Butyl Glycol

Cas No: 111-76-2           
EINESC No: 203-905-0
Molecular weight: 118.176 g/mol  

Chemical Formula: C6H14O2
Chemical Structure :

Physical Properties

General Properties: luminous, colorless liquid

Odor: ether-like

Intensity: 0,90 g/cm3

Boiling point: 125,8 °C

Melting point: -77 °C

Flash point: 67 °C

Vapor pressure: 0,8 mmHg

Refraction index: 1.4196 nD

Solubility: (aqueous) completely miscible

Viscosity:

General Properties

Butyl glycol is a colorless, liquid chemical which has high boiling point. It can be mixed with both water and many other organic molecules. Glycol is produced from ethers and thus, its scent is similar to ethers. It is butyl ether of ethylene glycol. It is commonly used in industry as it is cost efficient and relative non-volatile. It is also a good surface active agent.

Thnaks to all its properties, butyl glycol is one of the most preferred chemical and its yearly  production amount is estimated to be between 200000 and 500000 tons.

Production

There are two different methods to produce it. One of these is reaction of butanol and ethylene oxide via a catalyst. This is called ethoxylation reaction. Other method is etherification of chloroethanol.

Applications

Butyl glycol is a glycol ether which possess surface active substance property and it dissolves in both water and organic substances. Therefore it is a good solvent for dye, surface coating, cleaning products and ink. It is used in dyes in large amounts due it being non-volatile. It is commonly used in resins, asphalt seperating substances, fat solvents, polishes and varnishes.

It is the main compound of many domestic and industrial cleaning products.

It also has a wide field of use in oil industry. It is an important compound of Corexit 9527, an oil spill dispersing product.

Safety Measures and Toxic Values

Butyl glycol has low acute toxicity values. (25g/kg LD50). However, research on animals indicate that, in high concentrations, it may cause tumor in suprarenal glands. These researches are conducted on rodents and it may not show carcinogen behaviours on humans. Another research on animals also indicate that it affects many biological systems, including neural system, negatively. In mammals, it is metabolized by alcohol dehydrogenase enzymes.