Carvone
chemical compound
Carvone is a member of a family of chemicals called terpenoids. Carvone is found naturally in many essential oils, but is most abundant in the oils from seeds of caraway (Carum carvi), spearmint (Mentha spicata), and dill.
Uses
Food applications
Both carvones are used in the food and flavor industry. As the compound most responsible for the flavor of caraway, dill, and spearmint, carvone has been used for millennia in food. Food applications are mainly met by carvone made from limonene. R-(−)-Carvone is also used for air freshening products and, like many essential oils, oils containing carvones are used in aromatherapy and alternative medicine.
Agriculture
S-(+)-Carvone is also used to prevent premature sprouting of potatoes during storage, being marketed in the Netherlands for this purpose under the name Talent.
Insect control
R-(−)-Carvone has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use as a mosquito repellent.
Stereoisomerism and odor
Carvone has two mirror image forms, or enantiomers: R-(−)-carvone, the sweetish minty smell of spearmint leaves. Its mirror image, S-(+)-carvone, has a spicy aroma with notes of rye, and gives caraway seeds their smell.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Carvone” as chemical compound. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the science & nature register because the source frames it as chemical compound. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q416800. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Scientific names, classifications and consensus can change while older terminology persists in catalogues and historical literature. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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This entry incorporates text from “Carvone” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.