Skip to main content

benzofuran

caramel furan

Found in 5 ingredients across the CompKitchen flavor graph.

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

2D Lewis structure of benzofuran
2D Lewis Structure
Formula
C8H6O
Molecular weight
118.13 g/mol
PubChem CID
9223 — full record on PubChem

Properties

Odor threshold
30.93 ppb
Volatility
high
CAS number
271-89-6
Regulatory · United States

FEMA GRAS — Generally Recognized As Safe for flavoring use

? Partial match
FEMA number
4315
GRAS publication
GRAS 23
FEMA primary name
3,6-Dimethyl-2,3,3a,4,5,7a-hexahydrobenzofuran

Reported use levels (ppm by food category)

Typical vs maximum reported addition levels in finished food. Use as a regulatory ceiling reference — verify against the current GRAS publication for your product category.

Food category Typical (ppm) Maximum (ppm)
baked goods 100 500
cheese 25 125
condiments/ relishes 25 125
fats/oils 50 250
gravies 50 250
imitation dairy 50 250
meat products 25 125
poultry 25 125
processed vegetables 25 125
reconstituted vegetables 25 125
seasonings/ flavors 500 5000
snack foods 50 250
soups 25 125
Source: FEMA GRAS publications 1-33. 4 related FEMA records for this name — verify the exact substance for regulatory use.

Where you'd actually smell it

Odor Activity Value = measured concentration ÷ odor threshold (30.93 ppb). OAV ≥ 1 = perceptible.

Food Concentration (ppb) OAV Source
cheese 3.0 0.10 —

Concentrations from PubMed Central Open Access papers (free literature corpus, MIT-style licensed). Copper = OAV ≥ 10 (strongly perceptible). Green = OAV ≥ 1 (perceptible).

Found in

Measured impact first, then profile share

Every ingredient known to contain benzofuran. Ingredients with a measured concentration come first, ranked by odour activity; the rest follow by how large a share of that ingredient's profile this molecule is. The figure beside each is how many different compounds that ingredient has in total — not the concentration of benzofuran in it. Full concentrations are in the OAV table above.

arabica coffee
beverage caffeinated
✓1 344 cmpds
coffee
beverage caffeinated
507 cmpds
green tea
beverage caffeinated
✓1 564 cmpds
black tea
beverage caffeinated
✓1 586 cmpds
tea
plant
✓1 617 cmpds
Into the chemistry?

Get a molecule-level pairing breakdown each week — which ingredients share a compound, and why it matters at the table. Free, no spam.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Try the pairing tools to see which ingredient combinations rely on benzofuran, or compare two ingredients side-by-side.