Isoamyl alcohol is used as a solvent for the preparation of synthetic fruit flavours, such as apricot, banana, cheery, greengage, malt, orange, plum and whiskey flavours, and is a raw material in the production of synthetic banana oil. It is one of the components of the aroma of the black truffle.
The self-condensation and cross-condensation reactions of ethanol and isoamyl alcohol are examined to better understand the potential routes to value-added byproducts from fuel ethanol production. Reactions have been carried out in both batch autoclave and continuous condensed-phase reactors using a lanthanum-promoted, alumina-supported nickel catalyst at near-critical condensed phase conditions