Compound sheet

Molecule · aldehyde

3-methyl-1-butanal

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: 86.13 g/mol
CAS: 590-86-3
PubChem: —
FEMA: not listed
Threshold · water: 1.1 ppb
Class: aldehyde
Status: —

01How little it takes

in water 1.1
in a foodpapers disagree 1.2
in alcohol 10.1
in oilpapers disagree 5.4
in starch 32

ppb, log scale · tick = median of published values, bar = full range, from open-access paper tables (not reviewed)

02Where it turns up

Meat & fish1

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 3-methyl-1-butanal smell like?

We hold no odour description for 3-methyl-1-butanal.

Which foods contain 3-methyl-1-butanal?

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 3-methyl-1-butanal in it. ✓n = sources that recorded the link.

shrimp seafood 164 cmpds

How strong is 3-methyl-1-butanal?

Orthonasal, in clean water: 0.375 ppb to 2.8 ppb, median 1.1 ppb, from 3 published values. Thresholds printed in paper tables for oil are about 5× the ones for water.

Published thresholds

22 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.

Orthonasal, in clean water · 0.375 ppb–2.8 ppb ppbThe reference measurement — smelled in water. OAV is computed against this.
Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
0.375 ppb SIDA	water	Rychlik 1998 · 4 studies	—
1.1 ppb	water_odor	Leffingwell	—
2.8 ppb	water/ethanol 6:4 (food: american bourbon whisky)	Literature corpus	33488534, 35369098, 35396186 +2

In a food matrix · 0.200 ppb–1.2 ppb ppbMeasured in a real food, where the matrix shifts detection — not a clean-water value.
Threshold	Matrix	Source
0.200 ppb	water (food: wheat porridge / bread crumb)	Literature corpus
0.200 ppb	water (food: extruded wheat flour)	Literature corpus
0.500 ppb	water (food: green tea infusion (jingshan cha))	Literature corpus
0.500 ppb	water (food: reference standard (water))	Literature corpus
0.500 ppb	water (food: longjing green tea infusion)	Literature corpus
1.2 ppb	water (food: japanese soy sauce)	Literature corpus

Every value in this group cites the same papers: PMID 33488534, PMID 35369098, PMID 35396186 +2 more. Listed once rather than on every row.

Retronasal / in-mouth · 0.145 ppb–170 ppb ppbTasted rather than smelled — a different sense, not comparable.
Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
0.145 ppb SIDA	water_retronasal	Rychlik 1998 · 2 studies	—
10.8 ppb SIDA	oil_retronasal	Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies	—
170 ppb	water_flavor	Leffingwell	—

In air · 0.100 ppb ppbAirborne detection — not comparable to a water threshold.
Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
0.100 ppb	air	Nagata 2003	—

Other matrix · 2.8 ppb–32.0 ppb ppbMeasured in a non-aqueous medium (oil, starch, cellulose).
Threshold	Matrix	Source	Paper
2.8 ppb	ethanol/water (food: rum)	Literature corpus	33488534, 35369098, 35396186 +2
2.8 ppb	ethanol/water 40/60 (food: rum (aged))	Literature corpus	33488534, 35369098, 35396186 +2
2.8 ppb	ethanol/water 40/60 (food: rum (young))	Literature corpus	33488534, 35369098, 35396186 +2
5.4 ppb	oil (sunflower oil) (food: gouda cheese)	Literature corpus	33488534, 35369098, 35396186 +2
9.2 ppb SIDA	oil_orthonasal	Rychlik 1998 · 2 studies	—
13.0 ppb	oil (sunflower oil) (food: cocoa beans)	Literature corpus	33488534, 35369098, 35396186 +2
13.0 ppb	oil (sunflower oil) (food: cocoa powder)	Literature corpus	33488534, 35369098, 35396186 +2
29.0 ppb SIDA	cellulose	Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies	—
32.0 ppb SIDA	starch	Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies	—

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	2 µg/L air	0.00035–1.1e+03	25	20	no (6.2 decades)
ethanol solution	10.14 ppb	2.15–17	6	5	yes
food matrix	1.2 ppb	0.00035–1.2e+05	53	49	no (2.9 decades)
oil	5.4 ppb	5–1.4e+05	6	4	no (3.4 decades)
starch or other	32 ppb	32–32	2	2	yes
unstated	1.1 ppb	0.0016–1.3e+04	108	93	yes
water	1.1 ppb	0.15–120	63	59	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 3-methyl-1-butanal 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.

3-methyl-1-butanal questions

Which foods contain 3-methyl-1-butanal?

We list 1 ingredient that contain 3-methyl-1-butanal.

How strong is 3-methyl-1-butanal?

The median of 3 published odour thresholds in water is 1.1 ppb (range 0.375 to 2.8 ppb). Published values in oil are about 5 times higher than in water.

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Cite this analysis

Plain text

Compound Kitchen (2026). 3-methyl-1-butanal compound data sheet. https://compkitchen.com/compound/3-methyl-1-butanal. Accessed 2026-11-03.

BibTeX

@misc{compkitchen_compound_3_methyl_1_butanal_compound_data_sheet_2026,
  title  = {3-methyl-1-butanal compound data sheet},
  author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://compkitchen.com/compound/3-methyl-1-butanal},
  note   = {Accessed: 2026-11-03}
}

Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.