3-methylbutyl acetate
fruity ester Key food odorantFound in 23 ingredients across the CompKitchen flavor graph.
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Key food odorant (intermediary)
Dunkel et al. 2014Identified in the meta-analysis of 227 food samples as one of 57 intermediary odorants — appears in 5–25% of foods. Characteristic odor: fruity, banana.
Properties
- Odor description
- banana, fruity, pear, sweet
- Odor threshold — orthonasal, in clean water
- 2.0 ppb – 245 ppb median 19.0 ppb · 3 published values · see all 16 with sources
- CAS number
- 123-92-2
- Retention index
- 881
How this molecule is described
Sources disagree about odour more often than they disagree about chemistry. Rather than show one answer, here is every description on file with how many ingredient records carry it.
Ordered by how many independent descriptor streams give each wording, then by how often it appears. The bar is still replication — one source copied onto many ingredients scores high there — so the two can disagree.
Bars are the share of ingredient records carrying each description. High agreement means the sources replicate each other — not necessarily that they are right.
Published thresholds
16 measured values from the literature. Grouped by what was actually measured — a threshold smelled in clean water, tasted in the mouth, or measured in a real food are three different quantities and are not pooled.
Orthonasal, in clean water
2.0 ppb – 245 ppbThe reference measurement — smelled in water. OAV is computed against this.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.0 ppb | water_odor | Leffingwell | — |
| 19.0 ppb SIDA | water | Rychlik 1998 · 3 studies | — |
| 245 ppb SIDA | water/ethanol 6:4 (food: american bourbon whisky) | Literature corpus | 18570373, 19753606, 25939071 +14 |
In a food matrix
2.1 ppb – 872 ppbMeasured in a real food, where the matrix shifts detection — not a clean-water value.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.090 ppb SIDA | water (food: banana) | Literature corpus | 18570373, 19753606, 25939071 +14 |
| Flagged: 389× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 0.326 ppb SIDA | water (food: beer) | Literature corpus | 18570373, 19753606, 25939071 +14 |
| Flagged: 107× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden. | |||
| 2.1 ppb SIDA | water (food: grape) | Literature corpus | 18570373, 19753606, 25939071 +14 |
| 33.0 ppb | water (food: rice) | Literature corpus | 26973621, 38846797, 40467248 |
| 35.0 ppb | water (food: tea) | Literature corpus | 31861730, 32796601, 35956905 |
| 52.0 ppb | water (food: wine) | Literature corpus | 25939071, 32397426, 32657431 +1 |
| 83.0 ppb | water (food: beef) | Literature corpus | 28911457 |
| 457 ppb | water (food: lime) | Literature corpus | 41048468 |
| 872 ppb SIDA | water (food: unknown) | Literature corpus | 18570373, 19753606, 33995294 +1 |
Retronasal / in-mouth
3.0 ppbTasted rather than smelled — a different sense, not comparable.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.0 ppb SIDA | water_retronasal | Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies | — |
Other matrix
30.0 ppb – 250 ppbMeasured in a non-aqueous medium (oil, starch, cellulose).
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30.0 ppb SIDA | wine matrix (12% ethanol) (food: rum / red wine) | Literature corpus | 18570373, 19753606, 25939071 +14 |
| 245 ppb SIDA | ethanol/water 40/60 (food: rum (aged)) | Literature corpus | 18570373, 19753606, 25939071 +14 |
| 250 ppb SIDA | ethanol/water (food: rum / red wine) | Literature corpus | 18570373, 19753606, 25939071 +14 |
Only values we can attribute are listed. Where a compendium's licence does not permit public attribution its figures are omitted here, so every number on this page traces to a citable source.
Found in
Measured impact first, then profile shareEvery ingredient known to contain 3-methylbutyl acetate. Ingredients with a measured concentration come first, ranked by odour activity; the rest follow by how large a share of that ingredient's profile this molecule is. The figure beside each is how many different compounds that ingredient has in total — not the concentration of 3-methylbutyl acetate in it.
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