Aroma molecule · ester
2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester
Smells offruity, apple
Found in 1 ingredient. We hold no measured concentration for it in any of them yet, so we cannot say where it is strong enough to smell.
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- Formula
- —
- Mass
- 116.16 g/mol
- CAS
- 868-57-5
- PubChem
- —
- FEMA
- not listed
- Threshold · water
- 0.127 ppb
- Class
- ester
- Status
- Key food odorant
01How little it takes
- in water 0.25
- in a food 0.3
ppb, log scale · tick = median of published values, bar = full range, from open-access paper tables (not reviewed)
02Where it turns up
- Fruit1
of the 1 ingredient that contain it, by food group
03What it travels with
Too few ingredients to say what it travels with.
What does 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester smell like?
The key-food-odorant survey describes it as fruity, apple.
It is a key food odorant (intermediary): identified in the meta-analysis of 227 food samples as one of 57 intermediary odorants, which appear in 5–25% of foods. Source: Dunkel et al. 2014, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 53, 7124–7143
Which foods contain 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester?
We list 1 ingredient that contain it, but presence is not the same as smell. What matters is how much is there compared with how little it takes to notice it. That ratio is the odour activity value (OAV): above 1, you can smell it.
Found in
Measured foods first, then real food profiles, then thin or composite records (marked). The figure beside each is how many compounds that ingredient has in total, not the amount of 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester in it. ✓n = sources that recorded the link.
How strong is 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester?
Orthonasal, in clean water: 0.004 ppb to 0.250 ppb, median 0.127 ppb, from 2 published values.
Published thresholds
3 measured values from the literature, grouped by what was measured: a threshold smelled in clean water, tasted, or measured in a real food are different quantities and are not pooled.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.004 ppb SIDA | water | Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies | — |
| 0.250 ppb | water_odor | Leffingwell | — |
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00015 ppb | air (food: dill herb) | Literature corpus | — |
Only values we can attribute are listed. Where a compendium’s licence does not permit public attribution its figures are omitted, so every number here traces to a citable source.
Thresholds in published tables
| Medium | Median | Range | Values | Papers | Papers agree? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| air | 0.5 µg/L air | 0.1–3.9 | 3 | 2 | yes |
| food matrix | 0.3 ppb | 0.25–1 | 3 | 3 | yes |
| unstated | 0.4 ppb | 0.2–5 | 6 | 5 | yes |
| water | 0.25 ppb | 0.25–0.25 | 2 | 2 | yes |
Numbers printed in open-access papers, grouped by the medium the table states. Median and full range; “agree” means two or more papers whose middle 80% of values sit within 100×. Not reviewed.
Is 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester safe to eat?
Not in FEMA GRAS publications 1–33. Of 3,367 listed flavoring substances, none match this compound or its other names. It may still be food-safe under other regulatory routes (FDA 21 CFR 172, EFSA, JECFA); check femaflavor.org for the authoritative current list.
2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester questions
What does 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester smell like?
Sources describe 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester as fruity and apple. It is one of the key food odorants identified by Dunkel et al. (2014).
Which foods contain 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester?
We list 1 ingredient that contain 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester.
How strong is 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester?
The median of 2 published odour thresholds in water is 0.127 ppb (range 0.004 to 0.250 ppb).
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Cite this analysis
Compound Kitchen (2026). 2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester compound data sheet. https://compkitchen.com/compound/2-methylbutanoic%20acid%20methyl%20ester. Accessed 2026-11-06.
@misc{compkitchen_compound_2_methylbutanoic_acid_methyl_ester_compound_data_sheet_2026,
title = {2-methylbutanoic acid methyl ester compound data sheet},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compound/2-methylbutanoic%20acid%20methyl%20ester},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-06}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.