N-hexane is a chemical made from crude oil. It is used in laboratories, primarily when it is mixed with similar chemicals to produce solvents. Common names for these solvents are commercial hexane, mixed hexanes, petroleumether, and petroleum naphtha. The major use for solvents containing n- hexane is to extract vegetable oils from crops such as soybeans, flax, peanuts, and safflowerseed. They are also used as cleaning agents in the textile, furniture, shoemaking, and printing industries, particularly rotogravure printing.
N-hexane is also an ingredient of special glues that are used in the roofing, shoe, and leather industries. N-hexane is used in binding books, working leather, shaping pills and tablets, canning, manufacturing tyres, and making baseballs. Consumer products that contain small amounts of n-hexane include petrol, rubbercement, type over correction fluids, non-mercury thermometers, alcohol preparations, and aerosols in perfumes.
N-hexane is also a component of preparations such as paint thinners, general purpose solvents, degreasing agents, or cleaners. N-hexane is a colourless liquid with a slightly disagreeable odour. It evaporates very easily into the air and dissolves only slightly in water. It is highly flammable, and its vapours can be explosive. It may be ignited by heat, sparks, and flames. Flammable vapour may spread away from a spill.
N-hexane can react vigorously with oxidizing materials such as liquid chlorine, concentrated oxygen, and sodium hypochlorite. It will attack some forms of plastics, rubber, and coatings. It is insoluble in water and miscible with alcohol, chloroform, and ether. It is incompatible with strong oxidizers. N-hexane is also known as hexane and hexyl hydride. Research N-hexane
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Abbreviations
Research N-hexane
