ortho-Ethyl aromatic thiol approved as GRAS flavouring (FEMA No. 3345). It delivers a "meaty-roasted onion" note at an extremely low odour threshold (<0.5 ppb) and is widely used in beverages, baked goods, soups and meat analogues at 0.3–2 mg kg⁻¹. Beyond food, the ethyl group increases lipophilicity, making the molecule a valuable building block for:
High-impact fragrance sulfur compounds (garlic, roast coffee accords);
Agro-chemical intermediates via Pd-catalysed thio-arylation;
Ligand scaffolds for Cu- or Ni-catalysed cross-couplings;
Chain-transfer agents in RAFT polymerisation for high-refractive-index optical resins (nD ≈ 1.68).
Store under nitrogen at 2–8 °C, away from light and oxidants to prevent disulfide formation .
