Artificial Butter Flavor – Just a Product of the Chem Lab?

Chemistry, Food
You are crunching away at some tasty munchable. Since you're not doing anything else and would like to prove you can do two things at once, you turn the bag/box around and read the ingredients. Yes, yes, oh that! And yes, yes, ah. What's that? Artificial Butter Flavor? What's artificial butter, the product of artificial cows? What Is Artificial Butter Flavor? Simply put, the expression "artificial butter" refers to taste and use, rather than to any single, particular ingredient. A Simple Compound Diacetyl is considered to impart a buttery flavor to foodstuffs. As the illustration shows, diacetyl is a small, simple molecule. Writing it out in full, it is... CH3(CO)(CO)CH3 Note the similarity to two acetic acid (vinegar) molecules... CH3(CO)–OH + HO–(OC)CH3 Synthesis The second image depicts one possible synthetic…
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