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Compound sheet

Aroma molecule · terpenoid

3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol

Smells offloral, fruity, green

Found in 1 ingredient. We hold no measured concentration for it in any of them yet, so we cannot say where it is strong enough to smell.

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Formula
—
Mass
154.25 g/mol
CAS
78-70-6
PubChem
—
Threshold · water
5.8 ppb
Class
terpenoid
Status
Key food odorant

01How little it takes

  • in water 5.75
  • in a food 0.58
  • retronasal / in-mouth 1.5
  • in air 6
  • other matrix 53

ppb, log scale · tick = median of published values, bar = full range

02Where it turns up

  • Drinks1

of the 1 ingredient that contain it, by food group

03What it travels with

Too few ingredients to say what it travels with.

What does 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol smell like?

Sources describe it as floral, fruity, green. The key-food-odorant survey gives flowery, citrus.

It is a key food odorant (intermediary): identified in the meta-analysis of 227 food samples as one of 57 intermediary odorants, which appear in 5–25% of foods. Source: Dunkel et al. 2014, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 53, 7124–7143

Which foods contain 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol?

We list 1 ingredient that contain it, but presence is not the same as smell. What matters is how much is there compared with how little it takes to notice it. That ratio is the odour activity value (OAV): above 1, you can smell it.

Found in

Measured foods first, then real food profiles, then thin or composite records (marked). The figure beside each is how many compounds that ingredient has in total, not the amount of 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol in it. ✓n = sources that recorded the link.

How strong is 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol?

Orthonasal, in clean water: 5.5 ppb to 6.0 ppb, median 5.8 ppb, from 2 published values.

Published thresholds

18 measured values from the literature, grouped by what was measured: a threshold smelled in clean water, tasted, or measured in a real food are different quantities and are not pooled.

Orthonasal, in clean water · 5.5 ppb–6.0 ppb ppbThe reference measurement — smelled in water. OAV is computed against this.
ThresholdMatrixSourcePaper
5.5 ppb SIDA water Rychlik 1998 · 2 studies —
6.0 ppb water_odor Leffingwell —
In a food matrix · 0.087 ppb–30.0 ppb ppbMeasured in a real food, where the matrix shifts detection — not a clean-water value.
ThresholdMatrixSourcePaper
0.087 ppb SIDA water (food: green tea infusion (jingshan cha)) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
0.087 ppb SIDA water (food: longjing green tea infusion) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
0.170 ppb SIDA water (food: reference standard (water)) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
0.220 ppb SIDA water (food: orange juice (reconstituted from concentrate)) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
0.580 ppb SIDA water (food: longjing green tea infusion) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
2.7 ppb SIDA water (food: longjing green tea infusion) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
6.0 ppb SIDA water (food: hand-squeezed grapefruit juice) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
21.0 ppb SIDA water (food: reference standard (water)) Literature corpus 32251584, 12467918, 12710722 +218
30.0 ppb SIDA water (food: smoked cooked loin (pork)) Literature corpus 29376363, 12467918, 12710722 +218
500 ppb SIDA water (food: litsea pungens fruit) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
Flagged: 305× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source, shown rather than hidden.
Retronasal / in-mouth · 1.5 ppb ppbTasted rather than smelled — a different sense, not comparable.
ThresholdMatrixSourcePaper
1.5 ppb SIDA water_retronasal Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies —
In air · 6.0 ppb ppbAirborne detection — not comparable to a water threshold.
ThresholdMatrixSourcePaper
6.0 ppb SIDA air (food: reference standard (air)) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
Other matrix · 37.0 ppb–70.0 ppb ppbMeasured in a non-aqueous medium (oil, starch, cellulose).
ThresholdMatrixSourcePaper
37.0 ppb SIDA oil (sunflower oil) (food: cocoa beans) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
37.0 ppb SIDA oil (sunflower oil) (food: cocoa powder) Literature corpus 26501053, 18570373, 32251584 +218
69.0 ppb SIDA starch Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies —
70.0 ppb SIDA cellulose Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies —

Only values we can attribute are listed. Where a compendium’s licence does not permit public attribution its figures are omitted, so every number here traces to a citable source.

Retention index
550

Is 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol safe to eat?

Not in FEMA GRAS publications 1–33. Of 3,367 listed flavoring substances, none match this compound or its other names. It may still be food-safe under other regulatory routes (FDA 21 CFR 172, EFSA, JECFA); check femaflavor.org for the authoritative current list.

3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol questions

What does 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol smell like?

Sources describe 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol as floral, fruity and green. It is one of the key food odorants identified by Dunkel et al. (2014).

Which foods contain 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol?

We list 1 ingredient that contain 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol.

How strong is 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol?

The median of 2 published odour thresholds in water is 5.8 ppb (range 5.5 to 6.0 ppb).

Look up another compound — search by name, CAS number, PubChem CID, or FEMA #.

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Cite this analysis
Plain text
Compound Kitchen (2026). 3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol compound data sheet. https://compkitchen.com/compound/3%2C7-dimethyl-1%2C6-octadien-3-ol. Accessed 2026-11-03.
BibTeX
@misc{compkitchen_compound_3_7_dimethyl_1_6_octadien_3_ol_compound_data_sheet_2026,
  title  = {3,7-dimethyl-1,6-octadien-3-ol compound data sheet},
  author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://compkitchen.com/compound/3%2C7-dimethyl-1%2C6-octadien-3-ol},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-11-03}
}

Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.