Filbertone

Note Profile

Molecule

About

Filbertone is the character-impact molecule of hazelnut. It smells of roasted hazelnut with a buttery, faintly chocolatey warmth, a fruity lift, and a sharp metallic flash on the opening that the natural nut does not have.

Scent Profile

Nutty leads, higher than the published Hazelnut note's 0.78, because this is the single molecule that carries the nut rather than the whole roasted nut. Bristol's Molecule of the Month says of both enantiomers simply "Both smell of 'hazelnuts'". Lactonic is the butter and the fat: the same source gives the (R)-form "notes of butter and chocolate" and the (S)-form "a more fatty smell". Coffee_cacao is the chocolate half of that description. Fruity is Symrise's own framing, reported by Perfumer & Flavorist as a "fruity, hazelnut odor profile", and is the clearest thing separating this from the natural note. Sweet_vanillic is the praline residue. Mineral carries the metallic opening: Premiere Peau describes "a sharp, fatty-metallic note flashes first" that "fades within 30 minutes", leaving "closer to praline than to raw nut".

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeHeart · ~4h lasting

Family Sweet & Gourmand

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

(E)-5-methylhept-2-en-4-one, CAS 81925-81-7, FEMA 3761. Sold by Symrise for both flavour and fragrance use. Its odour threshold is low enough that it went undiscovered for decades because routine analysis missed it. The two enantiomers differ: the (R)-form is reported as buttery and chocolatey with about ten times the impact, the (S)-form as fattier.

Usage in Perfumery

Used to build hazelnut, praline and brown gourmand accords. Perfumer & Flavorist reports it "rounds off rose, sandalwood and gourmet concepts" at low levels and "creates a distinctive hazelnut character at higher use levels, adding volume to brown flavors and richness to exotic fruit flavors".