Compounds · Other compounds · Heat (Maillard reaction and pyrolysis)
Furaneol
Also known as Strawberry furanone · DMHF — an analysis may use any of these names
Caramelised sugar, ripe strawberry, caramel. So sweet it can almost be read as a taste.
- CAS
- 3658-77-3
- Formula
- C6H8O3
- Molar mass
- 128.13
- Odour threshold
- 0.030 ppbin water
- Boiling point
- ≈ 188 °C estimated
For this compound the two axes sit close together. Volatility tells you whether it leaves a surface early or late; the threshold tells you how much of it the nose needs before it notices.
Where it comes from
Biosynthetic pathway: Heat (Maillard reaction and pyrolysis) — fire breaks large molecules into ones you can smell.
About the threshold figure
Trade literature gives roughly 0.03 to 60 parts per billion — a spread of two thousand times. This is the widest range among the thresholds this library records — compounds with even wider ranges, such as 2-phenylethanol, are left blank.
We use the low end for consistency, and state the width right beside the figure: with a range like that, an odour value calculated for furaneol can be off by a factor of two thousand depending on which figure you trust. A ranking that includes furaneol should be read as a suggestion, not a conclusion.
Why the range is so wide: furaneol is very polar and unstable, so the actual concentration in the sniffing chamber is hard to keep steady from one laboratory to another.
Published thresholds differ by several orders of magnitude, because of differences in measuring method, sample purity and panel. The figure here is an order of magnitude for relative comparison, not a measurement. We give it only for compounds where the literature broadly agrees — 52 of the 106 compounds in the library. The rest are left blank rather than guessed.
Why it sits where it does
A furanone ring with a hydroxyl and a carbonyl group, both strongly polar, so it is held back much longer than its molecular size would suggest.
Where else you meet it
Ripe strawberry, pineapple, caramelised sugar, and many baked goods.
Dictionary entries that mention this compound
About the boiling-point figure
Not yet cross-checked against a primary source. The value is provisional, used to place the compound on the volatility axis. Why this detail matters