Body & Beauty / Compounds / trans-Anethole

trans-Anethole on your skin: a safety profile

Context-dependent

Safety profile for trans-Anethole relevant to people.

What is trans-anethole?

Also known as: ANETHOLE, Anise camphor, Monasirup, Anethol.

CAS number
4180-23-8
Molecular formula
C10H12O
Molecular weight
148.20 g/mol
SMILES
CC=CC1=CC=C(C=C1)OC
PubChem CID
637563

Risk for people

Context-dependent

Regulatory consensus

1 regulatory bodyhas classified trans-Anethole.

AgencyYearClassificationNotes
EDC Assessment—Suspected endocrine disruptor

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 trans-anethole

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

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to trans-Anethole:

  • 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 trans-anethole?

trans-Anethole appears in: perfume (Personal care); soap (Personal care); cleaning products (Consumer products); candles (Consumer products).

See trans-Anethole in the body app

Look up products containing trans-anethole, 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 →