Cuparene is a cedarwood- and hiba-linked sesquiterpene hydrocarbon with strong identity and occurrence support but a sparse standalone bioactivity and safety literature. Current public sources show it as a recurring minor-to-moderate marker in several wood oils in the AromaForge archive, while direct isolated-compound evidence remains limited and should be described cautiously. The most defensible positioning is as a woody compositional marker with emerging mechanistic hints and clear data gaps.
Chemical identity and composition
PubChem and NIST identify cuparene as C15H22 with CAS 16982-00-6. Within the archive it recurs in hiba wood and several cedarwood profiles as a smaller sesquiterpene hydrocarbon marker rather than a dominant bulk constituent.
Aroma and practical use
- Use the recorded woody, dry, resinous, cedar-like, resin 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 public hiba wood GC-MS paper reported cuparene at 5.1% of Aomori hiba wood-chip oil, supporting its role as a recurrent wood-oil marker constituent.
This is occurrence evidence rather than functional evidence, but it is directly readable and aligns with the archive's oil records.
This reference does not establish a therapeutic result or a safe use level for a custom oil blend.
A 2024 open-access receptor paper reported that (+)-cuparene at 100 micromolar increased GABA-induced currents to 278.80% +/- 19.13% in HEK293 cells expressing alpha1beta3gamma2L GABAA receptors and shifted the dose-response curve leftward.
Because the paper centered on a multi-herb preparation and only one metabolite showed in vivo zebrafish anti-insomnia effects, this cuparene signal should be treated as an isolated receptor-assay finding rather than a validated behavioral outcome.
This experimental finding does not establish benefit, dose or safety in people using this 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.
This research pass did not verify a cuparene-specific IFRA standard, RIFM safety assessment, or human dermal dataset.
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.
Commercial catalog pages and general chemistry listings should not be treated as substitutes for dedicated toxicology data.
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
positive allosteric modulation of GABAA receptor currents in vitro
A 2024 open-access paper on a traditional formula reported that (+)-cuparene increased GABA-induced currents in a receptor assay, but the broader article was mixture-focused and did not establish cuparene as an insomnia treatment.
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 strong constituent-specific human safety or efficacy literature for isolated cuparene was verified in this pass.
- The main functional signal identified for cuparene was a receptor-assay result inside a broader mixture-focused paper, so translational confidence remains low.
- Aroma descriptors and practical perfumery character for isolated cuparene are much less standardized in primary literature than its occurrence in wood oils.
- Follow-up web search (2026-07-11) for cuparene RIFM/IFRA dermal-sensitization data again returned only general RIFM/IFRA framework pages; no cuparene-specific RIFM assessment or IFRA Standard was found. dermal_limit_pct (25) and dermal_limit_verified (false) are left unchanged as an unverified placeholder.
- Re-check web search (2026-07-13) for cuparene dermal limit, sensitization, and phototoxicity again returned only generic RIFM/IFRA framework pages (rifm.org, ifrafragrance.org standards compendium, Scentspiracy IFRA-limits blog) with no cuparene-specific entry. The prior placeholder dermal_limit_pct (25%) 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 cuparene 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.