Here is some info everyone should know.
1 What is acetone?
Acetone is a chemical that is found naturally in the environment and is also produced by industries. Low levels of acetone are normally present in the body from the breakdown of fat; the body can use it in normal processes that make sugar and fat. Acetone is a colorless liquid with a distinct smell and taste. People begin to smell acetone in air at 100 to 140 parts of acetone in a million parts of air (ppm), though some can smell it at much lower levels. Most people begin to detect the presence of acetone in water at 20 ppm. Acetone evaporates readily into the air and mixes well with water. Most acetone produced is used to make other chemicals that make plastics, fibers, and drugs. Acetone is also used to dissolve other substances.
back to top 1.2 What happens to acetone when it enters the environment?Acetone enters the air, water, and soil as a result of natural processes and human activities. Acetone occurs naturally in plants, trees, volcanic gases, and forest fires. People and animals breathe out acetone produced from the natural breakdown of body fat. Acetone is also released during its manufacture and use, in exhaust from automobiles, and from tobacco smoke, landfills, and certain kinds of burning waste materials. The levels of acetone in soil increase mainly because of acetone-containing wastes being buried in landfills. Acetone is present as a gas in air. Some acetone in air is lost when it reacts with sunlight and other chemicals. Rain and snow also remove small amounts of acetone from the atmosphere and, in the process, deposit it on land and water. About half the acetone in a typical atmosphere at any time will be lost in 22 days. Microbes (minute life forms) in water remove some acetone from water. Some acetone in water will evaporate into air. About half the acetone in a stream will be removed from water in less than a day. Fish do not store acetone from water in their bodies. Microbes in soil remove part of the acetone in soil. Some is lost from soil by evaporation. Acetone molecules do not bind tightly to soil. Rainwater and melted snow dissolve acetone and carry it deeper into the soil to groundwater.
back to top 1.3 How might I be exposed to acetone?Your body makes small amounts of acetone. You can be exposed to a small amount of acetone by breathing air, drinking water, and eating food with acetone. You can also be exposed by contact with household chemicals with acetone. Several consumer products, including certain nail polish removers, particle board, some paint removers, many liquid or paste waxes or polishes, and certain detergents or cleansers, contain acetone. You can also be exposed to acetone if you are exposed to isopropyl alcohol, because isopropyl alcohol changes to acetone in the body. The level of acetone in air and water is generally low. The amount of acetone in the air of cities is generally higher than in remote and rural areas. The typical level of acetone in the air of cities in the United States is about 7 parts of acetone per billion parts of air (ppb). The level of acetone in air inside homes is usually slightly higher than in outside air (8 ppb versus 7 ppb). This is because of household chemical use inside homes. Acetone in drinking water is so low that its levels have not been measured in many samples. In a national survey, the acetone level in drinking water from Seattle, Washington, was 1 ppb. Acetone occurs naturally in many fruits and vegetables. The amount of acetone in food does not increase because of processing or packaging. The average amount of acetone an adult in the United States gets from food is not known.
People who work in certain industries that process and use acetone can be exposed to higher levels than the general populace. These industries include certain paint, plastic, artificial fiber, and shoe factories. Professional painters and commercial and household cleaners are also likely to breathe or touch higher acetone concentrations than the general population. As a member of the general public, you may be exposed to higher than normal levels of acetone if you smoke cigarettes, frequently use acetone nail polish removers, live near landfill sites that contain acetone, live near busy roadways (because automobile exhaust contains acetone), or live near other facilities that are known to release acetone, such as incinerators. The exposure from these sources will be mainly from breathing air that contains acetone or by direct skin contact with it. In addition, children can be exposed to acetone by eating dirt or by placing dirty hands in their mouths after exposing their skin to dirt from landfill sites.
back to top 1.4 How can acetone enter and leave my body?Your body normally contains some acetone because it's made during the breakdown of fat. Your body will make more acetone from body fat if you are on a low-fat diet. In addition to the acetone that your body makes from normal processes, acetone can enter your body if you breathe air that contains acetone, drink water or eat food that contains acetone, or if you touch liquid acetone or soil that contains acetone.
The bloodstream absorbs acetone rapidly and completely from the lungs and stomach. The bloodstream can also absorb acetone from the skin, but less rapidly than from the lungs and stomach. Blood carries acetone to all body organs, but it does not stay there very long.
The liver breaks down acetone to chemicals that are not harmful. The body uses these chemical to make glucose (sugar) and fats that make energy for normal body functions. The breakdown of sugar for energy makes carbon dioxide that leaves your body in the air you breathe out. These are normal processes in the body.
Not all the acetone that enters your body from outside sources is broken down. The amount that is not broken down leaves your body mostly in the air that you breathe out. You also breathe out more carbon dioxide than normal if you are exposed to acetone from sources outside the body because more carbon dioxide is made from the extra acetone.
Only a small amount of acetone that is not broken down leaves the body in the urine. The acetone that is not used to make sugar leaves your body within a few days in the air you breathe out and in the urine. The amount of acetone that enters and leaves your body depends on how much you're exposed to and for how long. The higher the level of acetone and the longer that you are exposed will cause acetone to leave your body more slowly, but almost all the acetone will leave your body within 3 days after your exposure stops. If you exercise or work while exposed to acetone in air, more will enter your lungs because you breathe faster and more deeply during exercise.
And then this about ISO.
Isopropyl alcohol (also propan-2-ol, 2-propanol, iso, isopro, isoprop, rubbing alcohol, or the abbreviation IPA) is a common name for isopropanol, a colorless, flammable chemical compound with a strong odor. It has the molecular formula C3H7OH and is the simplest example of a secondary alcohol, where the alcohol carbon is attached to two other carbons. It is an isomer of propanol.
Contents [hide]
1 Production
2 Uses
3 Chemistry
4 Safety
5 Toxicology
6 References
7 External links
[edit] Production
Isopropyl alcohol is produced by combining water and propene.[2] There are two processes for achieving this: indirect hydration via the sulfuric acid process and direct hydration. The former process, which can use low-quality propylene, predominates in the USA while the latter process, which requires high-purity propylene, is more commonly used in Europe. These processes give predominantly isopropyl alcohol rather than 1-propanol because the addition of water or sulfuric acid to propylene follows Markovnikov's rule.
The indirect process reacts propylene with sulfuric acid to form a mixture of sulfate esters. Subsequent hydrolysis of these esters produces isopropyl alcohol. Direct hydration reacts propylene and water, either in gas or liquid phases, at high pressures in the presence of solid or supported acidic catalysts. Both processes require that the isopropyl alcohol be separated from water and other by-products by distillation. Isopropyl alcohol and water form an azeotrope and simple distillation gives a material which is 87.9% by weight isopropyl alcohol and 12.1% by weight water.[3] Pure (anhydrous) isopropyl alcohol is made by azeotropic distillation of the "wet" isopropyl alcohol using either diisopropyl ether or cyclohexane as azeotroping agents.
[edit] Uses
Isopropyl alcohol is cheaply available. Like acetone, it dissolves a wide range of nonpolar compounds. It is also relatively nontoxic and dries (evaporates) quickly. Thus it is used widely as a solvent and as a cleaning fluid (for dissolving lipophilic contaminants such as oil). Examples of this use include cleaning electronic devices such as contact pins (like those on ROM cartridges), magnetic tape and disk heads (such as those in audio and video tape recorders and floppy disk drives), the lenses of lasers in optical disc drives (e.g. CD, DVD) and removing thermal paste from IC packages (such as CPUs.) It is also used to clean LCD and glass computer monitor screens (at some risk to the anti-reflection coating of some screens), and used by many music shops to give second-hand or worn records newer-looking sheens (though it may leach plasticizer from vinyl, making it more rigid.) It cleans white boards and other unwanted ink related marks very well (at the risk of damaging the non-stick surface of the white board). Isopropyl alcohol also works well at removing smudges, dirt, and fingerprints from cell phones and PDAs. It is effective at removing residual glue from some sticky labels (but some other adhesives used on tapes and paper labels are resistant to it.) It can also be used to remove stains from most fabrics, wood, cotton, etc. Isopropyl alcohol is also used to remove brake fluid traces from hydraulic disk brake systems, so that the brake fluid (usually DOT 3,DOT 4 or mineral oil) does not contaminate the brake pads resulting in poor braking.
As a preservative (for biological specimens) isopropyl alcohol provides a cost-effective (when compared to pure ethanol) and comparatively non-toxic alternative to formaldehyde and other synthetic preservatives. When used for the preservation of specimens in solution concentrations of 90-99% are optimal, though concentrations as low as 70% can be used in emergencies.
Sterilizing pads typically contain a 60-70% solution of isopropanol in water. Isopropyl alcohol is also commonly used as a cleaner and solvent in industry.
Isopropanol is a major ingredient in "dry-gas" fuel additive. In significant quantities, water is a problem in fuel tanks as it separates from the gasoline and can freeze in the supply lines at cold temperatures. The isopropanol does not remove the water from the gasoline; rather, the isopropanol solubilizes the water in the gasoline. Once soluble, the water does not pose the same risk as insoluble water as it will no longer accumulate in the supply lines and freeze. Isopropanol is often sold in aerosol cans as a windscreen de-icer.
Isopropanol is used as a water-drying aide for treating otitis externa, better known as swimmers ear.[4]
[edit] Chemistry
Unlike ethanol or methanol, isopropanol can be separated from aqueous solutions by adding a salt such as sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, or any of several other inorganic salts, since the alcohol is much less soluble in saline solutions than in salt-free water [5] The process is colloquially called salting out, and causes concentrated isopropanol to separate into a distinct layer.
Being a secondary alcohol, isopropanol can be oxidized to the corresponding ketone acetone. This can be achieved using oxidizing agents such as chromic acid, or by dehydrogenation of isopropanol over a heated copper catalyst:
(CH3)2CH-OH → (CH3)2CO + H2
Isopropanol may be converted to 2-bromopropane using phosphorus tribromide, or dehydrated to propylene by heating with sulfuric acid.
Isopropanol is often used as a hydride source in the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley reduction.
Like most alcohols, isopropyl alcohol reacts with active metals such as potassium to form alkoxides which can be called isopropoxides. The reaction with aluminium (initiated by a trace of mercury) is used to prepare the catalyst aluminium isopropoxide.
Isopropanol has a maximum absorbance at 204 nm in an ultraviolet-visible spectrum.
[edit] Safety
Isopropyl alcohol vapor is more dense than air and is highly flammable with a very wide combustible range. It should be kept away from heat and open flame. When mixed with air or other oxidizers it can explode through deflagration.[6] Isopropyl alcohol has also been reported to form explosive peroxides.[7][6]
