METHYL ACETATE

PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION

CAS NO. 79-20-9

METHYL ACETATE

EINECS NO. 201-185-2
FORMULA CH3COOCH3
MOL WT.

74.08

H.S. CODE

2915.39

TOXICITY

Oral rat LD50: 5000 mg/kg
SYNONYMS Acetic acid, methyl ester; Methyl acetic ester;
Acetate de Methyle (French); Methyl Ester of Monoacetic Acid; Methyl Ethanoate; Methylacetaat (Dutch); Methylacetat (German); Methylester Kiseliny Octove (Czech); Metile (Acetato Di) (Italian); Octan Metylu (Polish);

RAW MATERIALS

 

CLASSIFICATION

 

PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

PHYSICAL STATE clear liquid
MELTING POINT -75 C
BOILING POINT

57 - 58 C

SPECIFIC GRAVITY

0.93

SOLUBILITY IN WATER 250 g/l
pH

 

VAPOR DENSITY 2.55
AUTOIGNITION

454 C

NFPA RATINGS Health: 1; Flammability: 3; Reactivity: 0

REFRACTIVE INDEX

FLASH POINT

< 55 C

STABILITY Stable under normal conditions

APPLICATIONS

Acetate is the ester that an organic group replaces a hydrogen atom in -OH group of acetic acid through reaction (typically condensation) with alcohols. Condensation is the reaction in which two molecules having -OH groups are joined with eliminating a water molecule from their -OH groups. They are produced by esterification reaction from acetic acid and the corresponding alcohol in the presence of strong acids like sulfuric acid. This reaction is reversible and acetate can be hydrolyzed back into alcohol and acetic acid in the presence of strong bases or strong acid, especially at elevated temperature. The term acetate is also for the salt that one or more of the hydrogen atoms of acetic acid are replaced by one or more cations of the base, resulting in a compound containing the negative organic ion of CH3COO-. Lower acetate is a non-polar to weak polar aprotic solvent which have some solubility portion in water. Its miscibility with water gets higher at elevated temperature. Higher acetates have a low solubility in water and used as extraction solvents for fine chemicals particularly for certain antibiotics. Organic acetates are good solvents for a broad range of resins as they are miscible with almost all common organic liquids. Due to their powerful solvency, high volatility and mild odor, acetates are widely used as solvents for paints, coatings, adhesives, cellulose, plastics, fats, wood stains. Additionally ether acetates series are also widely used as solvents. This surfactant-like structure provides the compatibility between water and a number of organic solvents, and the ability to couple unlike phases. The main products include ethyleneglycol monoethyl ether acetate, ethyleneglycol monobutyl ether acetate, and propyleneglycol monomethyl ether acetate. Aromatic acetates such as benzyl acetate are also useful solvent. Benzyl acetate has jasmine like odor. Isoamyl acetate has a similar smell to both banana and pear. Acetates have characteristic fruity odor. They are used as component of perfumes and flavorings. They are used as chemical intermediate to manufacture pharmaceuticals, synthetic flavorings, cleaners, and other organic compounds.

Acetate

FORMULA

CAS RN

B.P C

Methyl acetate CH3COOCH3 79-20-9 57 - 58
Ethyl acetate CH3COOC2H5 141-78-6 76.5 - 77.5
Propyl acetate CH3COOCH2CH2CH3 109-60-4

101 - 102

Isopropyl acetate CH3COOCH(CH3)2 108-21-4 89

Butyl acetate

CH3COO(CH2)3CH3

123-86-4

124 - 126 
isobutyl acetate CH3COOCH2CH(CH3)2 110-19-0 115 - 117

Amyl acetate

CH3COO(CH2)4CH3

628-63-7

149
Isoamyl acetate CH3COOCH2CH2CH(CH3)2 123-92-2 142

Hexyl acetate

CH3COO(CH2)5CH3

142-92-7

170 - 172

Heptyl acetate

CH3COO(CH2)6CH3

112-06-1

192 - 193
Octyl acetate CH3COO(CH2)7CH3 112-14-1 205 - 211
Nonanyl acetate CH3COO(CH2)8CH3 143-13-5 212

Decyl acetate

CH3COO(CH2)9CH3

112-17-4

272
Undecyl acetate CH3COO(CH2)10CH3 112-19-6 269 - 271

Lauryl acetate

CH3COO(CH2)11CH3

112-66-3

265
Tridecyl acetate CH3COO(CH2)12CH3 1072-33-9

 

Myristyl acetate CH3COO(CH2)13CH3 638-59-5

 

Pentadecyl acetate

CH3COO(CH2)14CH3

629-58-3

 

Cetyl acetate CH3COO(CH2)15CH3

629-70-9

 

Heptadecyl acetate CH3COO(CH2)16CH3 822-20-8

 

Stearyl acetate

CH3COO(CH2)17CH3

822-23-1

 

Behenyl acetate

CH3COO(CH2)21CH3

822-26-4

 

Hexacosyl acetate

C28H56O2

822-32-2

 

Triacontyl acetate

C32H64O2

41755-58-2

 

Benzyl acetate CH3COOCH2C6H5 140-11-4 213 - 214
Bornyl acetate C12H20O2 76-49-3 228 - 231
Isobornyl acetate C12H20O2 125-12-2 229 - 233
Cyclohexyl acetate CH3COOC6H11 622-45-7 172 - 173
SALES SPECIFICATION

APPEARANCE

Clear liquid

PURITY (GC)

97.0% , 80.0%

WATER

0.1% max

COLOR (Pt-Co)

10 max

TRANSPORTATION
PACKING  
HAZARD CLASS 3 (Packing Group: II)
UN NO. 1231
OTHER INFORMATION
European Hazard Symbols: F, Risk Phrases: R 11-36-66-67, Safety Phrases: 16-23-29-33
FEMA No: 2676
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SOLVENT
Solvent is a substance, usually a liquid, that acts as a dissolving agent or that is capable of dissolving another substance. In solutions of solids or gases in a liquid, the liquid is the solvent. In all other homogeneous mixtures (i.e., liquids, solids, or gases dissolved in liquids; solids in solids; and gases in gases), solvent is the component of the greatest amount. The minor proportion substances are called solutes. The solvent offers several functions during a chemical reaction. It solves not only the substance that reacts with another one to produce a new set of substances (reactant) but also the compound that supplies the molecule, ion, or free radical, which is considered as the attacking species in a chemical reaction (reagent). The solvent is conductive to collisions between the reactants and reagents to transform the reactants to new products. The solvent also takes roll of temperature control, either to provide the energy of the colliding particles for speedy reaction and to absorb heat in exothermic reaction. The appropriate solvent should be selected based on the inactivity in the reaction conditions, dissolving the reagents as well as reactants, appropriate boiling point and easy removal at the end of the reaction.

Polarity

The most common solvent is water. Other common solvents which dissolve substances that are insoluble (or nearly insoluble) in water are acetone, alcohol, formic acid, acetic acid, formamide. BTX, carbon disulfide, diemthyl sulfoxide, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, ether, tetrahydrofuran, furfural, hexane and turpentine. They may be classified as polar and non-polar. Polar solvents, like water, have molecules whose electric charges are unequally distributed, leaving one end of each molecule more positive than the other. Usually polar solvent has O-H bond of which water (HOH), (CH3OH) and acetic acid (CH3COOH) are examples. Propanol, butanol, formic acid, formamide are polar solvents. Dipolar solvents which contain a C-O solid bond without O-H bond are acetone [(CH3)2C=O], ethyl acetate (CH3COOCH2CH3), methyl ethyl ketone, acetonitrile, N,N-dimethylformamide and diemthyl sulfoxide. Nonpolar solvents, like carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), benzene (C6H6), and diethyl ether ( CH3CH2OCH2CH3), have molecules whose electric charges are equally distributed and are not miscible with water. Hexane, tetrahydrofuran and methylene chloride are non-polar solvents. Polar solvents are hydrophilic but non-polar solvents are lipophilic. Polar reactants will dissolve in polar solvents. Non-polar solvents dissolve non-polar compounds best. Oil and water don't mix but separate into two layers. There are three measures of the polarity as "dipole moment", "dielectric constant" and "miscibility with water". Though low dipole moments and small dielectric constants indicates non-polar solvents, sharp boundaries between polar and non-polar solvents are not available. The polarity reflects the balance between a polar component (OH) and a non-polar hydrocarbon component, existing in the same molecule. If hydrocarbon character increases relatively, the polarity decreases. On an operational basis, solvents that are miscible with water are polar.

Polar Protic and Dipolar Aprotic

Protic refers to a hydrogen atom attached to an electronegative atom. Protic solvents can donate an H+ (proton) since they contain dissociable H+, such as hydrogen attached to oxygen as in a hydroxyl group, nitrogen as in a amine group. Examples are water, methanol, ethanol, formic acid, hydrogen fluoride and ammonia. Aprotic solvents don't has O-H bond but a C=O bond typically. Examples are acetone [(CH3)2C=O] and ethyl acetate (CH3COOCH2CH3). Polar protic solvents are useful in SN1 reaction, while polar aprotic solvents are SN2 reaction.

Solvents
Boiling point C
Dipole Moment
Dielectric Constant

Density (g/ml)

Polar Protic

Water
100
1.85
80

0.998

Methanol
68
1.70
33

0.791

Ethanol
78
1.69
24.3

0.789

n-Propanol
97
1.68
20.1

0.803

n-Butanol
118
1.66
17.8

0.810

Formic acid
100
1.41
58

1.21

Acetic acid
118
1.74
6.15

1.049

Formamide
210
3.73
109
1.134

Polar Aprotic

Acetone
56
2.88
20.7

0.786

Tetrahydrofuran
66
1.63
7.52

0.886

Methyl ethyl ketone
80
2.78
18.5

0.805

Ethyl acetate
78
1.78
6.02

0.894

Acetonitrile
81
3.92
36.6

0.786

N,N-Dimethylformamide
153
3.82
38.3

0.944

Diemthyl sulfoxide
189
3.96
47.2

1.092

Non-Polar

Hexane
69
-
2.02

0.655

Benzene
80
0
2.28

0.879

Diethyl ether
35
1.15
4.34

0.713

Methylene chloride
40
1.60
9.08

1.326

Carbon tetrachloride
76
0
2.24
1.594