β-Eudesmol

Aroma and sensory profile

Beta-eudesmol is dry wood with a green edge. Fragrance references type it woody and describe it neat as woody and green [1]. It is a white crystalline solid melting at 72 to 74 °C, so it does not diffuse on its own; in amyris, blue cypress, and Atractylodes it supplies a persistent, slightly bitter woody base that is felt more than smelled, and it is one of the reasons those materials are valued as fixatives. Its relatives alpha- and gamma-eudesmol, which differ only in the position of one double bond, share the character and usually occur beside it.

The molecule is a eudesmane sesquiterpene alcohol with three stereocenters, and the natural material carries the (2R,4aR,8aS) configuration [2]. No panel description of the mirror-image enantiomer was found, so no claim about how the two enantiomers differ in odor is made here.

Effects and research

Beta-eudesmol is one of the few terpenes on this site with a controlled human result. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, fifty adults aged 20 to 50 took a beverage containing beta-eudesmol five minutes before the Trier Social Stress Test; salivary 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol, a noradrenaline metabolite, was significantly lower immediately after the test in the active group than with placebo [4]. That is a single biomarker in a single session, not a treatment claim, but it is a human trial.

A 2021 review, which identifies beta-eudesmol as mainly extracted from Atractylodes lancea rhizome, catalogued anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic activity through CREB pathway inhibition and neurite outgrowth in rat cells through MAPK activation, with most work preclinical [3]. In ovalbumin-sensitized mice it reduced nasal rubbing, serum histamine and immunoglobulin E, and eosinophil infiltration by blocking the caspase-1/NF-kappa-B cascade [5]. A 2025 study traced its traditional "dampness-resolving" use to binding at the vasopressin receptor AVPR2, inhibiting the cAMP-AQP2 pathway that governs renal water handling in mice [6].

The result that matters most for anyone taking medicines is enzymatic. Beta-eudesmol inhibited human CYP2C19 and CYP3A4 with IC50 values of 173 and 219 micromolar, and in mice dosed at 100 milligrams per kilogram daily for two weeks or more it downregulated cytochrome P450 expression and activity, which the authors flagged as a chronic drug-interaction concern [7].

Natural sources

Beta-eudesmol is a rhizome and heartwood terpene. Its medicinal source is Atractylodes lancea, the East Asian rhizome drug whose beta-eudesmol to hinesol ratio is a quality marker and is 92 percent heritable, so it is fixed by the plant's genotype rather than its growing conditions [8]. Its fragrance sources are woods: fragrance databases log it at 16.8 percent in amyris wood oil and at 7.5 to 14.4 percent in the three Australian Callitris wood oils, the blue cypress and white cypress pines, with 3 percent in cascarilla bark, 1.5 percent in angelica seed extract, and traces in basil, bay laurel, burdock, cajuput, and camel grass [1]. In the twig oil of Taiwania it accompanies alpha-cadinol as one of the components responsible for the oil's activity against wood-decay fungi [9]. In cannabis beta-eudesmol is a minor sesquiterpene, reported in a few chemotypes at trace levels.

Boiling point and vaporization

No measured boiling point for beta-eudesmol appears in PubChem or in a primary paper found for this profile, so none is listed. PubChem carries no experimental boiling point for it [2]; fragrance references quote 301 to 302 °C at 760 mmHg [1], an industry value not adopted here, and the 255 °C the site previously listed had no traceable source. What can be said is that beta-eudesmol is a fifteen-carbon alcohol and a crystalline solid melting at 72 to 74 °C [1], less volatile than any monoterpene or hydrocarbon sesquiterpene on this site; it does not vaporize from a warm sample so much as melt into the surrounding oil and stay there, which is the basis of its use as a fixative. No thermal degradation study of beta-eudesmol was found.

Safety and regulation

Beta-eudesmol is not listed by name in the FDA flavoring tables at 21 CFR 172.515, no European classification notifications for it were found in PubChem [2], and no Research Institute for Fragrance Materials assessment was found. No cancer classification applies.

What is known about its safety comes from pharmacology rather than toxicology. It inhibits CYP2C19 and CYP3A4 in human liver preparations and, with repeated dosing in mice, suppresses P450 expression, so it has the profile of a drug-interaction risk in anyone taking medicines cleared by those enzymes [7]. Its human trial reported no adverse effects at the beverage dose used [4]. No patch-test series or sensitization data naming beta-eudesmol were found; as a solid sesquiterpene alcohol it is not the fraction of a wood oil that irritates. The practical caution is systemic: Atractylodes-containing formulas and concentrated beta-eudesmol should be discussed with a prescriber by anyone on CYP3A4 or CYP2C19 substrates.

Industries and uses

Fragrance: beta-eudesmol supplies a dry woody-green base and fixative in amyris, cypress, and sandalwood-type accords [1]. Aromatherapy: blue cypress and amyris oils are its carriers; the drug-interaction data above are the relevant caution for anyone on medication [1][7]. Pharmaceuticals: it is a marker and active constituent of Atractylodes rhizome in East Asian medicine and the subject of a randomized human crossover trial [3][4][8].