11272845, 12467918, 17898464 +53
44.0 ppb wine matrix (12% ethanol) (food: rum / red wine) Literature corpus 11272845, 12467918, 17898464 +53

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 4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol. 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 4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol in it.

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