Title: odour threshold
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - odour threshold
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.O04279
Status: current

Definition
The concentration of a compound which produces an odour which is detectable by a human being (nose). For certain compounds this threshold is very low (e.g. 1 part in \(10^{9}\) for certain sulfides).

Related Term
- sulfides: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/S06102

Source
- PAC, 1990, 62, 2167. 'Glossary of atmospheric chemistry terms (Recommendations 1990)' on page 2204 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199062112167)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/O04279/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/O04279/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/O04279/xml

Citation: Citation: 'odour threshold' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.O04279
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-08-04T01:45:16+00:00