Is Geraniol natural? NOI route-dependent

Q: Is Geraniol natural?

Geraniol is a route-dependent ingredient — its NOI (0–1) depends on the manufacturing process used. Geraniol made from pine-turpentine myrcene or distilled from palmarosa or citronella oil is natural origin; geraniol made from isobutylene-based citral is petrochemical.

Why the score varies

This ingredient is made commercially by more than one route, and ISO 16128 scores the feedstock actually used. Without a supplier certificate of origin the value cannot be claimed.

Route	Feedstock	NOI	Share
From pine myrcene	myrcene cracked from β-pinene in pine turpentine; HCl, acetate, then hydrolysis	1.00	major synthetic route
Natural isolation	palmarosa or citronella oil distillation	1.00	~40%
From petrochemical citral	citral built from isobutylene and formaldehyde, hydrogenated	0.00	major synthetic route

Ask your supplier. A batch-specific certificate of origin or bio-based carbon test (ASTM D6866) settles which route applies.

How we scored it

Route-dependent: geraniol made from pine-turpentine myrcene or distilled from essential oils is a whole natural terpenoid (1.00); geraniol hydrogenated from isobutylene-based citral is 0.00. Routes not averaged.

What counts. ISO 16128-2 scores the atoms that remain in the final ingredient. Reagents, solvents, catalysts and protecting groups used during manufacture leave no mass behind and are not counted.

How it’s made

Myrcene + HCl (allylic cation, 1,4-addition), then acetate SN2 → geranyl acetate. The film draws the key step and names the steps after it. Each curved arrow moves one electron pair, and the film ends on the score above.

Where it comes from

Much geraniol is made from myrcene, cracked from β-pinene in pine turpentine, which counts as natural origin; another large share is hydrogenated from citral built from petrochemical isobutylene. A natural isolate is distilled from palmarosa or citronella oil.

In plain English

A rose-scented fragrance and skin-conditioning ingredient. It is distilled from palmarosa or citronella oil, made from pine terpenes, or made from petrochemicals; only the last is not natural origin.

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Structure

(2E)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dien-1-ol

PubChem CID 637566 ↗

References

1ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017 — Guidelines on technical definitions and criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. ISO, Geneva.
2Geraniol. PubChem CID 637566. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
3GERANIOL. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
4GERANIOL. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=GERANIOL