[1] The compound can be prepared by the reaction of sucrose with propionic anhydride in the melt state[1] or at room temperature, over several days, in anhydrous pyridine.

[3] Sucrose octapropionate is only slightly soluble in water (less than 0.1 g/L) but is soluble in many common organic solvents such as isopropanol and ethanol, from which it can be crystallized by evaporation of the solvent.

[3][4] The crystalline form melts at 45.4–45.5 °C into a viscous liquid (47.8 poises at 48.9 °C), that becomes a clear glassy solid on cooling, but easily recrystallizes.

[2] Distillation of fully esterified propionates has been proposed as a method for the separation and identification of sugars.

[2] While the crystallinity of the pure compound prevents its use as a plasticizer it was found that incompletely esterified variants (with 1 to 2 remaining hydroxyls per molecule) will not crystallize, and therefore can be considered for that application.