The starter palette, mapped: 180 materials on one page

The material guide now covers 180 materials. Reading one material at a time works fine, but the question readers send most is "where do I start". This page is a map, not another lesson: all 180 materials in one table, a few storylines, and what to do next.

What matters

• All 180 materials in one table: a one-line role, longevity in three tiers (Long / Moderate / Short), and evaluation strength. Click a name for the article, a number for the data page.
• Storylines beat lists for memory: the rose trio, the temperature trilogy, the two halves of cut grass, the cinnamon-roll kit: each line teaches three or four materials at once.
• Figures are compiled from our database records and the series articles; the longevity tiers convert the database's hour records (Long >72 | Moderate 12–72 | Short <12 hours; some records use diluted test conditions, detailed in each article).

The table

Material	One-line role	Longevity	Evaluate at	Data page
Linalool	The ubiquitous citrus-floral connector, the first molecule to learn	Moderate	≤ 10%	#22548
Bergamot	The cologne skeleton; phototoxicity depends on the grade	Short	≤ 10%	#4131
Vanillin	The creamy-sweet base, the one that stains	Long	≤ 10%	#41155
Vanilla extract	109 suppliers and a one-word odor field; a refractive index of 1.340–1.390 sits on top of ethanol, so most of the bottle is solvent	(empty)	(no strength field)	#41105
Patchouli	The earthy-chocolate woody base that rounds with age	Long	≤ 10%	#29522
Hedione	Jasmine's transparent halo, the air in modern formulas	Moderate	≤ 10%	#24950
Geraniol	The sweet face of the rose trio	Moderate	≤ 10%	#17230
Citral	The lemon-peel brightness, a lead in the oxidation lesson	Moderate	≤ 10%	#8724
Citronellol	The clean face of the rose trio	Moderate	≤ 10%	#8779
PEA	The rose trio's watery base with a honey tail	Moderate	≤ 10%	#31130
Sandalwood	The creamy wood long tail, a famous starting point of receptor research	Long	≤ 10%	#35939
Cedarwood	Most catalogue cedar is not cedar; pencil wood	Long	≤ 10%	#7241
Menthol	The cold switch TRPM8, first of the temperature trilogy	Moderate	≤ 10%	#24093
Ethylene brassylate	The affordable macrocyclic musk, one end of the receptor seesaw	Long	≤ 10%	#15388
Benzyl acetate	Jasmine's fruity face, lesson one of the benzyl family curve	Short	≤ 10%	#4006
Beta-ionone	Violet and berry, olfactory genetics' cleanest case	Long	≤ 10%	#20735
Coumarin	The hay-sweet base of the fougère family	Long	≤ 10%	#10057
Cis-3-hexenol	The green of the second the grass is cut	Short	≤ 10%	#19253
trans-2-Hexenal	Two records share this name (91 suppliers against 2, different CAS); the awkward one of the three greens, asking for 1% and with a flash point of only 38 °C	8 hours	High (evaluate at 1% or less)	#19207
Cinnamaldehyde	The heat switch TRPA1, the fire in the cinnamon roll	Long	≤ 10%	#8483
Gamma-decalactone	Peach-skin cream, a rare base-note citizen of the fruity family	Long	≤ 10%	#11301
delta-Decalactone	Same formula and weight as gamma-decalactone, one ring atom apart, yet one is filed coconut and the other fruity; butter and margarine differ in the enantiomer ratio	336 hours	Moderate	#11299
Isoamyl acetate	Banana and banana oil, ester chemistry lesson one	Short	≤ 1%	#1899
Beta-damascenone	The trace heavyweight in rose, dosed in ppm	Long	≤ 10%	#11154
Decanal	Orange-peel wax, the citrus specialist of the aldehydic family	Long	≤ 1%	#11312
Eugenol	The warm switch TRPV3, the carnation backbone	Moderate	≤ 10%	#15646
Clove bud oil	8th in the site by supplier count; twelve records share CAS 8000-34-8, bud, leaf and stem are three products, and their specific gravity ranges do not overlap	188 hours	Moderate (start at 10%)	#9246
Ginger root oil	The heat is not in the oil: every gingerol record has an empty odor field, pungency runs through TRPV1 but does not evaporate; Australian clones are more than half citral	(empty; China entry 292 hours)	Moderate	#17389
Black pepper oil	Warm and pungent in its odor field are touch, not smell; 109 records carry pungent and the best supplied is leaf alcohol. Piperine, the molecule that burns, is non-volatile and absent from the oil	48 hours	Moderate	#30849
Maltol	Cotton-candy sweetness, the gourmand primer coat	Long	≤ 5%	#23328
Linalyl acetate	The shared clean sweetness of lavender and bergamot	Moderate	≤ 10%	#22558
Galbanum	The sharp, earthy king of green, run by trace pyrazines	Moderate	≤ 1%	#16868
Heliotropin	Cherry-almond powder; the flower in its name lacks it	Long	≤ 10%	#18566
Rose oxide	The green metallic edge of rose, inside lychee shells	Short	≤ 1%	#35233
Alpha-irone	The orris powder note that takes years of ageing to appear	Long	≤ 10%	#20846
Ambroxan	Ambergris without the whale, the quiet giant	Long	≤ 1%	#1648
Galaxolide	The clean-laundry smell, flagship polycyclic musk	Long	≤ 10%	#26863
Oakmoss	The chypre foundation, and the atranol story	Long	≤ 10%	#27833
Vetiver	Earthy wood from a grass root, its riddle solved in 2021	Long	≤ 10%	#41342
Iso E Super	The invisible wood, one molecule carrying a perfume	Long	≤ 10%	#29507
Tonka bean	Coumarin's hometown, caramel-hay sweetness	Long	≤ 10%	#39706
Labdanum	The chypre triangle's last corner, botanical amber	Long	≤ 10%	#21405
Frankincense	Ancient resin, its churchlike endnote pinned in 2016	Long	≤ 10%	#16526
Myrrh	The resin trilogy's close, bittersweet and balsamic	Long	≤ 10%	#27074
Jasmine absolute	The white-floral original, two faces of one flower	Long	≤ 10%	#20922
Rose absolute	The rose line's finale, the flower itself	Long	≤ 10%	#35193
Cashmeran	The 48-hour musk, the family's sprinter	Moderate	≤ 10%	#26870
Indole	The animal shadow inside white florals, two faces by concentration	Long	≤ 1%	#20659
Methyl anthranilate	Grape soda, and yet a main component of neroli	Moderate	≤ 0.5%	#24641
Geranyl acetate	The step where rose turns geraniol toward pear and lavender	Moderate	≤ 10%	#17286
Eucalyptus globulus oil	One species, yet a tenfold spread in 1,8-cineole	Short	≤ 5%	#15506
Sweet basil oil	The word anisic in the odor family field is the chemotype signature; 38 accessions in one field split into seven chemotypes, methyl chavicol 20–72%	(empty)	Moderate (ask the chemotype first)	#27921
trans-Anethole	Same formula as estragole with the double bond one position over, and only one is genotoxic; the cis record has zero suppliers, and it crystallises at 21–23 °C	20 hours	High (evaluate at 10% or less)	#2126
Benzyl alcohol	Mild rose note, solvent and preservative-system ingredient	Moderate	≤ 10%	#4014
Dihydromyrcenol	The clean face of lime; one drop takes the formula to 1988	Moderate	≤ 10%	#12359
Hydroxycitronellal	The muguet backbone; a floral molecule that barely exists in nature	Long	≤ 10%	#20108
Benzyl salicylate	Barely smells of anything, and can hold a tenth of the formula	Long	≤ 10%	#4081
Alpha-hexyl cinnamaldehyde	Green jasmine in one bottle; only a 12-month shelf life	Long	≤ 10%	#19446
Alpha-terpineol	What citrus turns into when it ages; linalool holds it down	Moderate	≤ 10%	#38795
Ylang ylang oil	One still cut four ways; four products under one CAS	Long	≤ 5%	#41980
Cinnamic alcohol	The hyacinth backbone; harmless until skin activates it	Long	≤ 10%	#8620
Alpha-ionone	Harder to detect at higher levels; a non-monotonic curve	Long	≤ 1%	#20737
Gamma-undecalactone	The flesh of peach and apricot; named an aldehyde, actually a lactone	Long	≤ 1%	#40754
gamma-Nonalactone	One of only three records carrying (so-called); none of the three is an aldehyde and none of the carbon counts match. Highest threshold of eight enantiomers in red wine	309 hours	Moderate (no concentration given)	#27543
Musk ketone	The one nitro musk not banned; it survives on a purity spec	Long	≤ 10%	#26869
Ethyl vanillin	Said to be three times vanillin; the strength field cannot tell them apart	Long	≤ 10%	#15339
Omega-pentadecalactone	A musk that grows in angelica root; one molecule, four names	Long	≤ 10%	#30536
Cyclamen aldehyde	The survivor of the muguet slot, living on a purity spec	Moderate	≤ 10%	#10600
1,8-Cineole	The shortest longevity in the series, and the only one that is also a drug	Short	≤ 10%	#8487
Helional	Five names in the corpus, nitrogen in the bottle; all sea in name, none in origin	Moderate	≤ 10%	#27882
Lilial	13th in the corpus; banned in EU cosmetics, and the regulatory field is blank	Long	≤ 10%	#22425
Benzaldehyde	108 suppliers, four hours; shares a reaction with hydrogen cyanide	Short	≤ 10%	#3901
Vertofix	The only single molecule that is woody, musk, amber and leather at once; three names	Long	≤ 10%	#24773
Aurantiol	A reaction product of two materials, sold as a material; the mass balance is exact	Long	≤ 50%	#20111
Calone	Over 600 hours; that greater-than sign is a lower bound, not a measurement	Long	≤ 10%	#41645
phenethyl alcohol	Third most common of 954 formulas, median dose 10.00% — it is the volume of the formula	Medium	10-20%	#31130
Veramoss / Evernyl	One molecule, five trade names; oakmoss capped at 0.10% by IFRA, this has no standard	Long	≤ 10%	#41230
alpha-hexyl cinnamaldehyde	Not in jasmine; third most declared allergen, 0.1% in the clinic	Long	10-20%	#19446
isoeugenol	Just became the top fragrance allergen, because the ones above it were regulated away	Long	≤ 1%	#15644
dimethyl sulfide	The "smell of the sea"; boils at 37 °C, flashes at −37 °C, dosed in ppm	Short	≤ 0.1%	#13144
Sulfurol	27th by supplier count with the odor family meaty; it is the thiazole half of vitamin B1 and lives in the flavour world	(empty; longevity does not apply)	Sold as a 10% dilution	#38210
Ethyl acetate	Registered as both a fragrance material and a carrier solvent; it appears in 1,977 solubility fields, and its flash point of −4.4 °C is colder than a fridge	4 hours	High (evaluate at 10% or less)	#14544
phenylacetaldehyde	A three-month shelf life; caught moths in a field trap on its own	Long	≤ 10%	#31211
alpha-amyl cinnamaldehyde	The twin that never became a workhorse; a twelfth of the hexyl's household limit	Long	5-10%	#1918
allyl amyl glycolate	Galbanum plus pineapple; its no-effect level drops to a third in an ethanol vehicle	Moderate	≤ 1%	#1212
para-anisaldehyde	34.36% of cassie absolute; also studied as a citrus anti-mould agent	Short	1-5%	#2240
orris butter	A paste melting at 40-46 °C; what you buy is the percentage, not the material	Short	depends on stated content	#28848
dihydro-beta-ionone	Reads woody, amber, cedar and lasts nine hours; the occurrence field misses osmanthus	Short	1-3%	#12320
cis-3-hexenyl acetate	The smell of cut grass; under 4 hours, and it is a plant's alarm signal	Short	≤ 1%	#19283
octyl acetate	One record calls it jasmine and mushroom; first suspect in a green frankincense	Short	≤ 1%	#28242
hexyl salicylate	Strength field says low; median dose in formulas is 7%. It carries weight	Long (40 h)	4–15%	#19525
lavender oil	Half of the fougère; coumarin is the other half. Never shares with lavandin	Moderate (12 h)	3–15%	#21975
Tonalide (AHTN)	A musk that melts at 53°C; most studied, used 6.5× less than galaxolide	Long (>400 h @10% DPG)	2–6%	#26882
guaiacol	The flavour field says bacon; the core smoke molecule, handled at ≤1%	Long (280 h)	0.01–0.1%	#18189
triethyl citrate (TEC)	A diluent, not a fragrance material; beats DPG on resins, loses 445:5 in the corpus	— (solvent)	As diluent	#40008
isobutyl quinoline (IBQ)	Five CAS numbers share one name; eval strength differs 10×. The 20th-century leather	Long (168 h)	0.01–1%	#5509
hexanal (aldehyde C-6)	107 natural sources and almost never written; 4 h substantivity, the shortest here	Short (4 h)	0.01–0.1%	#19150
veratraldehyde	The database calls it a heliotropin replacer; 400 h, and once in 954 formulas	Long (400 h)	1–10%	#41233
sotolon (caramel furanone)	One of only nine rated ≤0.01%; concentration decides curry or maple syrup	Long (>400 h @3% PG)	≤0.001%	#6617
Lyral / HICC (leerall)	Banned in the EU; still in 50 published formulas at 4.57%. It blends, not just scents	Long (400 h)	Banned in EU	#22048
DPG (dipropylene glycol)	The default diluent, 445 corpus appearances; logP −0.60, miscible with water	— (solvent)	As diluent	#13450
ethanol	The carrier, ~76% of the finished product; medium strength, < 1 h, flash point 9.44°C	Very short (<1 h)	Carrier	#14437
ethyl maltol	Rare actual solubility figures: 12% in alcohol; melts 70°C below maltol	Long (360 h @20%)	1–5%	#14926
amber naphthofuran (Cetalox)	Same formula and FEMA number as ambroxan, different CAS; 10-degree melting range	Long (>400 h @10% DPG)	≤ 10%	#1602
IPM (isopropyl myristate)	Vapour pressure 97x below DPG: it is still there after the ethanol goes	Solvent (400 h, no concentration stated)	Odourless	#33746
laevo-rose oxide	Shares a FEMA number with the racemic; substantivity reads 8 h in one record, 388 h in the other	See article	≤ 1%	#35237
para-cresol	Evaluated at 0.10% or less, the lowest band in the library; narcissus and mimosa diluted, animalic neat	Long (400 h @10% DPG)	≤ 0.1%	#10181
2-acetyl pyrazine	Strength field reads "very high"; evaluate at 0.10% or less; a crystalline powder, not a liquid	Long (400 h @10% DPG)	≤ 0.1%	#445
2,3,5-Trimethylpyrazine	One of only nine materials asking for 0.01% or less, and the only commodity among them; the pyrazine family spans a thousandfold internally	21 hours	High (evaluate at 0.01% or less)	#40370
thyme oil (white / red)	One shared CAS but two FEMA numbers; thymol reported from 0.2% to 71.84%	White 83 h / red 172 h	≤ 10%	#39414
phenethyl salicylate	Lowest vapour pressure in the library (0.000002 mmHg), and the strength field says low	Long (232 h @20% DPG)	Rank 1	#31178
isoambrettolide	One of the few -olides whose name is honest; the notes field says it covers alcohol	Long (248 h)	≤ 10% (rank 2)	#1644
Floralozone	The "ozonic" slot; the controlled type is marine and only the odour field says ozone	Medium (80 h)	≤ 10% (rank 2)	#28995
acetaldehyde	Boils at 20-21 C, i.e. at room temperature; flash point -40 C, one of 145 records asking for refrigeration	Very short (< 1 h)	≤ 0.1%	#183
benzyl benzoate	Categorised as both fragrance material and carrier solvent; 1 kg dissolves 450 g of musk ambrette	Long (322 h)	Strength low (rank 1)	#4022
agarwood oil	Distilled from fungus-infected wood; one of the few records with no specification fields at all	Not recorded	Not recorded	#895
Helvetolide	An -olide with three oxygens, so not a lactone; positioned between ambrettolide and ethylene brassylate	Long (> 336 h)	Medium (rank 2)	#26879
BHT	An antioxidant, but the database gives it an odour type: phenolic and camphoreous, 400 h substantivity	Long (400 h @20% DPG)	Low (rank 1)	#20477
Javanol	A sandalwood molecule; one of only 3 high entries among 29 sandalwood materials, while the substantivity field gives it the same 400 as sandalwood oil	Long (400 h, the field ceiling)	High (rank 3)	#35908
Benzophenone	The supplier calls it "very faint" yet substantivity is 394 h; a powder melting at 47–51 °C at room temperature	Long (394 h)	Medium (rank 2)	#3963
Musk xylol	Do not use: category reads "not used for fragrances" while cosmetic_uses on the same record reads "fragrance"	Long (400 h at 20% in DPG)	Medium (rank 2)	#26897
Dihydrocoumarin	One double bond fewer than coumarin: 40× the vapour pressure, 45 degrees lower melting point sitting on room temperature; still legal as a flavour, out of cosmetics	Long (228 h)	Medium (rank 2)	#12278
Costus root oil	Keep off skin: the notes field says "do not use on any part of the body"; the two sensitising lactones have their own records	Long (316 h)	Medium	#10012
Civetone	Isolated from a secretion that reads "urine, fecal", while its own odour field opens with "clean"; a 17-membered macrocyclic ketone used at trace levels	Long (400 h)	High (rank 3, ≤ 1%)	#9157
Castoreum absolute	Leathery, smoky, burnt; three fields on one record use three solvents, and a 1993/95 reanalysis confirmed 8 of 24 previously reported compounds	Long (400 h at 10% in DPG)	High (rank 3)	#7126
Ambrein	The main constituent of ambergris and upstream of ambroxan; logP 9.60, boiling point 495 °C, and a notes field calling the sperm whale a "sperm blue whale"	Long (400 h)	Medium (rank 2)	#1615
Angelica root oil	The odour field says musk and ambrette while the main constituents are three monoterpenes; amber type with only 31 h substantivity, and the notes field says keep it off skin	Short (31 h)	Medium (rank 2)	#2175
Peru balsam	Its main constituents are benzyl benzoate, benzyl alcohol, cinnamic acid and vanillin — an assembly of molecules this series has covered; a baseline patch-test reagent in dermatology	Long (400 h)	Medium (rank 2)	#30965
WS-3	A coolant: strength field low, vapour pressure 0.000085 mmHg, while the flavour field records an "intense lingering cooling trigeminal effect"	— (flavour material)	Low (rank 1)	#41819
Camphene	Assay 80–100 with about 20% tricyclene in commercial product; 46% and 94% grades both on the market; a solid melting at 51 °C with a 35 °C flash point	Very short (< 1 h @10% DPG)	Medium (rank 2)	#6354
Rhodinol	Assay 70–100, the widest of any fragrance material here: the name itself covers two positional isomers, sold ex-citronella and ex-geranium	Long (236 h)	Medium	#34895
Beta-caryophyllene	Shared constituent of clove, cinnamon and allspice; a named CB2 receptor target (Ki 155 nM), and a GHS field that contradicts its own toxicity field	Medium (44 h)	Medium (rank 2)	#6970
Nerolidol	Four layers of isomerism on one CAS; (E) is floral type and (Z) is waxy, while the product guarantees only "96% sum of isomers"	Medium (100 h)	Low (rank 1)	#27323
Pine oil	Two unrelated manufacturing routes under one name; the grade is in the product name (50/60/65/85/90%), and it carries rare human toxicity data	Short (16 h, basis unstated)	—	#31673
Juniper berry oil	The notes field itself says most of the market is a juniper brandy byproduct, and no field can hold that sentence; the Bulgarian lot runs 51.4% alpha-pinene	(empty)	Moderate	#21147
Methyl salicylate	Wintergreen and root beer; the only oral-woman record in the database, while Martin 2004 measured dermal plasma levels; also used to denature alcohol	Short (8 h)	Medium (rank 2)	#25947
Tea tree oil	The essential oil with the most published allergy cases; oxidation raises its potency, while its dermal toxicity field holds one line about a rabbit	Medium (44 h)	Medium	#38693
Bitter almond oil	Blank assay, formula "unspecified", and a supplier label reading "benzaldehyde >95%"; under 3 hours substantivity and only 12 months shelf life	Very short (< 3 h)	High (rank 3)	#1332
Camphor	Five fields, one word, and the word is its own name; no strength or substantivity field, and data on all three toxicity routes	— (no substantivity field)	— (no strength field)	#6375
Birch tar	The notes field names which grade to buy; specific gravity spans 1.13 to 1.35, process variation from destructive distillation	400 hours	High (evaluate at 1% or less)	#4383
Treemoss absolute	Part of what sensitises people comes from the pine it grew on; the notes field forbids use on any part of the body	400 hours	Medium	#39769
Mace oil	The red net around the same seed as nutmeg; 8.1–10.3% yield, the highest and steadiest of four tissues	64 hours	Medium	#23088
Isovaleric acid	The foot odour molecule, made by S. epidermidis from the leucine in sweat; its esters smell lovely	400 hours	High (evaluate at 1% or less)	#41055
β-damascone	The core of black currant and plum; two records under one FEMA number, only the obscure one flagged as a sensitiser	264/191 hours (two records)	High (evaluate at 1% or less)	#11165
Lavandin oil	True lavender × spike lavender hybrid; three records share FEMA 2618 but carry two CAS numbers, linalool 34–66%	216 hours (this figure is from lavandin oil #21881; the grosso record has none)	Medium	#21892
Allyl isothiocyanate	The heat of mustard and wasabi; absent from the intact plant, made by an enzyme when you cut it. Dermal LD50 88 mg/kg	— (no substantivity field)	Evaluate at 0.01% (lowest tier in the database)	#1301
Methyl mercaptan	Odour threshold 0.02 ppb in water, and the main component of bad breath; boils at 6.1 °C, a gas at room temperature	— (no substantivity field)	Evaluate at 0.01%	#25411
Pear ester	The characteristic odour of Bartlett pear, one molecule for one fruit; also a codling moth attractant, and it catches females	> 48 hours	High (evaluate at 10% or less)	#14683
Furaneol	Caramel and candyfloss neat, strawberry and pineapple on dilution; the strawberry makes it then locks it to a sugar	320 hours (at 20% in DPG)	High (evaluate at 1% or less)	#37972
Nootkatone	The backbone of grapefruit, named after an Alaskan cypress; two fields on one record forbid and permit it at once	236 h at 20% DPG	Medium	#27717
Grapefruit oil	None of the eight words in its odor field is grapefruit; an optical rotation of +91–96 says the body is limonene, and the two components that make it grapefruit are sold separately	264 hours	Moderate	#18062
Buchu mercaptan	The core of cassis, sulfur and peach in one molecule; Cramer Class III with no toxicity data, controlled by ppm-scale use levels	> 120 hours	High (evaluate at 1% or less)	#4899
3-Mercaptohexyl acetate (3-MHA)	The only thiol of 85 that is both filed fruity and actually buyable; the odor field says passion fruit, the flavor field says onion and durian, and the difference is the concentration each was recorded at	181 hours	High (evaluate at 0.10% or less)	#24209
Allyl hexanoate	The most flavour-tagged material in the database (67); flavour makes pineapple with it, fragrance makes apple blossom. H301/H311	< 1 hour	High (evaluate at 10% or less)	#1253
Raspberry ketone methyl ether	A bridge between berry, cherry and powdery floral; also 2.40% of agarwood oil, which only forms after the tree is wounded	324 hours	Medium	#34753
Hay absolute	A fougère filler; hay is coumarin, and the mouldy sweet clover line leads to warfarin	400 hours	Medium (evaluate at 10% or less)	#18401
Musk ambrette	Three fields declare it retired in three phrasings (including "FEMA GRAS withdrawn"), and it still has 18 suppliers	400 h at 20% in benzyl benzoate	Medium	#26834
7-Methyl coumarin	Tonka with coconut; marked not for fragrance use with no reason given, while the documented photoallergy belongs to its 6-methyl isomer	400 hours @20%	Weak (rank 1, doubtful)	#24813
Dipentene	Racemic limonene with a camphoreous edge; its empty rotation field is right, but three limonene records disagree on vapour pressure	3 hours	Medium (rank 2)	#13408
2-Methyl undecanal (aldehyde C-12 MNA)	The metallic, gassy aldehyde leaning tuberose; a wrong boiling point dragged its vapour pressure along	388 hours	High (rank 3, evaluate at 1% or less)	#26122
Dodecanal (aldehyde C-12 lauric)	The soapy citrus aldehyde, richest in coriander leaf oil; its vapour pressure queues neatly only because all six values are estimates — the unruly longevity column is the measured one	368 hours	High (evaluate at 10% or less)	#13638
Maple furanone	Maple and fenugreek, evaluated at 0.01% or less; its strength rank is empty because very high carries no number	400 hours @1%	very high (no rank)	#23583
Diacetyl	The core of butter and the cause of popcorn lung, yet its inhalation toxicity field says "not determined". Flash point 7.22 °C, below ethanol	44 h at 10% DPG	High (evaluate at 1% or less)	#11824
Acetoin	The round end of butter (diacetyl is the sharp one); its vapour pressure says top note but it lasts 28 hours, and the clue is dimerisation	28 hours	High (evaluate at 1% or less)	#259
Geranyl nitrile (Citralva)	Made to replace citral in alkaline products; the evaluation field honestly says "nitrile, metallic", and it retired too	56 hours	Medium (evaluate at 10% or less)	#17302
WS-23	A rare strength rank 1, and that is the point: the cooling stays and the mint does not; at the receptor it hits TRPM8 alone	— (no substantivity field)	Low (evaluated at 25%)	#41825
Styralyl acetate (gardenol)	The modifier on the gardenia and green line; the evaluation field itself says "not tenacious", and it lasts 8 hours. Sold as a racemate	8 hours	Medium (evaluate at 10% or less)	#38059
cis-3-Hexenyl salicylate	The bridge between green and the salicylates; it appears alongside relatives from both families. Its 760 mmHg boiling point is about 100 °C too high	216 hours (doubtful)	Medium (rank 2)	#19398
Perilla alcohol	One hydroxyl turns limonene into green-cumin-cardamom; its boiling point field is physically impossible and its 269 hours runs four times its family	269 hours (doubtful)	Medium (rank 2)	#30912
Methyl cedryl ketone (Vertofix)	One material holding up woody-amber-leather-musk; the corpus calls it by five names and the official one finds a third	400 hours (credible here)	Medium (rank 2)	#24773
Nutmeg oil	The kernel from the same tree as mace; the human poisoning data sits on the mace record, so read the two together	52 hours	Medium (rank 2)	#27772
Triplal	The spoonful of just-picked green; an 8-hour top note that becomes 268 hours as a Schiff base. Store under nitrogen	8 hours	High (rank 3, evaluate at 10% or less)	#20883
Aldehyde C-16 (strawberry glycidate)	The strawberry-candy note; not an aldehyde, not sixteen carbons, not in strawberries. Refrigerate, 12 months	241 hours	Medium (rank 2)	#37980
Verdox (green acetate)	The green-apple fruity-woody bridge, and a solvent; one ring position from Vertenex with every physical field identical	8 hours	Medium (rank 2)	#18110
Cananga oil	The ylang relative leaning animal and leathery; shares a CAS with the three grades but its specific gravity range does not overlap	116 hours	Medium (rank 2)	#6418
Lemon oil	The first thirty minutes; 4 hours and a 12-month shelf life, and its notes field says only "do not use on skin"	4 hours	Medium (rank 2)	#22100
Folded sweet orange oil	The concentrated citrus with more suppliers than the crude; one record covers 5-fold to 50-fold, so always ask the fold factor	(empty)	Medium	#28680
Longifolene	The turpentine sesquiterpene with a fir-needle note; five unusable fields and zero corpus appearances	24 hours	Medium (rank 2)	#22800
Musk ambrette	The withdrawn nitro musk; three fields say do not use it, and its replacer tops the corpus at 56 formulas	400 hours @20%	Medium (rank 2)	#26834
Lemongrass oil	Two species under one name; West Indian lemongrass is not from the West Indies, and one field across four seasons yields 25 to 63 identified components	92 hours	Medium	#22159

A third footnote, and the one that matters most. This table is ordered by teaching value, not by how often a material is actually used. We checked it against 954 public formulas: only 24 of the 50 most-used materials appear here, while a few of our picks (alpha-irone, menthol, myrrh) are marginal in that corpus — they earned their place explaining ageing, receptors and resin extraction. To buy by what the industry actually reaches for, that article beats this table.

Two footnotes. The longevity tiers convert the database's strip-test hour records, and a few materials (vanillin, patchouli, sandalwood) sit at the source scale's ceiling of 400 hours; the vanillin article explained that this means "very long" rather than a precise value. The evaluation strength is the database's recommended smelling dilution (10% by series convention where an article does not state one): maltol down at 5%, isoamyl acetate, decanal and indole down at 1%. The lower, the stronger.

Storylines beat lists

The rose trio, plus one finishing drop. Geraniol plays sweet, citronellol plays clean, PEA plays watery; the three build the rose's body, and ppm of beta-damascenone turns the flower juicy. This line is also the best training ground for blind-testing your own formula.

The temperature trilogy. Cool, hot and warm each have a molecular switch: menthol presses TRPM8, cinnamaldehyde presses TRPA1, eugenol presses TRPV3. Read the three together and the "temperature" of spices is receptors from start to finish, no thermometer involved.

The two ends of receptor genetics. Sensitivity to beta-ionone is explained more than 96% by a single variant; for cis-3-hexenol the known receptor haplotype explains only 26.4%. Add the musk seesaw between ethylene brassylate and beta-ionone, and these three articles are the scientific case for "don't compose for your own nose".

Two sources of clean. Citral is bright in a pointed way that stings, and it sensitises once oxidised. Dihydromyrcenol is bright in a flat, washed way that survives the alkaline base of a detergent. Smell the two side by side and the reason a perfume counter and a laundry room smell like different worlds becomes obvious.

The two halves of cut grass. The green of the cutting second is cis-3-hexenol; the sweetness by evening is coumarin. One scene, two materials, top note to base.

The cinnamon-roll kit. The fire of cinnamaldehyde, the cream of vanillin, the hay-sweetness of coumarin. Winter perfumery's home base.

The fruit kit. Isoamyl acetate plays ripe, cis-3-hexenol plays green, gamma-decalactone plays flesh. Three bottles assemble a breathing fruit, and the lactone carries it into the base.

The oxidation trilogy. Linalool, geraniol, citral: three cases of gentle-when-pure, sensitising-when-oxidised, and the origin of the decant-date-retain habit. The fourth seat now belongs to linalyl acetate, where even lavender oil itself was tested: that natural oil, at least, does not protect itself.

One small conversion, two odour lines. Add an acetyl group to geraniol and geranyl acetate moves direct rose toward pear, lavender and green floral. Do the parallel conversion from benzyl alcohol to benzyl acetate, and a 35-hour floral middle becomes a four-hour jasmine-fruit opening. The two pairs teach more than an ester definition.

A natural oil is not one molecule. Eucalyptus globulus oil makes the point cleanly: keep the species name and change leaf age, plant part, origin or rectification specification, and the main-component ratio changes with them. The botanical name starts the purchase; the certificate of analysis answers for this batch.

The wood brothers and the white florals. Sandalwood, cedarwood and patchouli are three completely different woody bases; benzyl acetate plus hedione are the white floral's fruity face and its air, and indole is the same flower's animal shadow. One bottle of decanal irons an aldehydic shine onto a floral, and maltol is the gourmand primer coat.

Next steps

• Not bought anything yet? Read the first ten materials first, then come back to this table.
• Already have a shelf? Pick one storyline and fill in its missing bottle or two, far more efficient than buying at random.
• Every material's supplier list lives on its data page; when you find what you want, add it to an inquiry.

→ Search by odour: these 180 are just the entry point — all 42,225 materials in the database are searchable.