Why is hexane considered carcinogenic? The stock bottle has that label. What's the biological degradation pathway?

google it, duh.
why do peeps ask questions on here
when their computer will find the answers?

And why are we interested in something as nasty as hexane?

Are we building a rocket engine?

Its called "conversation", and conversation motivated by a question like this is far, far more interesting to me than a conversation motivated by the question "Would you spank the person above you?"


NoParadox, thanks for asking your question. You got a 'friend' who inhales hexane for the slight pleasure it brings?

Uses

In industry, hexanes are used in the formulation of glues for shoes, leather products, and roofing. They are also used to extract cooking oils from seeds, for cleansing and degreasing all sorts of items, and in textile manufacturing.

A typical laboratory use of hexanes is to extract oil and grease contaminants from water and soil for analysis.[3] Since hexane cannot be easily deprotonated, it is used in the laboratory for reactions that involve very strong bases, such as the preparation of organolithiums, e.g. Butyllithiums are typically supplied as a hexane solution.

In many applications (especially pharmaceutical), the use of n-hexane is being phased out due to its long term toxicity, and often replaced by n-heptane, which will not form the toxic (hexane-2,5-dione) metabolite.
[edit] Production

Hexanes are chiefly obtained by the refining of crude oil. The exact composition of the fraction depends largely on the source of the oil (crude or reformed) and the constraints of the refining. The industrial product (usually around 50% by weight of the straight-chain isomer) is the fraction boiling at 65–70 °C.

I agree. I had never heard of it, and this prompted me to learn something. That to me is enjoyable and all together what a science forum should be all about!



I would say that based on the fact it is a hydrocarbon, and most hydrocarbons that have had long term testing have shown carcinogenic properties would be the main reason it has a warning.

When dealing with hydrocarbons, the straight chains make good solvents, burn clean, thin paint well, and offer many uses that are not very harmful to humans when exposed. Hexane is in the little block of molecules that can form other variations that are, indeed, harmful.

Check out xylene. The chemical bonds to make it are sufficiently similar to make it a cousin, but xylene is super bad news for humans.

C6H4C2H6 vs C6H14

They are both just hydrocarbons, common solvents we deal with daily, and ohhhhh so different when absorbed into the skin.

Care should be used with toluene, benzene, methyl benzene, etc.

I used quite a bit of it before the headaches made me wise up. I try to use methylethylketone when possible.

all of them just as dangerous!
Better not order a 55gal Drum to your Homeaddress,or Eyebrows will go up at the DEA and the BATF!

Why is hexane considered carcinogenic?

The stock bottle has that label.

What's the biological degradation pathway?

I probably have about twenty gallons, a gallon or two of each. Some are pretty scary and some just make good paint thinner. Some cut epoxy, some remove paint, some stink a lot and don't seem to do much but are required to thin complex polymers. They all have different properties.