PerfuMate › IFRA limits › Dimethyl anthranilate

How much Dimethyl anthranilate can you put in a perfume?

IFRA standard: Methyl N-methylanthranilate · Category 4, 51st Amendment

0.1%

of the finished perfume, at most

Under the IFRA Standards (51st Amendment, Category 4: fine fragrance on skin), Dimethyl anthranilate may make up at most 0.1% of the finished perfume. In an eau de parfum at 18%, that is at most 0.555% of your concentrate: 0.555% of every 100 g.

Check your own formula in the free IFRA calculator

What the limit means at your strength

The limit is on the finished perfume, so the stronger the perfume, the less Dimethyl anthranilate its concentrate can hold. If nothing else in the formula carries it:

Perfume strength	Most Dimethyl anthranilate in the concentrate
Cologne, 5%	2%
Eau de toilette, 10%	1%
15%	0.666%
Eau de parfum, 18%	0.555%
20%	0.5%
Extrait, 25%	0.4%

What the standard says

It is capped because it is phototoxic: on skin it can react with sunlight, so this limit is about sun exposure rather than allergy.

Which materials contain Dimethyl anthranilate?

Sold as Dimethyl anthranilate itself, counted in full:

Dimethyl Anthranilate

It also arrives inside other materials. The limit is on the total, so the calculator adds every source together. The largest carriers in PerfuMate's catalog, by their typical composition:

Material	Typical content	Alone at 18%, at most
Petitgrain Mandarin Essential Oilnatural	50%	1.11% of the concentrate
Champaca Absolutenatural	4%	13.8% of the concentrate
Mandarin Oil Terpenelessnatural	4%	13.8% of the concentrate
Orange Blossom Absolutenatural	3%	18.5% of the concentrate
Tuberose Absolutenatural	3%	18.5% of the concentrate
Tuberose Concretenatural	2%	27.7% of the concentrate
Floranol 959281™ (Fraterworks)	1.5%	37% of the concentrate
Orange Flower Concretenatural	1.5%	37% of the concentrate

23 materials in the catalog carry Dimethyl anthranilate; the calculator counts every one of them.

Shares are the catalog's typical values. A real batch varies with origin and season, and your supplier's analysis (GC-MS or certificate of analysis) is the real figure.

A worked example

A 100 g concentrate, bottled as an eau de parfum at 18%:

Material	Weighed
Dimethyl Anthranilate	0.28 g
Petitgrain Mandarin Essential Oil	0.67 g
Ethylene Brassylate no IFRA limit	99.05 g

Dimethyl Anthranilate alone brings 0.0504% Dimethyl anthranilate to the finished perfume, and Petitgrain Mandarin Essential Oil adds 0.0603%. Each looks modest, but the perfume holds 0.111% against a limit of 0.1%: 1.11 times the limit. To bring it inside on its own, the calculator cuts Dimethyl Anthranilate from 0.28 g to 0.253 g and Petitgrain Mandarin Essential Oil from 0.67 g to 0.605 g. Or keep the formula and bottle it weaker: the highest strength inside every limit is 16.26%.

Open this example in the IFRA calculator

Or paste these lines into the calculator:

Dimethyl Anthranilate  0.28 g
Petitgrain Mandarin Essential Oil  0.67 g
Ethylene Brassylate  99.05 g

Questions

Is Dimethyl anthranilate banned in perfume?

No. IFRA restricts it: at most 0.1% of a fine fragrance (Category 4).

How much Dimethyl anthranilate can I use in an eau de parfum?

At 18%, at most 0.555% of the concentrate, if nothing else in the formula carries Dimethyl anthranilate. Every other source counts toward the same total.

Does Dimethyl anthranilate from essential oils count?

Yes. The limit is on the total in the finished perfume, whatever brings it: Petitgrain Mandarin Essential Oil typically carries 50%. The calculator adds every source.

Does this limit apply to candles or soap?

No. This is Category 4, fine fragrance on skin. Other products sit in other IFRA categories with other limits, which these pages and the calculator do not cover.