Body & Beauty / Compounds / Phenethyl acetate

Phenethyl acetate on your skin: a safety profile

Context-dependent

Safety profile for Phenethyl acetate relevant to people.

What is phenethyl acetate?

Also known as: 2-Phenylethyl acetate, 2-Phenethyl acetate, Benzylcarbinyl acetate, Acetic acid, 2-phenylethyl ester.

CAS number
103-45-7
Molecular formula
C10H12O2
Molecular weight
164.20 g/mol
SMILES
CC(=O)OCCC1=CC=CC=C1
PubChem CID
7654

Risk for people

Context-dependent

Regulatory consensus

1 regulatory bodyhas classified Phenethyl acetate.

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 phenethyl acetate

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

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Phenethyl acetate:

  • 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 phenethyl acetate?

Phenethyl acetate appears in: perfume (Personal care); soap (Personal care); cleaning products (Consumer products); candles (Consumer products).

See Phenethyl acetate in the body app

Look up products containing phenethyl acetate, 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 →