This section provides an overview of heptyl acetate, covering its manufacturing processes and regulatory status, applications in food, flavour, fragrance, personal care, and industrial chemical industries. Also, please check out the introduction to heptyl acetate manufacturers, supply chain issues, heptyl acetate suppliers, and heptyl acetate prices. Sinofi can help you buy heptyl acetate at bulk wholesale prices based on FEMA 2547 and CAS 112-06-1.
Table of Contents
What is Heptyl Acetate?
Heptyl acetate, also known as Acetate C-7, occupies a quietly useful niche for building fruit profiles among the family of straight-chain acetate esters. It does not have the immediate, almost universal recognition of ethyl acetate or the sharp green punch of cis-3-hexenyl acetate, but it earns its place on the shelf precisely because it sits a little further down the homologous series, where the character turns rounder, fattier, and more naturally pear- and apricot-like. Heptyl acetate is the acetate ester of n-heptanol, formally named heptyl acetate or acetic acid heptyl ester, with the IUPAC preferred name simply being heptyl acetate. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), heptyl acetate is approved to be used in the flavour and fragrance industries.
Regulatory Status and Safety Considerations
Heptyl acetate has been evaluated by major regulatory bodies like JECFA, EFSA, RIFM, ECHACHEM, NIST, IFRA, and WHO. It is a long-established flavouring substance with a recognized regulatory standing. It holds FEMA GRAS status under FEMA number 2547 and has been evaluated by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). It is listed in the EU flavouring database under FL number 9.022 and is supplied in food-grade quality to the relevant compendial specifications. On the fragrance side, suppliers typically certify the material as follows IFRA guidance. From a handling standpoint, it is a combustible liquid that should be treated with the normal precautions appropriate to volatile organic esters: good ventilation, avoidance of ignition sources, and use of the current Safety Data Sheet for definitive hazard, exposure, and first-aid information.
Sensory Profile
Heptyl acetate is described as fruity and green, but the more precise picture is of a pear-like top with an apricot-like body. Reference sources variously layer in green, fatty, waxy, woody, citrus, wine-like, and faintly rum-like nuances. The fruitiness is softer and rounder than the lighter acetates; where butyl or hexyl acetate reads as sharp and immediately “fruit candy,” heptyl acetate carries more weight and a natural, slightly oily richness that pulls a fruit accord toward ripeness rather than brightness.
On the palate, at the very low concentrations appropriate for flavour use, it contributes a sweet apricot-and-pear impression with a soft, fatty mouth character. It is worth noting that the fatty and waxy facets that make the material attractive in the right context become a liability when overdosed: too much heptyl acetate quickly tips an accord into a soapy, greasy direction. Restraint is the operative principle.
Natural Occurrence
Heptyl acetate is a genuine constituent of many of the fruits whose character it is used to reproduce, which is part of why it reads as natural rather than synthetic when dosed correctly. It has been reported as a volatile component of apple, apricot, banana, melon, pear (including Asian pear), plum and Japanese plum, quince, and citrus peel oils, among others. Beyond fruit, it has been identified in fermented and aged products, including beer, rum, malt whiskey, and sparkling wine, as well as in materials as varied as ginger and blue cheese. This breadth of natural occurrence provides useful background when building “from nature” or naturally positioned profiles, since it supports the molecule’s authenticity in those contexts.
CAS No.: 112-06-1
According to the American Chemical Society, the CAS number of heptyl acetate is 112-06-1.
CAS Name: Heptyl Acetate
Molecular Formula: C9H18O2
Molecular Mass: 158.24
Appearance: Colorless, clear liquid.
JECFA Number: 129
Food Chemicals Codex Listed: No
Boiling Point: 192.00 to 193.00 °C. @ 760.00 mm Hg
Solubility: Soluble in alcohol, ether; insoluble in water
Other Names:
♦ Acetic acid, heptyl ester
♦ Heptyl acetate
♦ n-Heptyl acetate
♦ 1-Heptyl acetate
♦ Heptyl alcohol, acetate
♦ Heptyl ethanoate
Heptyl Acetate Odor
Odor Strength: Medium.
Substantivity:6 hour(s) at 100.00 %
Odor Description: At 100.00 %, fresh green rum, ripe fruit, pear, apricot, and woody.
FEMA Number 2547
According to the Flavour and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA), the FEMA number of heptyl acetate is 2547.
Bulk Heptyl Acetate Manufacturers
The bulk heptyl acetate production is small, fragmented, and only thinly documented. Top heptyl acetate manufacturers such as Firmenich, Givaudan, Mane, Symrise, and Ernesto Ventos add value through high-quality documentation, food- and fragrance-grade certification, and reliable Western logistics. True production capacity is concentrated among a modest set of aroma-chemical manufacturers in China, Japan, Europe, and North America.
Sinofi is a bulk heptyl acetate manufacturer in China, and we have a manufacturing facility with 2,500 square meters for the production of acetate C-7. We supply high-quality heptyl acetate at bulk prices and serve food, flavour, fragrance, personal care, and industrial chemical industries worldwide.
Manufacturing Process of Heptyl Acetate
The manufacture of heptyl acetate is a clear and instructive case of applied esterification chemistry. The reaction itself, the acid-catalyzed condensation of heptanol with acetic acid, is simple and reliable; the skill of the process lies in displacing its equilibrium toward product through excess acid, continuous water removal by azeotropic distillation, and judicious catalysis, and then in purifying the crude ester to the demanding standards of flavour and fragrance use through neutralization, washing, and fractional distillation.
The Core Reaction: Fischer Esterification
The dominant industrial method for producing heptyl acetate is Fischer esterification, the acid-catalyzed condensation of n-heptanol (1-heptanol) with acetic acid. The overall reaction is straightforward:
CH₃COOH + C₇H₁₅OH ⇌ CH₃COOC₇H₁₅ + H₂O
Acetic acid and heptanol combine to form heptyl acetate, liberating one molecule of water for each molecule of ester. The defining feature of this reaction, and the central challenge of the process, is that it is an equilibrium. Left to itself, the reaction reaches a position governed by its equilibrium constant well short of complete conversion. The entire art of running the process efficiently lies in shifting the equilibrium toward the ester product, achieved through deliberate manipulation of reagent ratios, water removal, catalyst selection, and temperature.
Bulk Heptyl Acetate Suppliers
Broadly, the bulk heptyl acetate supply is served through three channels. Top heptyl acetate suppliers like Firmenich, Givaudan, Mane, Symrise, and Ernesto Ventos provide the best price for true bulk volumes and the most reliable continuity of supply. Some specialty distributors and flavour and fragrance ingredient houses stock, repackage, and resell the material, often without synthesizing it themselves, and they add value through quality documentation, grade certification, convenient packaging, regulatory support, and dependable regional logistics.
Sinofi is a bulk heptyl acetate supplier in China, and we have a warehouse with 1,200 square meters for high-quality acetate C-7. We sell different grades of heptyl acetate at wholesale prices, serving end-users in food, flavour, fragrance, personal care, and industrial chemical industries.
Supply Chain of Heptyl Acetate
The supply chain of heptyl acetate is short in concept but uneven in resilience. It runs from abundant and specialized raw materials, through a narrow and geographically concentrated production stage, across a broad and sometimes opaque distribution layer, to a flavour and fragrance demand base.
Supply Chain Structure
The heptyl acetate supply chain is best understood as four sequential stages, supported by cross-cutting functions that span the entire chain. The structure can be summarized as follows.
- The upstream stage supplies the two principal raw materials. The first is n-heptanol (1-heptanol), the seven-carbon alcohol that forms the ester’s backbone, produced petrochemically from ethylene-derived feedstocks or, for naturally-positioned grades, from oleochemical sources. The second is acetic acid, a high-volume commodity chemical produced overwhelmingly by methanol carbonylation. To these are added the process inputs of the reaction itself, namely acid catalysts, azeotropic entrainers, and, in the case of natural grades, biocatalysts.
- The production stage is where esterification takes place. A relatively small population of aroma-chemical manufacturers converts heptanol and acetic acid into heptyl acetate, predominantly via Fischer esterification, and refines the crude product to flavour- and fragrance-grade through neutralization, washing, and fractional distillation. Genuine production capacity is concentrated among established producers in China, India, and Japan, with a smaller presence among long-standing flavour and fragrance houses in Europe and North America.
- The midstream stage moves material from producers to end users. It comprises specialty flavour and fragrance distributors and ingredient houses that stock, repackage, and certify the product; laboratory-chemical catalogue suppliers and B2B marketplaces that provide visibility and small-quantity access; and regional re-export hubs, notably in the United Arab Emirates, that act as intermediaries into adjacent markets.
- The downstream stage comprises the end markets that consume the ingredient. Flavour houses incorporate it into formulations for food, beverages, and confectionery; fragrance houses use it in personal care, cosmetics, and household products; and a smaller volume is consumed in industrial applications as a solvent or intermediate.
Wholesale and Buy Heptyl Acetate in Bulk
Buying heptyl acetate in wholesale quantities is an exercise in disciplined sourcing within a small and fragmented market rather than a matter of selecting from a clear field of equivalent suppliers.
Selecting and Qualifying Suppliers
The qualification of a wholesale supplier should rest on several criteria that, in this market, carry more weight than price alone. The foremost is grade and certification: the buyer should confirm food-grade status against the relevant FCC and FEMA specifications under FEMA No. 2547, and conformity with IFRA guidance for fragrance use. Purity is typically specified at 99% or higher, and lot-to-lot consistency is often the genuine differentiator between an adequate supplier and a reliable one, because flavour and fragrance formulations are sensitive to small variations in the impurity profile.
Pricing and Cost Structure
Pricing for heptyl acetate varies widely by grade, purchase volume, packaging format, and the channel through which the material is purchased, so quoted prices are rarely comparable until they are normalized to a common basis. The underlying cost is driven by the prices of the two raw materials, principally n-heptanol, since acetic acid is an abundant commodity, and the natural grade carries a materially higher cost because its alcohol must be derived from an approved natural source.
As a bulk heptyl acetate manufacturer and supplier in China, we wholesale this ingredient to end users in food, flavour, fragrance, personal care, and industrial chemical industries. We also supply acetate C-7 to small customers. Normally, they want to buy heptyl acetate in small quantities. To serve them, we can sell heptyl acetate at bulk prices and provide a one-stop purchasing service.
Heptyl Acetate Prices (USD/Kg)
Flavour Grade Heptyl Acetate Prices (GC Content >=99.5%)
| Volume | Unit Price | Shipment |
| 50g | 8 USD | Express |
| 500g | 35 USD | Express |
| 1Kg | 56 USD/Kg | Express |
| 25Kg | >=25% cheaper | Express |
| 100Kg-Above | negotiable | Express / Sea |
Indicative kilogram-scale, FEMA/flavour-grade heptyl acetate trades at USD 33–75/kg for small lots, with European and North American delivered prices carrying additional freight, duty, and quality-testing premiums. The structural demand driver is the flavours & fragrances market, as its pear-apricot profile makes it valuable.
Furthermore, the above price quotations of heptyl acetate do not include the express shipping fee. The reason is that the shipment cost may exceed the sample value of acetate C-7. However, the bulk wholesale prices of heptyl acetate will be much lower than those of small orders. Please contact us for more details.
Heptyl Acetate Specification
| Appearance | Colorless, clear liquid. |
| Odor: | Fresh green rum, ripe fruit, pear, apricot, and woody. |
| Purity (GC) | >=99.5% |
| Acid Value (mg KOH/g) | <=1.0 |
| Refractive Index (20°C) | 1.414 – 1.418 |
| Specific Gravity (at 25℃/25℃) | 0.866 – 0.874 |
Heptyl Acetate Uses
Heptyl acetate is a quietly versatile specialty chemical whose uses are anchored in its soft, fruity, pear-like character and supported by its favourable solvency and moderate volatility.
Flavour Applications
The principal use of heptyl acetate is as a flavouring agent. It holds FEMA GRAS status under FEMA No. 2547 and is recognized for food use under the relevant FDA and European frameworks, which establishes its commercial standing in the food and beverage sector. Its value to the flavourist lies in the rounded, ripe character it contributes: where lighter acetate esters deliver sharp, immediate fruitiness, acetate C-7 adds weight, body, and a natural sense of ripeness that makes a fruit accord read as authentic rather than confected.
In practice, it is employed most extensively in stone fruit and pome fruit profiles, where it reinforces apricot, peach, pear, and apple notes, and it also finds use in tropical, melon, berry, and plum formulations. It is a credible contributor to fermented and aged-character flavours such as rum, brandy, and certain beer profiles, in part because it occurs naturally in those products. The compound is dosed at low levels, typically in the parts-per-million range in the finished product, and is best treated as a supporting modifier rather than a headline material, since overdosing introduces an undesirable waxy, fatty, or soapy character.
Fragrance and Perfumery Applications
The second major area of use is in fragrance and perfumery, where acetate C-7 functions as a fruity-floral note and a supporting material. Its soft, pear-like character with woody and faintly rum-like facets makes it a useful contributor to fresh, clean, and fruity accords, and its moderate volatility allows it to bridge the brighter top notes and the heavier heart of a composition. Suppliers typically certify the material as following the IFRA guidance for fragrance use.
Personal Care and Cosmetic Applications
Beyond its olfactory role, heptyl acetate is used in personal care and cosmetic formulations in a dual capacity. As a fragrance ingredient, it contributes to the fruity character described above, while as a solvent and carrier, it can improve a product’s spreadability and skin feel by dispersing fragrance compounds and cosmetic actives and reducing surface tension within the formulation matrix.
Heptyl Acetate Benefits
Heptyl acetate offers a coherent set of benefits that together explain its enduring use. It contributes a distinctive, natural-reading fruity ripeness that improves the authenticity of an accord.
A Distinctive and Natural-Reading Sensory Profile
The foremost benefit of acetate C-7 is the quality of the sensory contribution it makes. Its aroma is soft, fruity, and pear-like, with apricot and floral nuances, and it delivers a rounded ripeness that lighter acetate esters cannot supply on their own. Where shorter-chain esters tend to read as sharp and immediately confectionery, acetate C-7 adds weight, body, and a sense of natural ripeness that makes a fruit accord more convincing and authentic. This benefit is reinforced by the compound’s genuine occurrence in nature.
Versatility Across Multiple Industries
A further benefit lies in the breadth of the compound’s utility. The same material serves as a flavouring agent in food and beverage applications, as a fruity-floral note in fine and functional fragrance, as a dual-purpose fragrance ingredient and solvent in personal care, and as a solvent or intermediate in certain industrial applications. This versatility allows a manufacturer to source a single, well-characterized ingredient for use across several product lines, simplifying procurement, qualification, and inventory management compared with maintaining a wider range of more specialized materials.
Heptyl Acetate in E-Liquid and Vaping Products
Heptyl acetate is a valued and well-understood ingredient in food and fragrance in terms of its fruity, pear-like character. As the e-liquid and vaping sector draws heavily on the same library of fruit-flavour esters used by the food industry, heptyl acetate is sometimes encountered in fruit-flavoured e-liquid formulations.
Role in E-Liquid Formulation
The appeal of esters such as heptyl acetate to e-liquid formulators mirrors their appeal to flavourists. The compound contributes a soft, ripe, pear-like fruitiness with apricot nuances, the kind of rounded fruit character that fruit-flavoured e-liquids aim to deliver. It is soluble in common e-liquid carriers and occurs naturally in fruits such as apple, pear, and apricot, lending it an authentic fruit profile. In e-liquid formulations, heptyl acetate pairs perfectly with the cooling agent WS-23 and eucalyptol to create many popular e-cigarette flavours. For these reasons, fruit-flavour esters as a class have migrated from food and fragrance into flavoured e-liquids, and acetate C-7 sits within that broad group of materials that a formulator might reach for when building a pear or stone-fruit accord.
Regulatory Status
In the United States, e-cigarettes and other electronic nicotine delivery systems are regulated by the United States Food and Drug Administration’s Premarket Tobacco Product Application (PMTA) as tobacco products, and manufacturers must obtain FDA authorization to market them. In the EU, heptyl acetate is regulated by the European Union’s Tobacco Products Directive (TPD).
A Food-Grade Coconut Flavouring Using Heptyl Acetate
Include the following ingredients (by weight):
Gamma heptalactone, 0.5%; Gamma octalactone, 0.8%; Delta octalactone, 0.6%; Aldehyde C-18, 3.5%; Delta decalactone, 0.6%; 6-Methylcoumarin, 0.3%; 5- and 6-Decenoic acid, 0.1%; Ethyl butyrate, 0.06%; Ethyl hexanoate, 0.06%; Ethyl heptanoate, 0.03%; Heptyl acetate, 0.01%; Ethyl octanoate, 0.06%; Octyl acetate, 0.03%; Ethyl decanoate, 0.06%; Methyl salicylate, 0.01%; Delta-nonalactone, 0.10%; Food-grade alcohol, 13%; Propylene glycol, 80.18%.
In conclusion, heptyl acetate is a medium-chain aliphatic ester valued across the food, flavour, fragrance, personal care, and industrial chemical industries. As a bulk heptyl acetate manufacturer and supplier in China, we sell different grades of heptyl acetate at wholesale prices to clients around the world.