Not drawn yet: a drawing of what it smells like.

alpha-Terpinene

Ingredients · Citrus · top note

alpha-Terpinene

Say itAL-fuh-TUR-pih-neen

Lime-like, lemony terpene with medicinal, thymol-camphor and woody tones.

What it is
A molecule made from a natural raw material.
Where it comes from
made by acid rearrangement of pinene or limonene
When you smell it
Top notes: when you spray it.
What perfumers do with it
Fresh lime-terpene lift in citrus and spicy tops, and a spicy touch in mango; its bulk use is scenting industrial fluids.
Worth knowing
In tea tree oil it works as a built-in antioxidant, reacting with air before other molecules do, and the products it forms are stronger skin allergens than the fresh molecule.
Rules
Limited. EU label-named allergen since Regulation (EU) 2023/1545; peroxide value must stay under 10 mmol/L
Also called
alpha-terpinene; α-terpinene; p-mentha-1,3-diene

On the label of 78 of the 352 perfumes read so far