Caffeine

CAS 58-08-2

Caffeine is added to cola and energy drinks as a bittering agent and stimulant. In the United States its use in cola is a specific GRAS listing rather than a general permission.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Caffeine by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationPermitted21 CFR 182.1180retrieved 2026-09-07
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFANot listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.

What it is made from

Extracted from coffee and tea — decaffeination produces it as a by-product, so the caffeine in a cola may have come out of somebody's decaf — or produced by chemical synthesis.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian
CAS registry number
58-08-2
InChIKey
RYYVLZVUVIJVGH-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 2519

Every name it appears under

63 recorded names. A label may use any of them.

CAS registry number

  • 58-08-2

As it appears in regulation

  • Caffeine

Other names

  • 1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6(3H,7H)-dione
  • 1,3,7-trimethyl-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione
  • 1,3,7-Trimethyl-2,6-dioxopurine
  • 1,3,7-Trimethyl-3,7-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione
  • 1,3,7-Trimethylpurine-2,6-dione
  • 1,3,7-Trimethylxanthine
  • 1-methyltheobromine
  • 1H-Purine-2,6-dione, 3,7-dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-
  • 3,7-Dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purin-2,6-dion
  • 3,7-Dihydro-1,3,7-trimethyl-1H-purine-2,6-dione
  • 5-26-13-00558 (Beilstein Handbook Reference)
  • 7-Methyltheophylline
  • Alert-pep
  • Anhydrous caffeine
  • Cafamil
  • Cafecon
  • Cafeina
  • cafeine
  • Caffedrine
  • Caffein
  • Caffeina
  • caffeine
  • Caffeine melting point standard
  • Caffeine, anhydrous
  • Caffeinum
  • Caffine
  • CAFFN
  • Cafipel
  • Coffein
  • Coffeine
  • Coffeinum
  • Dexitac
  • Durvitan
  • Eldiatric C
  • FEMA No. 2224
  • Guaranine
  • Hycomine
  • Kofein
  • Koffein
  • Mateina
  • Methyltheobromide
  • Methyltheobromine
  • Methylxanthine theophylline
  • Nix Nap
  • No-Doz
  • Nodaca
  • NODOZ
  • NoDoz Caplets and Chewable Tablets
  • Organex
  • Quick Pep
  • QuickPep
  • Refresh'n
  • Stim
  • teina
  • Thein
  • Theine
  • Tirend
  • TREZIX COMPONENT CAFFEINE
  • Tri-Aqua
  • Vivarin

Systematic names

  • 1,3,7-trimethyl-3,7-dihydro-1H-purine-2,6-dione

Hazard reference values

No reference value for this substance in the sources we hold.

Evidence and how bodies read it

Studies, and the differing conclusions regulators drew from them, are curated by hand rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.

Sources for this page

  • ecfr retrieved 2026-09-07

Full licence terms and publisher details on Sources. How this page is built and updated: Method.

Machine-readable:/api/v1/additives/caffeine.json