2 compounds of this family in the library, boiling between 176 and 280 °C. How the family spreads along the axis says something about its shared behaviour.
Structure
An oxygen atom within a ring, bridging two carbon atoms. It differs from an alcohol in that the oxygen carries no hydrogen.
Behaviour on a smelling strip
Clean, airy, with a cold feeling in the nasal cavity. The family is small in number but very easy to recognise — 1,8-cineole is one of the few compounds an untrained nose can name at once.
Compounds in this family
Ordered by rising boiling point — which is also the order in which you smell them.
| Compound | CAS | Boiling point | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,8-Cineole | 470-82-6 | 176 °C | Clean, cold in the nasal cavity, edged. One of very few molecules an untrained nose can name at once. |
| Caryophyllene oxide | 1139-30-6 | 280 °C | Faint wood, slightly musty, almost motionless. This is what is still on your collar the next day. |
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