Ingredients · Citrus · top note

Grapefruit mercaptan

Say itGrapefruit mur-KAP-tun

Explosive juicy grapefruit; sulfurous and tropical, catty at full strength.

What it is

A molecule made in a lab, first made by Firmenich in 1982.

Where it comes from

synthesized, occurs in traces in grapefruit juice

When you smell it

Top notes: when you spray it.

What perfumers do with it

Used at parts per million to make grapefruit, passion fruit and citrus accords burst with juiciness.

Worth knowing

Its detection threshold, around 0.00002 parts per billion, is among the lowest ever recorded for any odorant.

Also called

1-p-Menthene-8-thiol; thioterpineol