Isoamyl acetate

Say iteye-soh-AM-il AS-ih-tayt

Ripe banana and pear-drop candy, sweet and slightly solvent-like.

What it is: A molecule made in a lab.
Where it comes from: occurs in bananas
When you smell it: Top notes: the first minutes.
What perfumers do with it: Adds cartoon-bright banana-pear sweetness; used in traces to lift fruity and floral tops.
Worth knowing: Honeybees release it when they sting: the banana smell is an alarm signal that calls other bees to attack.
Also called: Isopentyl acetate; banana oil; pear oil

Not on the label of any of the 232 perfumes read so far.