4-Methyl-3-penten-2-one belongs to the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) class of chemicals.

It may be used as a reference standard for the determination of 4-methyl-3-penten-2-one in Irish beef meats by gas chromatography-olfactometry (GC-O), in human urine by static headspace extraction followed by analysis using GC with mass spectrometry (MS), in caja-umbu (Spondias sp.) fruits by GC-MS and in wild gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) by simultaneous distillation-extraction (SDE) followed by analysis using GC with flame ionization detector (FID) as well as GC-MS.