Β-Pinene
β-Pinene is a monoterpene, an organic compound found in plants. It is the less abundant of the two isomers of pinene, the other being α-pinene. It is a colorless liquid soluble in alcohol, but not water. It has a woody-green pine-like smell.
β-Pinene is one of the most abundant compounds released by forest trees. If oxidized in air, the allylic products of the pinocarveol and myrtenol family prevail.
Uses
β-Pinene is usedin the production of other aroma compounds. It converts to myrcene upon heating at 500 °C. Nerol is obtained by careful fractional distillation of crude nerol from myrcene).Reaction with formaldehyde converts β-pinene to nopol. When nopol is acetylated, the result is nopyl acetate, which is used as fragrance material.