[1] Tiglic acid has a double bond between the second and third carbons of the chain.

Tiglic acid is a volatile and crystallizable substance with a sweet, warm, spicy odour.

In 1819 Pelletier and Caventou isolated a peculiar volatile and crystallizable acid from the seeds of Schoenocaulon officinalis, a Mexican plant of family Melanthaceae (also called cevadilla or sabadilla).

In 1865 it was found to be identical with B. F. Duppa and Edward Frankland's methyl-crotonic acid.

[3] The compound was shown to be identical with the previously described methyl-crotonic acid.