Nerolidol

Aroma and sensory profile

Nerolidol is quiet. Fragrance references type it floral with low odor strength and describe the commercial isomer mixture neat as floral, green, waxy, citrus, and woody; its flavor at 25 parts per million is green, floral, and woody with fruity-citrus and melon nuances [1]. It reads like the smell of fresh-cut bark or the green stem under a flower rather than the flower itself, and it lingers long after the monoterpenes above it have gone.

The molecule has two kinds of isomerism. The central double bond can be cis or trans, and carbon 3, which carries the hydroxyl, is a stereocenter, so nerolidol exists as four stereoisomers [4]. The panels tell them apart. (E)-nerolidol, the trans form and the main natural one, is floral, green, citrus, woody, and waxy [2]. (Z)-nerolidol, the cis form, is typed waxy and described simply as waxy floral [3]. Of the mirror-image pair, only (+)-nerolidol has a published description, mild floral [5]; no comparable panel note for (−)-nerolidol was found, so no claim about how the two enantiomers differ is made here.

Effects and research

No human trial of nerolidol was found. A 2016 review catalogued antimicrobial, antiparasitic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer findings and framed nerolidol as a promising candidate needing further study rather than an established therapy [4]. A 2025 review of its neuroprotective mechanisms reached the same point: activity in Alzheimer, Parkinson, and epilepsy models, with human evidence absent [6].

The behavioral data come from mice. Oral nerolidol at 12.5, 25, and 50 milligrams per kilogram increased time spent and entries in the open arms of the elevated plus maze without impairing motor coordination, which the authors read as anxiolytic activity [7]. At 200 to 400 milligrams per kilogram it reduced acetic-acid writhing and formalin-evoked pain, lowered tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin-1 beta, and its antinociception was reversed by a GABA-A antagonist rather than by naloxone, pointing to a GABAergic rather than opioid mechanism [8]. In a chronic mild stress model, nerolidol reduced depression-like behavior and microglial activation [9].

These doses are large by inhalation standards and were given orally. Nothing has tested whether nerolidol at the levels found in a diffuser, a tea, or a plant sample does anything in people.

Natural sources

Nerolidol is a sesquiterpene alcohol present across many plant families [4]. The trans isomer is the one that reaches high concentration: fragrance databases log it at 90 percent of Persea americana fruit oil, 19 percent of Cuban guava leaf oil, 15 percent of vassoura oil, 12.6 percent of Croton cajucara leaf oil, and around 8 percent of cedrela wood and Nepeta racemosa oils, with trace amounts in bergamot, ginger rhizome, and wine [2]. The cis isomer is logged in neroli bigarade oil at 0.64 percent and in ho leaf, Helichrysum, clary sage, lavender, and peppermint oils at traces [3]. The (+) enantiomer is recorded in ginger, hyssop, black pepper, Peru balsam, and tobacco jasmine [5]. Cabreuva wood oil, the classic perfumery source, is essentially nerolidol. In cannabis it is a minor sesquiterpene, usually a small fraction of caryophyllene.

Boiling point and vaporization

PubChem compiles nerolidol's boiling point as 275 to 277 °C from the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives [10]. This profile uses 277 °C (531 °F). The 122 °C figure that circulates in terpene charts, and that this site once carried, is a vacuum-distillation value: fragrance references give 114 °C at 1 mmHg and 89 to 100 °C at 0.3 mmHg [1], which is how nerolidol is actually distilled. At atmospheric pressure it is one of the least volatile compounds on this site, above caryophyllene and humulene, which is why it stays behind as a base note and why it survives cooking and drying that strips the monoterpenes. No thermal degradation study of nerolidol was found.

Safety and regulation

Nerolidol is listed by the US Food and Drug Administration as a permitted synthetic flavoring substance at 21 CFR 172.515, as "Nerolidol; 3,7,11-trimethyl-1,6,10-dodecatrien-3-ol" [11]. The Research Institute for Fragrance Materials published a safety assessment for the isomer-unspecified material in 2024 covering sensitization, genotoxicity, and repeated-dose endpoints [12]. No cancer classification applies.

Its skin record is mild. Under Europe's classification inventory, the largest registration block flags eye irritation in 87 percent of notifications and very high aquatic toxicity in nearly all, while only 11 percent flag it as a possible skin sensitizer [10]. That is a lower sensitization signal than limonene, linalool, or geraniol carry, and nerolidol is not an EU-labelled fragrance allergen. Two practical points remain: it is very toxic to aquatic life, so neat material should not go down a drain, and like any unsaturated terpene alcohol it will oxidize slowly in an opened bottle.

Industries and uses

Fragrance: nerolidol supplies a soft floral-woody base and acts as a fixative in floral, citrus, and woody accords; it is stocked as trans, cis, and mixed-isomer grades [1][2][3]. Culinary: it holds FDA flavoring status and contributes green, floral, melon-like nuances at parts-per-million levels [1][11]. Aromatherapy: neroli, ginger, and cabreuva oils are its carriers; its low sensitization signal makes it one of the gentler terpenes on skin [10]. Cosmetics: it is used in shampoos, perfumes, detergents, and cleansers [4].