Compounds · Monoterpenes · Terpenoid pathway
Myrcene
Also known as β-Myrcene — an analysis may use any of these names
Green, slightly resinous, with a faint earthy note. Rather coarse on its own, but it links the citrus part to the green part.
- CAS
- 123-35-3
- Formula
- C10H16
- Molar mass
- 136.23
- Odour threshold
- 15 ppbin water
- Boiling point
- ≈ 167 °C at atmospheric pressure
The two axes are 48 points apart. Volatility tells you whether the compound leaves a surface early or late; the threshold tells you how much of it the nose needs before it notices. When the two sit this far apart, they explain things the percentages on an analysis cannot explain on their own.
Where it occurs
Each bar spans the lowest to the highest value measured across published lots. The dot is the mean. A wide range is not an error — it is the mark of a natural raw material.
-
Cold-pressed lemon peel 1 lot1.5–1.5
mean 1.5
Where it comes from
Biosynthetic pathway: Terpenoid pathway — plants build them from identical five-carbon blocks.
About the threshold figure
Moderately low compared with other monoterpenes, which usually need hundreds of parts per billion.
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
An open-chain hydrocarbon, mobile and very volatile. It leaves a smelling strip in the first group.
Where else you meet it
Citrus peel, hops, lemongrass, bay leaf. An industrial raw material for synthesising menthol and geraniol.
Dictionary entries that mention this compound
Reading the table above correctly
Percentage is not odour strength. The human nose’s detection thresholds differ by up to millions of times from one compound to another.
A wide range is normal. A supplier who publishes identical figures year after year is something to question, not something to trust.