3 compounds of this family in the library, boiling between 243 and 301 °C. How the family spreads along the axis says something about its shared behaviour. Right of it are compounds heavier than the essential-oil range — they remain after the main axis has run out.
Structure
An ester closed into a ring: the acid group and the alcohol group sit on the same molecule and join together.
Behaviour on a smelling strip
They give a fatty, creamy feeling even though they are not fats themselves. The brain reads them as texture rather than simply as smell — one of the clearest examples of smell evoking a physical sensation.
Compounds in this family
Ordered by rising boiling point — which is also the order in which you smell them.
| Compound | CAS | Boiling point | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| γ-Nonalactone | 104-61-0 | 243 °C | Toasted coconut, cream, ripe peach. Lactones always give a sense of fat even without a single drop of oil. |
| δ-Decalactone | 705-86-2 | 281 °C | Cream, coconut, ripe peach. Fatty and sweet without sugar. |
| Coumarin | 91-64-5 | 301 °C | Hay, faint vanilla, baked goods. Sweet without sugar. |
Two ways of ordering, two questions
Boiling point answers the question when do you smell this compound. It is the axis this site uses by default, because it maps directly onto what happens on a smelling strip.
Chemical family answers the question how does this compound behave: stable or fragile, soft or sharp, and how you recognise it on an analysis. Trade literature usually presents compound tables along this axis.
Neither axis is more correct than the other. Knowing both means you can read both kinds of document. Read about the boiling-point axis