Geraniol is an acyclic monoterpene alcohol, the main scent of rose and palmarosa oils and a component of geranium and citronella. Its smell is rosy, sweet and floral with a citrus edge. It forms when the phosphate group is removed from geranyl pyrophosphate, the same C10 precursor that feeds both monoterpenes and cannabinoids.
In practice
In cannabis it is generally minor, not detected to roughly 0.1% w/w. It often appears together with linalool in floral-leaning profiles. Labs sometimes report geranyl acetate, its ester, separately. Geraniol is moderately volatile and can oxidise to citral-type aldehydes during storage.
Don't confuse with
- Geranyl pyrophosphate: the phosphorylated precursor, not an aroma compound.
- Geranial: an aldehyde (part of citral), lemon-scented.
- Nerol: the cis isomer of geraniol, with a sweeter rose note.
A monoterpene is a ten-carbon terpene made from geranyl pyrophosphate, such as myrcene, limonene, pinene or terpinolene; they are the most volatile terpenes and the first lost in drying.Phosphate is the ionic form in which plants absorb phosphorus, mainly H2PO4- at the normal root-zone pH of 5.5-6.5.Geranyl pyrophosphate (GPP) is a ten-carbon terpene precursor that cannabis uses both to build monoterpenes and, joined to olivetolic acid, to make the cannabinoid precursor CBGA.A cannabinoid is any compound that binds the body's cannabinoid receptors or shares the typical cannabis terpenophenolic structure; the plant-made ones are phytocannabinoids such as THCA and CBDA.ND (non-detect) on a COA means the compound was not found at or above the method's limit of detection; it does not mean the amount is zero.Linalool is a floral, lavender-scented monoterpene alcohol found in lavender and some cannabis cultivars, usually at low levels below 0.3% w/w.A terpenoid is a terpene-derived compound that carries extra functional groups, usually oxygen (alcohols, oxides, ketones), such as linalool, bisabolol or caryophyllene oxide.A terpene profile is the measured mix of terpenes in a sample, reported as each compound's % w/w and the total, used to describe and compare cultivar aroma chemistry.
