Ethyl butyrate

It is perhaps one of the most commonly used ester. It is small enough in molecular weight to yield a significant vapor pressure, ergo a good lift and impact.

Ethyl butyrate is a natural product of certain plants and has been detected in the volatile components from the following natural foods: US blue cheese, Beaufort mountain cheese, dalieb fruit, ripening bananas, commercial and concentrated aqueous orange essence, concord grape essence, tree-ripened nectarines and ripening kiwi fruit.

Ethyl butyrate has a fruity odor with a pineapple undernote and a sweet and analogous taste. It is virtually insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol.

This ester was granted GRAS status by FEMA (1965) and is approved as GRAS by the FDA for food use. It is used in many sweet products as an important aroma chemical. Ethyl butyrate finds its most usefulness in cherry flavors, rum and butterscotch flavors, apple flavors and chewing gum flavors.
Ethyl butyrate