Organic Solvent Methanol/Ma CAS 67-56-1 for Industrial Use

Methanol is a clear, colorless liquid with a characteristic pungent odor (NTP NIEHS web accessed 2/16/2013). The air odor threshold has been reported as 1500 ppm (approximately 2000mg/m3), much higher than the occupational guidelines.Methanol (methyl alcohol; wood alcohol) is used extensively as a solvent for lacquers, paints, varnishes, cements, inks, dyes, plastics, and various industrial coatings. Large quantities are used in the production of formaldehyde and other chemical derivatives such as acetic acid, methyl halides and terephthalate, methyl methacrylate, and methylamines. Methanol is also used as a gasoline additive, as a component of lacquer thinners, in antifreeze preparations of the “nonpermanent” type, and in canned heating preparations of jellied alcohol. It is also used in duplicating fluid, in paint removers, and as a cleaning agent. The potential for methanol as a future alternative for gasoline indicates that the use of this chemical will most likely increase rather than decrease. At room temperature, methanol is a colorless liquid with a pungent odor. It is relatively volatile, with a vapor pressure of 96 mmHg and a vapor density of 1.11. It is miscible with water and soluble with other organic solvents. It is found in nature as a fermentation product of wood and as a constituent of some fruits and vegetables.
Methyl alcohol, also known as methanol or wood alcohol, is a clear, colorless, flammable liquid that is the simplest alcohol.World production of methanol is approximately 8.5 billion gallons annually. Methanol is produced industrially, starting with the production of synthesis gas or syngas. Syngas used in the production of methyl alcohol is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen formed when natural gas reacts with steam or oxygen. Methyl alcohol is then synthesized from carbon monoxide and hydrogen.Methyl alcohol is poisonous and is commonly used to denature ethyl alcohol. Methanol poisoning results from ingestion, inhalation of methanol vapors, or absorption through the skin. Methanol is transformed in the body to formaldehyde (H2CO) by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase.The formaldehyde is then metabolized to formic acid (HCOOH)by aldehyde dehydrogenase.
Methanol is a clear, water-white liquid with a mild odor at ambient temperatures.The air odor threshold for methanol has been reported as 100 ppm . Others have reported that 2000 or 5900 ppm methanol is barely detectable .
It was first isolated in 1661 by the Irish chemist Robert Boyle (1627–1691) who prepared it by the destructive distillation of boxwood, giving it the name spirit of box, and the name wood alcohol is still used for methyl alcohol. Methyl alcohol is also called pyroxylic spirit; pyroxylic is a general term meaning distilled from wood and indicates that methyl alcohol is formed during pyrolysis of wood. The common name was derived in the mid-1800s. The name methyl denotes the single carbon alkane methane in which a hydrogen atom has been removed to give the methyl radical. The word alcohol is derived from Arabic al kuhul.
ChEBI: Methanol is the primary alcohol that is the simplest aliphatic alcohol, comprising a methyl and an alcohol group. It has a role as an amphiprotic solvent, a fuel, a human metabolite, an Escherichia coli metabolite, a mouse metabolite and a Mycoplasma genitalium metabolite. It is an alkyl alcohol, a one-carbon compound, a volatile organic compound and a primary alcohol. It is a conjugate acid of a methoxide.