Butan-1-ol

CAS 71-36-3

Listed as a flavouring agent and a solvent by the US.

Listed as flavouring agents and adjuvants (US) · solvents and vehicles (US)
Chemical structure of Butan-1-ol, from PubChem compound 263
Structure from PubChem CID 263 (National Library of Medicine, public domain). A depiction of one compound: where a listing covers a family, or a substance has no single structure, this page shows none.

Butan-1-ol, or n-butanol, is used as an extraction solvent and as a flavouring agent. JECFA describes a colourless, slightly viscous liquid with a characteristic odour.

Where it is and isn’t permitted

Status of Butan-1-ol by jurisdiction. Every jurisdiction this site covers is listed, including those where the substance does not appear.
JurisdictionStatusScope and limitsCitation
Australia and New ZealandFood Standards Australia New ZealandNo listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
CanadaHealth CanadaNo listing matchedHealth Canada’s lists name additives without E or INS numbers, so this site matches them by exact name. A substance listed there under a name this site does not recognise has no row here.
European UnionEuropean Commission / EFSANo listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
Great BritainFood Standards Agency / Food Standards ScotlandNo listed food uses foundThis site has not matched this substance to any food use on this jurisdiction’s list of authorised food additives. A food additive may be used only in foods that list names. Flavourings, enzymes, processing aids and added nutrients are regulated separately and do not appear on it.
JapanConsumer Affairs AgencyPermitted, with conditions
Designated additive: Appended Table 1, item 358, ブタノール (“Butanol” in the unofficial English translation). …

Designated additive: Appended Table 1, item 358, ブタノール (“Butanol” in the unofficial English translation). Standards for use — Specifications and Standards for Foods, Food Additives, etc. (MHW Notification No. 370 of 1959), Part II (Food Additives), F (Standards for use), entry ブタノール: (1) [may be used only for the purpose of flavouring] “ブタノールは、着香の目的以外に使用してはならない。” The Japanese is the standard as published. There is no official English translation of the Notification; the English in square brackets is this site’s description of what each sentence does, not a translation of the foods or the levels. Compositional specifications for this additive, in the same Notification, are not imported and are not shown here; nor are the general rules in F 添加物一般, which apply to every additive.

Regulations for Enforcement of the Food Sanitation Act (MHW Ordinance No. 23 of 1948), Appended Table 1retrieved 2026-10-18
South KoreaMinistry of Food and Drug SafetyNo listing matchedThis site imports Part III of South Korea’s Standards and Specifications for Food Additives, matched by CAS number, then INS number, then exact name. Mixed preparations and sanitisers are not imported, and an entry whose identifiers disagreed with a page’s is held for review, so an empty row does not show that South Korea does not permit the substance.
United StatesFood and Drug AdministrationPermitted, with conditions

Named in the list of synthetic flavoring substances and adjuvants in 21 CFR 172.515(b), which may be safely used in food in the minimum quantity required to produce their intended effect. The section is held on this site as the page synthetic-flavoring-substances-and-adjuvants; read it for the conditions.

21 CFR 172.515retrieved 2026-10-18
Codex AlimentariusCodex Alimentarius Commission / JECFANot listedDoes not appear on this jurisdiction’s permitted list. That is not the same as being prohibited.

How much is permitted

A listing usually limits the quantity as well as the food. Only one of the forms that takes is a figure: quantum satis and good manufacturing practice permit the amount the technological effect requires and no more, which is a limit rather than the absence of one. Figures below are the range across every food category this page is listed in, and categories differ between regulators — see how much is permitted.

Japan—1 no quantity stated
United States—1 no quantity stated

No regulator sets a figure for Butan-1-ol. That is not an absence of control: where the listing says quantum satis or good manufacturing practice, the quantity is limited to what the effect requires.

What it is made from

Made industrially from propylene, and also formed by fermentation.

  • Vegan
  • Vegetarian

Compare other additives on the dietary indexes.

CAS registry number
71-36-3
InChIKey
LRHPLDYGYMQRHN-UHFFFAOYSA-N
PubChem
CID 263

How JECFA defines it

The international specification for identity and purity, prepared by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives and published by FAO. It is a different document from any above, written by a different body and revised on its own cycle; it is advisory, and a country adopts it or does not.

Butan-1-ol

Synonyms: Butyl alcohol, n-butyl alcohol, 1-hydroxybutane, n-butanol, n-propyl carbinol, NBA 1-Hydroxybutane; Butyl alcohol; n-Butanol; n-Butyl alcohol; n-Propyl carbinol; NBA

Assay, identification and purity criteria

Description and assay

Specification history
Prepared at the 28th JECFA (1984), published in FNP 31/2 (1984) and in FNP 52 (1992). Metals and arsenic specifications revised at the 63rd JECFA (2004). No ADI was allocated at the 25th (JECFA 1981)
Chemical names
1-Butanol, butan-1-ol
C.A.S. number
76-36-3
Chemical formula
C 4 H 10 O
Formula weight
74.12
Assay
Not less than 99.5%
DESCRIPTION
Colourless, clear, slightly viscous, with a characteristic odour
FUNCTIONAL USES
Extraction solvent, flavouring agent (see Volume 5)
METHOD OF ASSAY
Using the procedures for gas chromatography described in the General Methods , Volume 4, establish the following conditions: Column: 1.8 m length, 6. mm diameter steel column packed with 10% P.E.G. 400 on Chromosorb W (60/80 mesh), or equivalent. Carrier gas: Helium, at flow rate of 45 ml/min - Detector: Flame ionization type - Temperatures: Injection port, 150 o - Column: 90 o - Detector: 150 o Inject 1 to 5 ml of sample, obtain chromatogram, and determine the content of each constituent by the method of area normalization.

Identification

Solubility (Vol. 4)
Soluble in water; miscible with ethanol and ether
Specific gravity (Vol. 4)
0.810 - 0.812

Purity criteria

Distillation range (Vol. 4)
116 o - 118 o
Non-volatile residue (Vol. 4)
Not more than 2 mg/100 ml
Water (Vol. 4)
Not more than 0.1% (Karl Fischer Method)
Acidity
Not more than 0.003% w/w (as acetic acid) To 60 g of the sample add a few drops of phenolphthalein TS, and titrate with 0.1 N ethanolic potassium hydroxide to a pink end-point which persists for at least 15 sec. Not more than 0.3 ml is required.
Aldehyde and ketone
Not more than 0.2% w/w Proceed as directed under Aldehyde and Ketone Determination in Volume 4, using 10 g of the sample and 36.06 as the equivalence factor (e) in the calculation.
Other alcohols, ethers, and volatile impurities
Not more than 0.5%, with not more than 0.1% of any single impurity. See Method of Assay
Lead (Vol. 4)
Not more than 2 mg/kg Determine using an atomic absorption technique appropriate to the specified level. The selection of sample size and method of sample preparation may be based on the principles of the method described in Volume 4, “Instrumental Methods.”

FAO JECFA Monograph 1 (2006)

Every name it appears under

61 recorded names. A label may use any of them.

CAS registry number

  • 35296-72-1
  • 6167-45-9
  • 71-36-3

Other names

  • 1 Butanol
  • 1-butanol
  • 1-butanol (n-butyl alcohol)
  • 1-Butanol, ACS reagent, >=99.4%
  • 1-BUTANOL-3,3,4,4,4-D5
  • 1-Butyl alcohol
  • 1-butylalcohol
  • 1-Hydroxybutane
  • Alcohol, Butyl
  • Alcohol, n-Butyl
  • Alcool butylique
  • BuOH
  • Butan-1-ol
  • butan-1-olate,vanadium(4+)
  • butaneol
  • butanol
  • Butanol, 1-
  • butanol-1
  • Butanolen
  • Butanolo
  • Butanols
  • Butyl alcohol
  • Butyl alcohol (natural)
  • Butyl alcohol (NF)
  • Butyl hydroxide
  • butyl-alcohol
  • butylalcohol
  • Butylowy alkohol
  • Butyric alcohol
  • Butyric or normal primary butyl alcohol
  • CAS-71-36-3
  • CCRIS 4321
  • CCS 203
  • FEMA No. 2178
  • FEMA Number 2178
  • Hemostyp
  • HSDB 48
  • Methylolpropane
  • n Butanol
  • n Butyl Alcohol
  • n-BuOH
  • n-Butan-1-ol
  • n-Butanol
  • n-Butanol, Butan-1-ol, 1-Butanol
  • n-Butanol; Butyl alcohol
  • n-Butyl alcohol
  • n-butylalcohol
  • n-Butylalkohol
  • n-Propyl carbinol
  • NBA
  • normal butanol
  • Normal primary butyl alcohol
  • Propyl carbinol
  • Propylcarbinol
  • Propylmethanol
  • RCRA waste no. U031
  • RCRA waste number U031
  • VANADIUM TETRABUTOXIDE

Hazard reference values

No reference value for this substance in the sources we hold.

Evidence and how bodies read it

Studies, and the differing conclusions regulators drew from them, are curated rather than machine-read, and none has been written for this substance yet.

Common questions

Assembled from what is above, in the words the questions are usually asked in. Each answer is the same statement the relevant section makes, with the same citations behind it.

What is Butan-1-ol?
Butan-1-ol, or n-butanol, is used as an extraction solvent and as a flavouring agent. JECFA describes a colourless, slightly viscous liquid with a characteristic odour.
What is Butan-1-ol used for in food?
It is listed as a flavouring agent and a solvent — the role the US assigns it. This page shows every function each regulator records, with the citation for each.
Is Butan-1-ol banned in Europe?
No. Butan-1-ol is not on the EU's list of authorised food additives, but it would not be expected to be: every role regulators give it — flavouring agent and solvent — the EU regulates under separate law. Its absence from the additives list says nothing about whether it is permitted in Europe.
Where is Butan-1-ol permitted?
Of the seven regulators this site reads, Japan and the US permit it. Each permission is for named foods at named levels, not a blanket one; the table on this page gives them with citations.
Is Butan-1-ol vegan?
Yes. Butan-1-ol is not derived from animals, and is suitable for vegetarians. This page says what it is made from and how.

Sources for this page

  • jp retrieved 2026-10-18
  • us-listings retrieved 2026-10-18
  • jecfaspecs retrieved 2026-09-23

Full licence terms and publisher details on Sources. How this page is built and updated: Method.

Machine-readable: a JSON record of this additive is given on request —how to ask for access.

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