TERT-BUTANOL

'''tert''-Butanol'[1]
''tert''-Butanol ''t''-BuOH
Chemical name
Other names	''t''-Butanol ''tert''-Butanol ''t''-Butyl alcohol ''tert''-Butyl alcohol ''tertiary''-Butyl alcohol
Chemical formula
Molecular mass	g/mol
CAS number	[]
Density	g/cm³
Melting point	°C
Boiling point	°C
SMILES
NFPA 704

'''tert''-Butanol', or 2-methyl-2-propanol, is a tertiary alcohol. It is one of the four isomers of butanol. ''tert''-Butanol is a clear liquid with a camphor-like odor. It is well soluble in water and miscible with ethanol and diethyl ether. It is unique among the isomers of butanol because it tends to be a solid at room temperature, with a melting point slightly above 25 degrees Celsius.

Contents

Applications

Preparation

Chemistry

References

External links

Applications

''tert''-Butanol is used as a solvent, as a denaturant for ethanol, as an ingredient in paint removers, as an octane booster for gasoline, as an oxygenate gasoline additive, and as an intermediate in the synthesis of other chemical commodities such as flavors and perfumes.

Preparation

''tert''-Butanol can be manufactured industrially by the catalytic hydration of isobutylene.

Chemistry

As a tertiary alcohol, ''tert''-butanol is more stable to oxidation and less reactive than the other isomers of butanol.
When ''tert''-butanol is deprotonated with a strong base, the product is an alkoxide anion. In this case, it is ''tert''-butoxide. For example, when ''tert''-butanol is deprotonated with sodium hydride, the resultant is sodium ''tert''-butoxide.
:NaH + ''t''BuOH → ''t''BuO⁻Na⁺ + H₂
The ''tert''-butoxide species is itself useful as a strong, non-nucleophilic base in organic chemistry. It is able to abstract acidic protons from the substrate molecule readily, but its steric bulk inhibits the group from participating in nucleophilic addition, such as in a Williamson ether synthesis or an S_N2 reaction.

References

1. ''Merck Index'', 11th Edition, '1542'

External links

★ MSDS for tert-butanol