Calarene is a sesquiterpene hydrocarbon identified in aromatic roots, woods, and a small set of specialized essential-oil profiles in the AromaForge archive. The live evidence base is much stronger for identity and occurrence than for isolated human-use pharmacology: public sources support its registry identity, repeated GC-MS detection, and a few preclinical inhalation or mixed-oil activity papers, but direct constituent-specific safety and clinical data remain sparse. Archive copy should therefore position calarene as a chemistry-forward marker constituent with limited standalone bioactivity evidence.
Chemical identity and composition
PubChem identifies calarene as C15H24 and lists naming overlap with 1(10)-aristolene and beta-gurjunene. NIST records the same formula for CAS 17334-55-3 under a stereochemically specific cyclopropa[a]naphthalene name. In the archive's sunflower oil profile, calarene appears as a major marker at about 10.02%, while spikenard context in the archive already notes a beta-gurjunene/calarene peak family.
Aroma and practical use
- Use the recorded woody, dry, herbal, sesquiterpenic, herbaceous descriptors to explore a blend's scent character; perceived strength also depends on the other ingredients.
- Compare the recorded goal signals with the intended purpose, while keeping model assumptions separate from observed study outcomes.
- Read the route, preparation and experimental context before using a study finding to choose an oil.
Reported benefits and effects
Findings retain their study context. An animal or laboratory result describes that experiment.
A 2008 mouse vapor-inhalation study reported that calarene reproduced the sedative effect associated with a calarene-rich spikenard extract.
The abstract reports that individual calarene reproduced the extract-level result and lists an effective dose below its original content in the crude material, which supports a constituent-level signal but still only in a preclinical inhalation model.
This experimental finding does not establish benefit, dose or safety in people using this blend.
A 2010 Molecules paper identified calarene at 25.31% in Nardostachys chinensis root/rhizome oil and found antimicrobial and antioxidant activity for the whole oil.
This supports calarene as a major chemotype marker in that oil, but it does not isolate calarene as the confirmed antimicrobial or antioxidant driver.
This experimental finding does not establish benefit, dose or safety in people using this blend.
The archive's sunflower essential oil record is anchored to a public technical sheet that lists calarene at 10.02% in the chromatographic profile.
This makes calarene one of the more prominent named AromaForge constituents in a currently archived oil, strengthening archive relevance even though it is not a bioactivity study.
This reference does not establish a therapeutic result or a safe use level for a custom oil blend.
How it contributes to goal calculations
Model markers guide the formulation score. They are separate from the source findings above.
Use concerns and concentration limits
Sensitization concernNot flagged
Not flagged in the current model. This is not proof of absence or unrestricted safety.
Phototoxicity concernNot flagged
Not flagged in the current model. This is not proof of absence or unrestricted safety.
Oxidation concernNot flagged
Not flagged in the current model. This is not proof of absence or unrestricted safety.
Penetration enhancementNot flagged
Not flagged in the current model. This is not proof of absence or unrestricted safety.
No numeric constituent-specific use limit is available here. Missing is not an unrestricted-use clearance.
The Good Scents entry reviewed in this pass lists calarene as a natural-substances-and-extractives material and shows no published fragrance or flavor use recommendation on the page.
This reference does not establish a therapeutic result or a safe use level for a custom oil blend.
No constituent-specific IFRA limit, human tolerability trial, or dedicated dermal-sensitization paper for isolated calarene was verified in this pass.
This reference does not establish a therapeutic result or a safe use level for a custom oil blend.
Because direct pharmacology and toxicology data are sparse, archive summaries should avoid implying established wellness or therapeutic outcomes for isolated calarene.
This reference does not establish a therapeutic result or a safe use level for a custom oil blend.
Constituents it may interact with
No constituent-pair interaction is recorded for this identity. The report does not assume either amplification or incompatibility.
How the effects were investigated
sedative-like vapor effect in mouse inhalation model
A mouse spontaneous-vapor administration study reported that isolated calarene reproduced sedative-like effects seen with the corresponding spikenard extract, suggesting a central nervous system activity signal under inhalation conditions.
This experimental finding does not establish benefit, dose or safety in people using this blend.
What this report cannot establish
- A reported constituent percentage does not establish an effective human therapeutic dose or the amount absorbed into the body.
- The presence of a constituent does not guarantee a clinical benefit, rash treatment or sleep improvement from a custom blend.
- An unflagged concern or missing use limit does not establish safety for ingestion, inhalation, skin exposure or a particular person.
- A candidate constituent interaction does not establish that two oils amplify one another at the selected proportions.
- Constituent descriptors alone do not establish a precise top, heart or base lifetime in a finished blend.
Known data gaps (6)
- No human clinical study specific to isolated calarene was verified in this pass.
- Most accessible activity literature discusses calarene inside whole oils or extracts rather than as a purified test constituent.
- Direct constituent-specific dermal, inhalation, and repeated-dose safety data for isolated calarene were not located in the reviewed public sources.
- A c6 verification search (2026-07-13) found no RIFM/IFRA safety assessment or dermal-limit citation for calarene (CAS 17334-55-3); the prior unsourced 25% dermal_limit_pct and sensitizing:true were corrected to null.
- No constituent-specific numeric dermal reference is available here.
- Some findings do not record an explicit exposure route; consult the linked study before applying them to a use.