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n-decyl aldehyde

green aldehyde Key food odorant

Found in 1 ingredient across the CompKitchen flavor graph.

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

Key food odorant (individualist)

Dunkel et al. 2014

Identified 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: citrus, soapy.

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

Properties

Odor threshold — orthonasal, in clean water
0.900 ppb – 1.1 ppb median 0.975 ppb · 2 published values · see all 27 with sources
CAS number
112-31-2
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

27 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

0.900 ppb – 1.1 ppb

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

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
0.900 ppb SIDA water Rychlik 1998 · 5 studies —
1.1 ppb water_odor Leffingwell —

In a food matrix

0.100 ppb – 80.0 ppb

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

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
0.100 ppb water (food: hand-squeezed grapefruit juice) Literature corpus —
0.100 ppb water (food: goat milk) Literature corpus —
0.190 ppb water (food: lemon) Literature corpus —
0.550 ppb water (food: lime) Literature corpus —
0.790 ppb water (food: melon) Literature corpus —
1.2 ppb water (food: apple) Literature corpus —
1.2 ppb water (food: rice) Literature corpus —
1.4 ppb water (food: chocolate) Literature corpus —
2.2 ppb water (food: orange) Literature corpus —
3.0 ppb water (food: orange juice (reconstituted from concentrate)) Literature corpus —
3.3 ppb water (food: grape) Literature corpus —
6.0 ppb water (food: fish) Literature corpus —
11.5 ppb water (food: milk) Literature corpus —
40.0 ppb water (food: unknown) Literature corpus —
57.0 ppb water (food: honey) Literature corpus —
80.0 ppb water (food: soy sauce) Literature corpus —
609 ppb water (food: tea) Literature corpus —
Flagged: 185× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
610 ppb water (food: ginger) Literature corpus —
Flagged: 185× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
1186 ppb water (food: tomato) Literature corpus —
Flagged: 359× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
1205 ppb water (food: bread) Literature corpus —
Flagged: 365× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
1207 ppb water (food: beef) Literature corpus —
Flagged: 366× 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

7.0 ppb – 850 ppb

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

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
7.0 ppb water_flavor Leffingwell —
850 ppb SIDA oil_retronasal Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies —

In air

0.400 ppb

Airborne detection — not comparable to a water threshold.

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
0.400 ppb air Nagata 2003 —

Other matrix

6700 ppb

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

Threshold Matrix Source Paper
6700 ppb SIDA oil_orthonasal Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies —

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 n-decyl aldehyde. 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-decyl aldehyde in it.

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