The speed of sound in the temperature (303.15 to 373-15) K and pressure range (0.1 to 100) MPa was measured for the liquid 3-pentanol, 3-methyl 3-pentanol, and 3-ethyl-3-pentanol. These results combined with the densities and isobaric heat capacity at atmospheric pressure obtained from the literature were used to calculate the density, and the isentropic and isothermal compressibilities in the same range of pressure and in the temperature interval (303.15 to 368.15) K by means of a predictor-corrector algorithm. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.