2-methylbutanoate
Key food odorantFound in 3 ingredients across the CompKitchen flavor graph.
Look up another compound — search by name, CAS number, PubChem CID, or FEMA #.
Key food odorant (individualist)
Dunkel et al. 2014Identified in the meta-analysis of 227 food samples as one of 151 individualist odorants — appears in <5% of foods, carries the diagnostic signature of specific ingredients.
Properties
- Odor description
- fruity, apple, sweet, green
- CAS number
- 3681-71-8
FEMA GRAS — Generally Recognized As Safe for flavoring use
- FEMA number
- 4392
- GRAS publication
- GRAS 23
- FEMA primary name
- (+/-)-Ethyl 3-mercapto-2-methylbutanoate
Reported use levels (ppm by food category)
Typical vs maximum reported addition levels in finished food. Use as a regulatory ceiling reference — verify against the current GRAS publication for your product category.
| Food category | Typical (ppm) | Maximum (ppm) |
|---|---|---|
| baked goods | 0.2 | 1 |
| beverages (alcoholic) | 0.2 | 2 |
| beverages (nonalcoholic) | 0.1 | 1 |
| breakfast cereal | 0.2 | 1 |
| condiments/ relishes | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| confectionery frostings | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| frozen dairy | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| gelatins/ puddings | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| granulated sugar | 0.2 | 1 |
| hard candy | 0.2 | 2 |
| imitation dairy | 0.2 | 1 |
| instant coffee/tea | 0.2 | 1 |
| milk products | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| other grains | 0.2 | 1 |
| processed vegetables | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| seasonings/ flavors | 20 | 200 |
| snack foods | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| soft candy | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| sugar substitutes | 0.2 | 2 |
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.
Thresholds in published tables
Numbers printed in open-access papers, grouped by the medium the table states. Median and full range of the values; “agree” means two or more papers whose middle 80% of values sit within 100×. Not reviewed.
| Medium | Median | Range | Values | Papers | Papers agree? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| food matrix | 100 ppb | 100–100 | 1 | 1 | one paper |
Found in
Measured impact first, then profile shareEvery ingredient known to contain 2-methylbutanoate. 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 2-methylbutanoate in it.
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