N/A — found in jasmine (Jasminum grandiflorum) absolute
Appearance
colorless clear liquid with sweet fruity odor
Producing Countries
China, Europe, India
Pyramid
Heart
Pear skin and fresh linen dried over white flowers. Benzyl acetate is the clean, sweet-fruity molecule that makes up a quarter of jasmine absolute — the dominant volatile in Jasminum grandiflorum, without which no jasmine reconstruction holds.
Sweet, clean, fruity-floral with a pear-skin brightness at the opening. Lighter and less narcotic than linalool, less green than cis-jasmone, entirely without the indolic darkness that defines actual jasmine. On blotter, it dries to a soft, slightly powdery white-floral sweetness — closer to gardenia than jasmine, closer to muguet than tuberose. Think of it as jasmine with the personality surgically removed: pure sweet volume, no edge, no shadow.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Bright, pear-skin sweetness with a slightly solvent-like acetone edge. Clean, fruity, immediately readable as white-floral.
After a few hours
After a few hours
The fruity topnote recedes. A soft, powdery, gardenia-like floral sweetness remains — less bright, more diffuse. Still clean, still sweet, no animalic turn.
After a few days
After a few days
On fabric, a faint powdery-sweet residue persists, barely perceptible. On skin, largely evaporated within 4–6 hours given its moderate molecular weight (150.17) and vapor pressure (0.177 mmHg at 25°C).
The Full Story
Benzyl acetate (CAS 140-11-4, C₉H₁₀O₂, MW 150.17) is the single largest component of jasmine absolute from Jasminum grandiflorum, typically constituting 20–28% of the absolute by GC-MS analysis. It is a benzylic ester — benzyl alcohol acetylated with acetic acid — and it smells nothing like jasmine on its own. Alone on a blotter, it reads as sweet, clean, fruity-floral: ripe pear, a hint of banana, acetone-bright at the top, settling into a soft floral sweetness that recalls gardenia more than jasmine.
Jasmine character only emerges when benzyl acetate meets its co-constituents: indole (the animalic, mothball-sharp darkness), cis-jasmone (the green, dewy lift), methyl jasmonate (the translucent fatty-floral signature), and linalool (the fresh, bright topnote). Benzyl acetate provides the volume, the body, the sweet framework onto which these more characterful molecules can project. Without it, the accord collapses into a thin, animalic sketch.
Naturally present in jasmine, gardenia, ylang-ylang, and hyacinth, benzyl acetate is produced synthetically at industrial scale — far exceeding what any natural source could supply. The standard route is Fischer esterification: benzyl alcohol plus acetic acid in the presence of an acid catalyst, followed by distillation. The resulting product is a colorless liquid, density 1.050 g/mL, boiling at 213°C, practically insoluble in water but miscible with ethanol and diethyl ether.
Its moderate vapor pressure (0.177 mmHg at 25°C) places it firmly in heart-note territory: it opens quickly but sustains for several hours. Perfumers dose it heavily — often 5–15% of a finished jasmine accord — because its blandness is the point. It is the canvas, not the paint.
Benzyl acetate was one of the earliest synthetic aroma chemicals adopted by the fragrance industry. By the 1920s, synthetic jasmine bases built on benzyl acetate had made jasmine-type perfumery accessible beyond the luxury market. Before synthetics, jasmine absolute required roughly 8,000 hand-picked Jasminum grandiflorum flowers to produce a single gram of concrete — and flowers had to be harvested before dawn, when their benzyl acetate content peaks.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Benzyl acetate occurs naturally in jasmine absolute (20–28% of Jasminum grandiflorum), gardenia, ylang-ylang, and hyacinth. However, virtually all perfumery-grade benzyl acetate is synthetic. The dominant industrial route is Fischer esterification: benzyl alcohol is reacted with glacial acetic acid in the presence of a sulfuric acid catalyst, followed by fractional distillation to >99% purity. Alternative routes include the reaction of benzyl chloride with sodium acetate, or reduction of benzaldehyde with acetic acid over zinc dust (Tishchenko-type). The synthetic product is chemically identical to the natural isolate — a colorless liquid, BP 213°C, density 1.050 g/mL, refractive index 1.501–1.504.
Molecular Formula
C₉H₁₀O₂
CAS Number
140-11-4
Botanical Name
N/A — found in jasmine (Jasminum grandiflorum) absolute
IFRA Status
No known restrictions
Synonyms
Benzyl ethanoate, Benzoate, Benzyl acetate
Physical Properties
Appearance
colorless clear liquid with sweet fruity odor
Boiling Point
212.00 to 215.00 °C. @ 760.00 mm Hg
Flash Point
203.00 °F. TCC ( 95.00 °C. )
Specific Gravity
1.05200 to 1.05600 @ 25.00 °C.
Refractive Index
1.50100 to 1.50400 @ 20.00 °C.
Melting Point
-51.00 to -50.00 °C. @ 760.00 mm Hg
In Perfumery
Heart-note volume builder and blender. Benzyl acetate functions as structural scaffolding in jasmine reconstructions, providing the sweet-floral body that carries more characterful trace molecules (indole, jasmone, methyl jasmonate). It is dosed at 5–15% in jasmine bases and at lower percentages in muguet, gardenia, and ylang reconstructions. Essential to white-floral accords across most fragrance families: floral-orientals, chypres, modern florals, and floral-fruity feminines. Its clean sweetness makes it a blender, smoothing transitions between top-note citrus and deeper base materials. Also functions as a diffuser — its moderate volatility throws the heart of a composition without dominating. In floral-gourmand or fruity-floral work, it bridges the gap between literal fruit esters and abstract floral notes.
