Benzylacetone (IUPAC name: 4-phenylbutan-2-one) is a liquid with a sweet, flowery smell that is considered to be the most abundant attractant compound in flowers (e.g. Coyote Tobacco, ''
Nicotiana attenuata
''Nicotiana attenuata'' is a species of wild tobacco known by the common name coyote tobacco. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to Texas and northern Mexico, where it grows in many types of habitat. It is a glandular a ...
'') and one of volatile components of
cocoa
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
.
It can be used as an attractant for melon flies (''
Bactrocera cucurbitae''), in
perfume
Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...
,
and as an odorant for soap.
It can be prepared by the hydrogenation of
benzylideneacetone
Benzylideneacetone is the organic compound described by the formula C6H5CH=CHC(O)CH3. Although both ''cis''- and ''trans''-isomers are possible for the α,β-unsaturated ketone, only the trans isomer is observed. Its original preparation demon ...
.
See also
*
Odor
An odor (American English) or odour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds ...
*
Pheromone
A pheromone () is a secreted or excreted chemical factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. Pheromones are chemicals capable of acting like hormones outside the body of the secreting individual, to affect the behavio ...
*
Fragrances
An aroma compound, also known as an odorant, aroma, fragrance or flavoring, is a chemical compound that has a smell or odor. For an individual chemical or class of chemical compounds to impart a smell or fragrance, it must be sufficiently vo ...
References
{{reflist
External links
Fluka 4-Phenyl-2-butanoneNIST 4-Phenyl-2-butanone
Ketones
Flavors
Perfume ingredients
Phenyl compounds
Benzyl compounds
Sweet-smelling chemicals