Propylene oxide

Description

Propylene oxide is an allergic and irritant agent, used as a solvent and raw material in the chemical industry as starting material and intermediate for a broad spectrum of polymers.

Description

Propylene oxide (PO), formally 2-methyloxirane, is low-boiling liquid that is useful for making many commercial materials. It was known as long ago as 1866, when Eduard Linnemann at the University of Lemberg (Germany) described the conversion of PO to acetone.
The initial method for producing PO was the chlorination of propylene in water to give a mixture of chlorohydrins, followed by dehydrochlorinaton with potassium hydroxide. A process developed subsequently was the direct oxidation of propylene with an organic hydroperoxide. Both processes are in use today.
About two-thirds of worldwide PO production (≈13 million t/year) is used to make polyether polyols, which play an important role in the manufacture of the versatile polyurethane foam. Another ≈20% is hydrolyzed to propylene glycol. As an industrial epoxide, PO is second in importance only to ethylene oxide. PO is a chiral molecule, but almost all of it is produced as the racemic mixture.
As shown in the hazard information table, exposure to PO can cause a wide range of health and environmental problems, some severe. It must be handled with extreme care.

The Uses of Propylene oxide

Propylene oxide is used as a fumigant forfoodstuffs; as a stabilizer for fuels, heat-ing oils, and chlorinated hydrocarbons; asa fuel–air explosive in munitions; and toenhance the decay resistance of wood andparticleboard (Mallari et al. 1989). Recentstudies indicate that the fumigant potentialof propylene oxide enhances at a low pres-sure of 100 mm Hg which could render it asan alternative to methyl bromide for rapiddisinfection of commodities (Isikber et al.2004).