MOLECULE
Named in 5 VERIFIED claims about 5 Atlas entries: Pine Needles, Church Incense, Pine Resin, Rosemary, Black Pepper.
Major component · the claim says “contained high percentages of”
Essential oils from the needles and green cones of four pine species contained high percentages of α-pinene, (E)-caryophyllene, limonene, germacrene D, myrcene and δ-3-carene.
Scope: Needle and cone oils of four Pinus species from one region, reported together; composition, not odour potency. CLM-PINENEEDLE-001 ↗
Key odorant · the claim says “key odorants included”
Aroma extract dilution analysis of frankincense (Boswellia sacra) resin from Somalia and Oman detected 23 odorants; key odorants included α-pinene, β-myrcene, linalool, p-cresol and two unidentified sesquiterpenoids.
Scope: Unburnt resin of one Boswellia species; the smoke of burning incense and other incense blends were not studied. CLM-FRANKINCENSE-001 ↗
Major component · the claim says “consisted mainly of”
Pine oleoresin consists of turpentine and rosin; in one pine species the volatile turpentine fraction consisted mainly of α-pinene and β-pinene.
Scope: A methods study of two pine species' resin products; composition, not odour, and the rosin acids are not volatile. CLM-PINERESIN-001 ↗
Major component · the claim says “dominated by”
Rosemary essential oils from six countries were dominated by α-pinene and 1,8-cineole, with verbenone, borneol, camphor and limonene also present, and at least five chemotypes were distinguished.
Scope: Essential oil composition, not odour potency; proportions vary with origin and chemotype. CLM-ROSEMARY-001 ↗
Major component · the claim says “dominated by”
Essential oils of black pepper fruits from Madagascar and Brazil were dominated by α-pinene, sabinene, β-pinene, δ-3-carene, limonene and β-caryophyllene, and their relative amounts grouped by origin.
Scope: Composition of hydrodistilled essential oils, not the odour potency of each compound; origin and processing change the profile. CLM-PEPPER-001 ↗
The names used for this molecule resolve to more than one PubChem record (α-pinene: 11240513; alpha-pinene: 6654), so SmellBook records no identifier. The molecule is named only as the claim names it.
Checked against PubChem and Wikidata on 2026-10-02 (identifier check run 37063263965). Every name SmellBook uses must resolve to the same single PubChem compound.
SmellBook lists a molecule only where a VERIFIED claim names it, in the role and scope that claim states. A molecule reported in a smell's evidence is not the whole smell: most smells come from many compounds together, and the studies measured particular samples, such as one cultivar, an essential oil or a cooked product.
Permanent identifier smellbook:molecule:alpha-pinene · Graph record (JSON)
Cite as SmellBook. (2026). α-pinene (molecule). SmellBook knowledge graph, Strategy Phase 369. smellbook:molecule:alpha-pinene. https://smellbook.com/molecules/alpha-pinene
Dataset history In the SmellBook dataset since Strategy Phase 369.