Standards
Data standard
What we publish, what we leave blank, and why.
Most essential-oil sites fill in every field. This one does not: 54 of 106 compounds have an empty odour-threshold field.
That is not unfinished work. It is where we stopped — because the number did not yet meet the three rules below.
Three rules
One. A number must be traceable to a source and checkable against another.
An odour detection threshold is published only when it has a clearly cited source and can be checked against a second one. A single source, however reputable, is not enough.
Right now 52 compounds meet this rule and 54 are left blank. The formula reader only uses compounds that meet it.
Two. When the reported range is wide, say so next to the number.
An odour threshold is a range, not a point — different studies give different results, sometimes a thousandfold apart. We publish the low end for consistency, and when the range is wider than fiftyfold a warning appears right beside the number.
| Compound | Published | Reported range | Width |
|---|---|---|---|
| Furaneol | 0.03 ppb | 0.03 – 60 | 2000× |
| 1,8-Cineole | 1 ppb | 1 – 64 | 64× |
| Neral | 30 ppb | 30 – 460 | 15× |
| Geranial | 32 ppb | 32 – 460 | 14× |
| Citral | 30 ppb | 28 – 120 | 4× |
The two compounds at the top of the table carry a warning in the formula reader. A ranking that includes furaneol should be read as a hint, not a conclusion.
Three. If a field is blank, say why, and when we looked.
A blank field is not something we forgot. For a compound we have researched without finding a number that meets the standard, its page states when and where we looked, and why nothing is published.
Right now 3 compounds carry such a note: 2-Phenylethanol, Coumarin, γ-Terpinene. This number will grow as we keep looking.
What we have not measured
The sensory descriptions of 148 dictionary entries and 106 compounds are written from the literature, not from controlled smelling sessions. We do not have a sensory panel yet.
So when a page says “smoke, tobacco, tar” for guaiacol, that is the description widely recorded in the trade literature — not the result of a smelling session in Vietnam. It is as accurate as the literature allows, and we do not claim it is more accurate than that.
This is where the site still falls short, and we say so because a site built entirely around stating what it does not know would undermine itself by staying silent about exactly this.
What is complete
| Boiling point | 106 / 106 |
| Sensory description | 106 / 106 |
| “Don’t confuse with” pairs | 156 |
| Dictionary entries | 148 |
| Articles | 39 |
Why this page exists
The formula reader tells you “this compound dominates”. That sentence is only as trustworthy as the numbers behind it. This page is how we take responsibility for those numbers.
If you are a manufacturer or a supplier and need to know where our data comes from — this is the answer. Nothing here needs to be asked for privately.