Body & Beauty / Compounds / Benzyl benzoate

Benzyl benzoate on your skin: a safety profile

Context-dependent

Safety profile for Benzyl benzoate relevant to people.

What is benzyl benzoate?

Also known as: Ascabiol, Benylate, Benzoic acid, phenylmethyl ester, Novoscabin.

CAS number
120-51-4
Molecular formula
C14H12O2
Molecular weight
212.24 g/mol
SMILES
C1=CC=C(C=C1)COC(=O)C2=CC=CC=C2
PubChem CID
2345

Risk for people

Context-dependent

Regulatory consensus

1 regulatory bodyhas classified Benzyl benzoate.

AgencyYearClassificationNotes
Unknown——

Regulators apply different standards of evidence — animal-data weighting, exposure-pattern assumptions, epidemiological power thresholds — which is why two scientific bodies can review the same data and reach different conclusions. The disagreement is the data.

Where you encounter benzyl benzoate

  • Personal Care — perfume, soap, cosmetics
  • Consumer Products — cleaning products, candles

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Benzyl benzoate:

  • Lower-sensitization structural analog; Unscented formulation
    Trade-offs: Eliminates allergen risk entirely; consumer acceptance varies (some associate scent with cleanliness/efficacy); growing market segment; regulatory advantage in EU (no IFRA compliance needed).
    Relative cost: 1.2-2×

Frequently asked questions

What products contain benzyl benzoate?

Benzyl benzoate appears in: perfume (Personal care); soap (Personal care); cleaning products (Consumer products); candles (Consumer products).

See Benzyl benzoate in the body app

Look up products containing benzyl benzoate, compare to alternatives, and explore the full data record.

Open in body View raw API data

Sources (1)
  1. PubChem (2026) — database

Reference data, not professional advice. Aggregates publicly available regulatory and scientific data; not a substitute for veterinary, medical, legal, or regulatory advice. Why we built ALETHEIA →