ortho-Ethoxy aromatic thiol approved as GRAS flavouring (FEMA 4768). It exhibits an extremely low odour threshold (<0.02 ppb) and is used at 0.1–0.5 ppm in beverages, baked goods and meat analogues to impart a roasted meat / onion note . Beyond food, the ethoxy group increases lipophilicity and sulfur nucleophilicity, enabling:
High-impact fragrance sulfur compounds (coffee, roast beef accords);
Agro-chemical intermediates via Cu-catalysed thio-arylation for rice-blast fungicides;
RAFT chain-transfer agent for living polymerisation of methacrylates; chain-end can be photo-cleaved (365 nm) for block-copolymer synthesis;
SERS-active SAMs on gold – the ethoxy tail increases surface hydrophobicity and reduces defect density by 20 %, enhancing Hg²⁺ detection sensitivity;
Benzothiazole UV-absorbers – cyclisation with aldehydes gives 2-substituted-6-ethoxybenzothiazoles with λmax 345 nm.
Store under nitrogen at 2–8 °C, away from light and oxidants.
