Hemp & Cannabinoid Science / Terpene Monographs / Linalool
Linalool
An acyclic monoterpene alcohol with rodent anxiolytic and sedative data, documented effects on glutamate release and on GABA-A receptors — the latter largely via its metabolites rather than the parent compound.
At a glance
| Structure class | acyclic monoterpenoid — a tertiary monoterpene alcohol |
|---|---|
| Molecular formula | C10H18O |
| Molar mass | about 154.25 g/mol |
| Boiling point at 1 atm | about 198 to 199 degrees Celsius (388 to 390 degrees Fahrenheit) |
| Vaporization band | about 175 to 190 degrees Celsius (347 to 374 degrees Fahrenheit) |
| Enantiomers | (R)-(-)-linalool, the licareol form, is the lavender-type odour; (S)-(+)-linalool, coriandrol, is the coriander-type |
| Documented targets | inhibition of glutamate release and glutamate binding in rat cortex; modulation of GABA-A receptors reported principally for linalool metabolites |
| Aroma | floral, lavender, faintly citrus and woody |
| Regulatory | GRAS flavouring; also an EU-declarable fragrance allergen, principally via its oxidation products |
On this page
Structure and physical constants
Linalool is a monoterpenoid — an acyclic tertiary alcohol, C10H18O at about 154.25 g/mol, boiling at about 198 to 199 degrees Celsius at one atmosphere. That is the highest boiling point of any monoterpene-class compound on this shelf and it puts linalool at the top of the monoterpene vaporization band, overlapping the bottom of the sesquiterpene band. The tertiary hydroxyl makes linalool prone to acid-catalysed dehydration and rearrangement, and prone to autoxidation to linalool hydroperoxides — which, as with limonene, are the recognised contact sensitisers rather than the parent alcohol, and are the reason linalool appears on fragrance-allergen declaration lists. Both enantiomers occur naturally in characteristic distributions; lavender is dominated by the (R)-(-) form.
Sources: Compiled from public compound databases (PubChem 2026*
Glutamate and GABA: what is documented, and the metabolite twist contested animal
Elisabetsky, Marschner and Onofre Souza reported that linalool inhibits glutamatergic transmission in rat cerebral cortex, affecting glutamate binding and release — the earliest specific mechanistic account of linalool's central effects, and one that points to reduced excitatory drive rather than to direct inhibitory potentiation. Linck and colleagues later showed that INHALED linalool produced anxiolytic effects in mice with increased social interaction and reduced aggression, which is important because it establishes activity by the route actually used in aromatherapy and in vaporization rather than only by injection. The GABA story needs a specific caveat. Milanos and colleagues examined linalool and its metabolic products at GABA-A receptors and found that the modulation attributed to linalool is substantially carried by metabolites rather than by the parent compound. That is a genuinely important qualification: it means an in-vitro assay on neat linalool and an in-vivo inhalation experiment can disagree for a real reason, and it means the popular shorthand that linalool is a GABA-A modulator is an oversimplification of a metabolite-dependent effect.
Contested — caveat. Rodent data. GABA-A modulation is reported principally for linalool metabolites, not for the parent compound, so parent-compound in-vitro assays and whole-animal inhalation results are not directly comparable. No controlled human anxiolysis trial on isolated linalool is cited here.
Sources: Elisabetsky E 1995 · Linck VM 2010 · Milanos S 2017
Anticonvulsant, analgesic and anti-inflammatory reports contested in vitro
Beyond the anxiolytic literature, linalool appears in rodent anticonvulsant, antinociceptive and local-anaesthetic-like reports, and it is one of the terpenes most often invoked in the entourage discussion as a candidate contributor to a sedating or anxiolytic profile in cannabis. Russo's review collects these threads. The constraint is the same one that applies across this shelf: linalool is typically a low-percentage constituent of the terpene fraction of cannabis, and the terpene fraction is itself a few percent of dry flower weight, so the absolute quantity delivered is small compared with the doses used in the animal work. LaVigne and colleagues reported that several cannabis terpenes including linalool behaved cannabimimetically and could enhance cannabinoid receptor activity in their assay system; Santiago and colleagues, testing common cannabis terpenoids for modulation of THC activity at human CB1 and CB2, found none. Both results are in vitro and they disagree.
Contested — caveat. Entourage claims for linalool rest on conflicting in-vitro results and on animal doses well above the amount present in inhaled or ingested plant material. Dose realism is the binding constraint, not mechanism plausibility.
Sources: Russo EB 2011 · LaVigne JE 2021 · Santiago M 2019 · Booth JK 2019
Where linalool actually is, and at what percent contested
| Botanical | Reported linalool content | Basis | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lavender (Lavandula spp.) | a dominant constituent alongside linalyl acetate | percent of essential oil | Linck 2010; reference compilation |
| Coriander seed (Coriandrum sativum) | the dominant constituent, largely the (S)-(+) enantiomer | percent of essential oil | reference compilation |
| Sweet basil, rosewood, ho wood | a major constituent | percent of essential oil | reference compilation |
| Cannabis sativa | a common minor to moderate constituent of the terpene fraction | percent of terpene fraction | Booth and Bohlmann 2019; Russo 2011 |
| Lippia alba chemotypes | present; central effects studied alongside citral, myrcene and limonene | percent of essential oil | do Vale 2002 |
Contested — caveat. Chemotype figures from reference compilation and from the cited studies; lavender oil composition in particular is heavily cultivar- and altitude-dependent and is frequently adulterated with synthetic linalool and linalyl acetate.
Sources: Linck VM 2010 · Compiled from public compound databases (PubChem 2026* · Booth JK 2019 · Russo EB 2011 · do Vale TG 2002
Industry notes
Linalool is one of the most-adulterated compounds in the essential-oil trade because synthetic linalool is cheap and the natural material is not; enantiomeric-excess analysis on a chiral column is the standard way to catch it, since synthetic linalool is typically racemic while natural material is not. For a formulator, the hydroperoxide issue governs shelf life and allergen declaration on anything linalool-bearing that will be sold in the EU. For a lab tech, linalool's high boiling point among monoterpenes means it does not track with alpha-pinene and myrcene as a freshness indicator — a sample can be linalool-rich and monoterpene-poor simply from having been warm.
Sources: Compiled from public compound databases (PubChem 2026*
See also
- Terpenes and Terpenoids: How to Read This Shelf — Terpene Monographs
- Vaporization Temperature Bands: An Industry Reference — Terpene Monographs
- Limonene — Terpene Monographs
- The Entourage Effect, Honestly — Endocannabinoid Modulation
- The Panels: What Each One Covers, and What It Does Not — Reading a Certificate of Analysis
References
- Compiled from public compound databases (PubChem, NIST WebBook) and supplier specification sheets (2026) Physical constants for terpenes and terpenoids: formula, molar mass, atmospheric boiling point Reference compilation; individual values vary between sources and are given as ranges here. [identifier unverified]
- Elisabetsky E, Marschner J, Onofre Souza D (1995) Effects of linalool on glutamatergic system in the rat cerebral cortex Neurochemical Research 20(4):461-465. doi:10.1007/bf00973103
- Linck VM, da Silva AL, Figueiro M, Caramao EB, Moreno PRH, Elisabetsky E (2010) Effects of inhaled linalool in anxiety, social interaction and aggressive behavior in mice Phytomedicine 17(8-9):679-683. doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2009.10.002
- Milanos S, Elsharif SA, Janzen D, Buettner A, Villmann C (2017) Metabolic products of linalool and modulation of GABA-A receptors Frontiers in Chemistry 5:46. doi:10.3389/fchem.2017.00046
- Russo EB (2011) Taming THC: potential cannabis synergy and phytocannabinoid-terpenoid entourage effects British Journal of Pharmacology 163(7):1344-1364. doi:10.1111/j.1476-5381.2011.01238.x
- LaVigne JE, Hecksel R, Keresztes A, Streicher JM (2021) Cannabis sativa terpenes are cannabimimetic and selectively enhance cannabinoid activity Scientific Reports 11:8232. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-87740-8
- Santiago M, Sachdev S, Arnold JC, McGregor IS, Connor M (2019) Absence of entourage: terpenoids commonly found in Cannabis sativa do not modulate the functional activity of delta-9-THC at human CB1 and CB2 receptors Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research 4(3):165-176. doi:10.1089/can.2019.0016
- Booth JK, Bohlmann J (2019) Terpenes in Cannabis sativa — from plant genome to humans Plant Science 284:67-72. doi:10.1016/j.plantsci.2019.03.022
- do Vale TG, Furtado EC, Santos JG, Viana GSB (2002) Central effects of citral, myrcene and limonene, constituents of essential oil chemotypes from Lippia alba Phytomedicine 9(8):709-714. doi:10.1078/094471102321621304
9 references, of which 1 carry no resolved identifier and are marked as such. A DOI is only recorded here when it was resolved against Crossref and the returned title matched the one printed. None was guessed.
Absence is not safety. A substance or a pair that is not in this section was not checked and is not thereby safe. This is a curated mechanism reference built from primary literature and regulatory reference works — not a comprehensive interaction database, and not a substitute for a clinician or a pharmacist.
Posture
Education and harm reduction. Not medical, legal or financial advice. Every factual claim carries a source; contested and single-source claims are marked as such on the page.
The boundary. This section teaches separation, purification, formulation, dosing arithmetic and analytical chemistry with real parameters, because withholding that detail from someone who will proceed anyway is the harm this library exists to prevent. It does not publish preparative routes for converting one cannabinoid into a more intoxicating one; those are described structurally and cited to the literature, without procedures.