What is methyl alcohol in organic chemistry?
Methyl alcohol or carbinol is the simplest aliphatic monohydric alcohol in organic chemistry with chemical formula CH4O or CH3-OH.
The carbon atom of methyl alcohol is directly attached with three H-atom and one hydroxyl (- OH) group.
The preferred IUPAC name of methyl alcohol is methanol. The others name are wood spirit, wood naphtha, methylene hydrate, methylol, etc.
Methyl alcohol is a colorless, inflammable liquid. It is sweet and pungent smelling but poisonous liquid. The melting point of methyl alcohol is — 97.8ᵒC and the boiling point is 64.7ᵒC.
Methyl alcohol is completely miscible with water due to formation of hydrogen bond and it is also soluble in organic solvents.
It burns with a faintly luminous flame and its vapor forms explosive mixtures with air or oxygen when ignited.
Read also : What is hydroxylamine in organic chemistry?
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Methyl alcohol structure
Molecular weight determination and many others analysis show that the molecular formula of methyl alcohol is CH4O and the exact molar mass is 32.04 g/mol.
The tetra valent carbon atom of methyl alcohol is directly attached with three H-atom and one –OH function group.
Both carbon and oxygen atom are sp3 hybridized. The structure of methyl alcohol is shown below.
What is methyl alcohol poisoning?
Methyl alcohol is a toxic substance. It is moderately toxic for small animals, but highly toxic for large animals and humans.
Drinking methyl alcohol can lead to blindness, insanity, kidney liver and heart damaged or even death. Because of it has a fatal effect on the central nervous system.
Again, in a process of toxication, it is metabolised to formic acid via formaldehyde in a process initiated by the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver. So it is not used as an alcoholic beverage.
For this property of methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol is poisoned by mixing it with ethyl alcohol, so that ethyl alcohol is not used as an alcoholic beverage.
Because of the demand for ethyl alcohol is much higher in the industry.
What are the uses for methyl alcohol?
Methyl alcohol or carbinol is a very important aliphatic primary alcohol. It has a huge demand in industrial sector. Methyl alcohol is used as an important reagent in organic chemistry.
· Methyl alcohol is widely used in industry as a cheap solvent for store-room, paints, varnishes, celluloid, cement, fats, etc.
· Formaldehyde is an important raw material in the plastics industry. Methyl alcohol is used broadly in the production of this formaldehyde.
· Again, methyl alcohol is used as an alternative to petrol in countries around the world where motor vehicle fuel is low.
· In temperate countries, a mixture of methyl alcohol and water is used as an antifreeze liquid instead of water in automobile radiators.
· Methyl alcohol being a poisonous alcohol is added to ethyl alcohol to make it inedible. Ethyl alcohol containing 10% methyl alcohol is called denatured spirit.
Others application
In organic chemistry, methyl alcohol is used in the manufacturing of dyes, perfumes, etc. It is also used in the preparation of methane, formic acid, methyl halides, methyl acetate ester, carbon dioxide, etc.
Use of methyl alcohol as a destaining agent
Direct-methyl alcohol fuel cells are unique in their low temperature, atmospheric pressure operation.
This combined with the relatively easy and safe storage and handling of methyl alcohol may open the possibility of fuel cell-powered consumer electronics, such as laptop computers and mobile phones.
Methyl alcohol is also a widely used fuel in camping and boating stoves.
Mixture of methyl alcohol and water is injected into high performance diesel and gasoline engines for an increase of power and a decrease in intake air temperature.
Methylated alcohol and methyl alcohol toxicity
Methyl alcohol is very essential organic liquid. But it is toxic or poisonous alcohol. Because of it has a fatal effect on the central nervous system.
If we drink methyl alcohol as alcoholic beverage, it can lead to blindness, insanity or even death.
Since methyl alcohol is toxic, hence it is used to make the rectified spirit unfit for drinking by mixing methanol with it.
The rectified spirit or ethyl alcohol containing 10% methyl alcohol is called methylated alcohol or denatured alcohol.
What is methylated alcohol or methylated spirit?
The aqueous solution of 95.6% ethyl alcohol is called rectified spirit. Huge amount of this rectified spirit is used in industry.
Again, ethyl alcohol is the main ingredient in alcoholic beverages. So the amount of ethyl alcohol is decreasing day by day.
So to make the rectified spirit unfit for drinking, methanol, pyridine, kaocosin, naphtha etc. are mixed with it.
This rectified spirit containing 10% methyl alcohol is called methylated alcohol or methylated spirit or denatured alcohol.
There are two types of methylated spirit, namely, mineralized methylated spirit and industrial methylated spirit.
Mineralized methylated spirit:
The methylated spirit which contains 90% rectified spirit, 9% methyl alcohol and 1% petrol is called Mineralized methylated spirit.
Industrial methylated spirit:
The methylated spirit which contains 95% rectified spirit and 5% methyl alcohol is called industrial methylated spirit.
