Geraniol is an acyclic, ten-carbon primary alcohol with molecular formula . Its carbon skeleton contains two double bonds and a terminal hydroxyl group. It is chemically distinct from geranyl diphosphate, the activated diphosphate ester of that alcohol.[ref]
A 2004 study by Yoko Iijima and colleagues connected this structure to a plant reaction. They purified geraniol synthase activity from leaf glands of sweet basil and showed conversion of geranyl diphosphate into geraniol. Expression of the identified gene produced an enzyme with similar activity.[ref]
The motivating mechanistic experiment used isotope labelling. Supplying water containing oxygen-18 led to oxygen-18-labelled geraniol. That result tracked the origin of the product's oxygen and supported a synthase-type mechanism rather than simple removal of phosphate groups by a phosphatase.[ref]
The distinction is experimentally powerful: two proposed routes can yield the same unlabelled product yet predict different atom origins. Measuring how much geraniol appears answers a yield question; locating the label addresses a mechanistic question. The isotope observation complements product identification rather than replacing it.

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