Cubebol is a sesquiterpene alcohol best known in AromaForge as a cubeb-oil marker with a spicy woody profile and a distinctive cooling sensory character. The live public evidence base is moderate for identity, occurrence, and industrial interest, but much thinner for human safety or clinical-style efficacy. Current sources support presenting cubebol as a cubeb-linked aroma constituent with isolated preclinical larvicidal activity and modern biosynthesis work, while keeping wellness and safety claims conservative and explicitly gap-labeled.
Chemical identity and composition
PubChem and NIST identify cubebol as C15H26O with CAS 23445-02-5. In the archive it is a supporting-to-major sesquiterpene alcohol in cubeb oil, and modern fermentation work also treats it as a commercially relevant flavor and fragrance target rather than only an analytical natural-product marker.
Aroma and practical use
- Use the recorded spicy, woody, peppery, fresh, cooling descriptors to explore a blend's scent character; perceived strength also depends on the other ingredients.
- 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 2009 larvicidal study reported that isolated cubebol showed the strongest activity among the tested wood-extract constituents against Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus larvae, with LC50 values of 60.1 and 50.0 microg/mL respectively.
This is direct isolated-compound evidence, but it is an entomology finding rather than a human-health effect.
This experimental finding does not establish benefit, dose or safety in people using this blend.
A 2018 open-access biosynthesis study identified a Coniophora puteana synthase that generated cubebol with 75% product selectivity and achieved 497 mg/L production in engineered E. coli.
The paper supports cubebol's commercial and biochemical relevance as a standalone target molecule.
This reference does not establish a therapeutic result or a safe use level for a custom oil blend.
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.
This research pass did not verify a constituent-specific RIFM safety assessment, IFRA dermal limit, or human repeat-insult dataset for isolated cubebol.
This reference does not establish a therapeutic result or a safe use level for a custom oil blend.
No direct public citation is attached to this entry.
Public flavor/fragrance listings support commercial use of cubebol, but those listings are not substitutes for a dedicated toxicology assessment.
This reference does not establish a therapeutic result or a safe use level for a custom oil blend.
No direct public citation is attached to this entry.
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
mosquito larvicidal activity in isolated-compound testing
A parasite-research paper isolated cubebol from Cryptomeria japonica wood extract and reported direct larvicidal activity against Aedes species.
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 (7)
- No constituent-specific human clinical literature was verified for isolated cubebol in this pass.
- Public safety coverage for isolated cubebol is much thinner than identity, occurrence, and flavor-fragrance usage coverage.
- Aroma descriptors beyond broad spicy-woody-cooling language remain sparsely standardized in primary sources.
- Follow-up web search (2026-07-11) for cubebol RIFM/IFRA dermal-limit data again returned only general RIFM/IFRA framework pages; no cubebol-specific RIFM assessment or IFRA Standard was found. dermal_limit_pct (20) and dermal_limit_verified (false) are left unchanged as an unverified placeholder.
- Re-check web search (2026-07-13) for cubebol dermal limit, sensitization, and phototoxicity again returned only generic RIFM/IFRA framework pages (rifm.org, ifrafragrance.org standards compendium) with no cubebol-specific entry. The prior placeholder dermal_limit_pct (20%) and sensitizing (true) values had no locatable citation and were corrected to null rather than left as unsupported numbers/flags. No constituent-specific dermal limit, sensitization, or phototoxicity data for isolated cubebol has been verified as of this pass.
- 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.