Crystal structure of (R,S)-2-hy-droxy-4-(methyl-sulfan-yl)butanoic acid.

The title compound, a major animal feed supplement, abbreviated as HMTBA and alternatively called dl-me-thio-nine hy-droxy analogue, C5H10O3S, (I), was isolated in pure anhydrous monomeric form. The melting point is 302.5 K and the compound crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P21/c, with two conformationally non-equivalent mol-ecules [(I A ) and (I B )] in the asymmetric unit. The crystal structure is formed by alternating polar and non-polar layers running along the bc plane and features an extensive hydrogen-bonding network within the polar layers. The Hirshfeld surface analysis revealed a significant contribution of non-polar H⋯H and H⋯S inter-actions to the packing forces for both mol-ecules.