n-decanoic acid
fruity acid Key food odorantFound in 7 ingredients across the CompKitchen flavor graph.
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Key food odorant (individualist)
Dunkel et al. 2014Identified in the meta-analysis of 227 food samples as one of 151 individualist odorants — appears in <5% of foods, carries the diagnostic signature of specific ingredients. Characteristic odor: fatty, soapy.
Properties
- Odor description
- acides aroma
- Odor threshold — orthonasal, in clean water
- 10000 ppb 2 published values · see all 21 with sources
- CAS number
- 334-48-5
- Retention index
- 1355
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.
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.
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
21 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
10000 ppbThe reference measurement — smelled in water. OAV is computed against this.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10000 ppb | water_odor | Leffingwell | — |
| 10000 ppb SIDA | water | Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies | — |
In a food matrix
2.0 ppb – 1372 ppbMeasured in a real food, where the matrix shifts detection — not a clean-water value.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.090 ppb | water (food: melon) | Literature corpus | 34441460 |
| Flagged: 188× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 2.0 ppb | water (food: chocolate) | Literature corpus | 17898464 |
| 3.5 ppb SIDA | water (food: grape) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 15826061, 17898464 +26 |
| 5.5 ppb | water (food: tea) | Literature corpus | 29086878 |
| 6.0 ppb SIDA | water (food: longjing green tea infusion) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 15826061, 17898464 +26 |
| 11.1 ppb | water (food: lime) | Literature corpus | 15826061 |
| 12.4 ppb SIDA | water (food: milk) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 15826061, 17898464 +26 |
| 21.5 ppb SIDA | water (food: unknown) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 19753606, 20858266 +13 |
| 24.8 ppb SIDA | water (food: baijiu) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 15826061, 17898464 +26 |
| 30.6 ppb | water (food: wine) | Literature corpus | 25939071, 35011467, 36496598 +1 |
| 1369 ppb | water (food: beef) | Literature corpus | 29037691, 38974721 |
| 1372 ppb SIDA | water (food: ginger) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 15826061, 17898464 +26 |
| 2200 ppb SIDA | water (food: litsea pungens fruit) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 15826061, 17898464 +26 |
| Flagged: 130× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 2867 ppb | water (food: rice) | Literature corpus | 26973621, 38846797, 40467248 |
| Flagged: 169× 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
2000 ppb – 3500 ppbTasted rather than smelled — a different sense, not comparable.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 ppb SIDA | water_retronasal | Rychlik 1998 · 2 studies | — |
| 3500 ppb | water_flavor | Leffingwell | — |
Other matrix
2800 ppb – 15000 ppbMeasured in a non-aqueous medium (oil, starch, cellulose).
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2800 ppb SIDA | ethanol/water (food: rum / red wine) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 15826061, 17898464 +26 |
| 2800 ppb SIDA | ethanol/water 40/60 (food: rum (aged)) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 15826061, 17898464 +26 |
| 15000 ppb SIDA | wine matrix (12% ethanol) (food: rum / red wine) | Literature corpus | 32625638, 15826061, 17898464 +26 |
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 shareEvery ingredient known to contain n-decanoic acid. 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 n-decanoic acid in it.
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