| Description | Sulcatone, also known as methylheptenone or fema 2707, belongs to the class of organic compounds known as ketones. These are organic compounds in which a carbonyl group is bonded to two carbon atoms R2C=O (neither R may be a hydrogen atom). Ketones that have one or more alpha-hydrogen atoms undergo keto-enol tautomerization, the tautomer being an enol. Sulcatone is a very hydrophobic methylketone, practically insoluble in water, and relatively neutral. It exists as a clear, colorless liquid. Sulcatone can be found in all eukaryotes, ranging from yeast to plants to humans. Sulcatone has a musty, apple green-bean, and pear-like taste. and a citrus-like lemongrass odor. It is a volatile oil component of citronella oil, lemon-grass oil and palmarosa oil. Sulcatone is naturally found in bay leaf, blackberry fruit, sour cherries, cloves, ginger and lavender. In insects and animals, it has a role as an alarm or attractant pheromone. In fact, sulcatone is one of a number of mosquito attractants, especially for those species such as Aedes aegypti with the odor receptor gene Or4 (PMID:25391959 ). Sulcatone is secreted by humans in their sweat and is a compound frequently found in human body odors (but in few other mammals). Sulcoatone is used as a pheromone by ferrets, european badgers, red foxes, treefrogs, bedbugs, wasps and butterflies. Sulcatone is one of several ketones found in Cannabis sativa (PMID:6991645 ). |
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