Sales Specification, Physical Data, Properties and Safety:
Property
Units
Minimum
Maximum
Typical
Purity (THF)
%
99.950
>99.98
Color
APHA
-
10
<5
Water
ppm
-
300
<100
Peroxide (calculated
as THF hydroperoxide)
ppm
-
150
<10
Stabilizer Content*
ppm
75
150
ca. 130
*) Stabilizer: Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
Tetrahydrofuran is miscible with water and common organic solvents. Thus, THF can be used alone or in mixtures with other less active solvents to increase overall solvent power. Solvent mixtures of THF, MEK, and occasionally toluene, are particularly useful in specific resin applications to realize the benefits of THF at optimum cost.
THF dissolves acetylene; carbon monoxide; phosgene, thionyl chloride and other inorganic oxychlorides. (Organic acid chlorides and anhydrides, however, tend to split the furan ring, particularly at reflux temperatures.) The major applications of THF as reaction solvent rely on its high solvent power for organo-magnesium chlorides, alkyl- and arylalkali metal compounds, lithium, aluminum and boron hydrides, and diborane; for steroids and other high-molecular weight organic compounds; for cyclopentadienes and metal carbonyls.
A review of the literature leads to the conclusion that chemists select THF as reaction medium most frequently when the reaction involves the use of a metal, an organic salt or an organometallic compound. Grignard reactions, reactions of alkali metals, anionic polymerizations, metal hydride reactions and hydroborations are classic examples. The broad solvent properties of THF also serve in countless reactions which do not involve metal compounds.
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thfpush.pdf (983 kb)
