ethyl 3-methylbutyrate

fruity ester

Found in 3 ingredients across the CompKitchen flavor graph.

Look up another compound — search by name, CAS number, PubChem CID, or FEMA #.

Properties

Odor description: fruity
Odor threshold — orthonasal, in clean water: 0.200 ppb – 1.6 ppb median 0.900 ppb · 2 published values · see all 16 with sources
CAS number: 108-64-5
Retention index: 843

Not in FEMA GRAS publications 1-33. Of 3,367 listed flavoring substances, none match this compound name. May still be food-safe under other regulatory routes (FDA 21 CFR 172, EFSA, JECFA) — check femaflavor.org for the authoritative current list.

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

0.200 ppb – 1.6 ppb

The reference measurement — smelled in water. OAV is computed against this.

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
0.200 ppb SIDA	water	Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies	—
1.6 ppb	water/ethanol 6:4 (food: american bourbon whisky)	Literature corpus	17499755, 29234071, 32619948 +8

In a food matrix

10.8 ppb – 855 ppb

Measured in a real food, where the matrix shifts detection — not a clean-water value.

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
0.002 ppb	water (food: beer)	Literature corpus	17499755, 33889833
Flagged: 8933× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
0.023 ppb	water (food: reference standard (water))	Literature corpus	17499755, 29234071, 32619948 +8
Flagged: 583× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
0.100 ppb	water (food: lime)	Literature corpus	17499755, 29234071, 32619948 +8
Flagged: 134× from the median of this group. Excluded from the range above pending re-check against the source publication — shown rather than hidden.
10.8 ppb	water (food: unknown)	Literature corpus	33488534, 35396186
16.0 ppb	water (food: rice)	Literature corpus	38846797, 40467248
19.9 ppb	water (food: wine)	Literature corpus	32619948, 32630090, 39974541
227 ppb	water (food: peach)	Literature corpus	17499755, 29234071, 32619948 +8
855 ppb	water (food: bread)	Literature corpus	38519512

Retronasal / in-mouth

0.030 ppb

Tasted rather than smelled — a different sense, not comparable.

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
0.030 ppb SIDA	water_retronasal	Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies	—

In air

0.013 ppb

Airborne detection — not comparable to a water threshold.

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
0.013 ppb	air	Nagata 2003	—

Other matrix

1.6 ppb – 3.0 ppb

Measured in a non-aqueous medium (oil, starch, cellulose).

Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
1.6 ppb	ethanol/water (food: rum / red wine)	Literature corpus	17499755, 29234071, 32619948 +8
1.6 ppb	ethanol/water 40/60 (food: rum (aged))	Literature corpus	17499755, 29234071, 32619948 +8
1.6 ppb	ethanol/water 40/60 (food: rum (young))	Literature corpus	17499755, 29234071, 32619948 +8
3.0 ppb	wine matrix (12% ethanol) (food: rum / red wine)	Literature corpus	17499755, 29234071, 32619948 +8

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 share

Every ingredient known to contain ethyl 3-methylbutyrate. 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 ethyl 3-methylbutyrate in it.

215 cmpds

320 cmpds

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