Industrial Bulk Chemicals

Chemical name: Magnesium Chloride

IUPAC name: Magnesium dichloride

Formula: MgCl₂

Appearance: white or colourless crystalline solid

Uses:

• Magnesium chloride is used for low-temperature de-icing of highways, sidewalks, and parking lots. When highways are treacherous due to icy conditions, magnesium chloride helps to prevent the ice bond, allowing snow plows to clear the roads more efficiently.
• Magnesium chloride is used in nutraceutical and pharmaceutical preparations.
• Magnesium chloride (E511) is an important coagulant used in the preparation of tofu from soy milk.

Chemical name: Isopropyl Alcohol

IUPAC name: Propan-2-ol

Formula: C₃H₈O

Appearance: Colorless liquid

Uses:

• Isopropyl alcohol dissolves a wide range of non-polar compounds.
• It also evaporates quickly, leaves nearly zero oil traces, compared to ethanol, and is relatively non-toxic, compared to alternative solvents.
• As a biological specimen preservative, isopropyl alcohol provides a comparatively non-toxic alternative to formaldehyde and other synthetic preservatives.
• Isopropyl alcohol vapor is denser than air and is flammable, with a flammability range of between 2 and 12.7% in air.

Chemical name: Hexane

IUPAC name: Hexane

Formula: C₆H₁₄

Appearance: Colorless liquid

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 (such as canola oil or soy oil) from seeds, for cleansing and degreasing a variety of items, and in textile manufacturing.

Chemical name: glycerin

IUPAC name: Propane-1,2,3-triol

Formula: C₃H₈O₃

Appearance: Colorless hygroscopic liquid

Uses:

• It is widely used in FDA approved wound and burn treatments.
• It can also be used as an effective marker to measure liver disease.
• It is also widely used as a sweetener in the food industry and as a humectant in pharmaceutical formulations.

Chemical name: ferrous sulfate or Iron(II) sulfate

IUPAC name: Iron(II) sulfate

Formula: FeSO₄

Appearance: White crystals (anhydrous), White-yellow crystals (monohydrate), Blue-green crystals (heptahydrate)

Uses:

• Industrially, ferrous sulfate is mainly used as a precursor to other iron compounds.
• It is a reducing agent, and as such is useful for the reduction of chromate in cement to less toxic Cr(III) compounds.
• Historically ferrous sulfate was used in the textile industry for centuries as a dye fixative.
• It is used historically to blacken leather and as a constituent of ink.

Chemical name: Ethyl acetate

IUPAC name: Ethyl acetate

Formula: C₄H₈O₂

Appearance: Colorless liquid

Uses:

• In the laboratory, mixtures containing ethyl acetate are commonly used in column chromatography and extractions.
• It is also used in paints as an activator or hardener.
• Ethyl acetate is used primarily as a solvent and diluent, being favored because of its low cost, low toxicity, and agreeable odor.

Chemical name: Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid

IUPAC name: 2,2′,2″,2‴-(Ethane-1,2-diyldinitrilo)tetraacetic acid

Formula: C₁₀H₁₆N₂O₈

Appearance: Colourless crystals

Uses:

• In industry, EDTA is mainly used to sequester metal ions in aqueous solution.
• In the textile industry, it prevents metal ion impurities from modifying colours of dyed products.
• In the pulp and paper industry, EDTA inhibits the ability of metal ions, especially Mn2+, from catalysing the disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide, which is used in chlorine-free bleaching.

Chemical name: Dicalcium phosphate

IUPAC name: calcium hydrogen phosphate

Formula: CaHPO₄

Appearance: white powder

Uses:

• Dibasic calcium phosphate is mainly used as a dietary supplement in prepared breakfast cereals, dog treats, enriched flour, and noodle products.
• It is also used as a tableting agent in some pharmaceutical preparations, including some products meant to eliminate body odor.
• Dibasic calcium phosphate is also found in some dietary calcium supplements (e.g. Bonexcin). It is used in poultry feed.
• It is also used in some toothpastes as a tartar control agent

Chemical name: Citric acid

IUPAC name: Citric acid

Formula: C₆H₈O₇

Appearance: Crystalline white solid

Uses:

• The buffering properties of citrates are used to control pH in household cleaners and pharmaceuticals.
• Citric acid is used as an odorless alternative to white vinegar for home dyeing with acid dyes.

Chemical name: Calcium carbonate

IUPAC name: Calcium carbonate

Formula: CaCO₃

Appearance: Fine white powder; chalky taste

Uses:

• The main use of calcium carbonate is in the construction industry, either as a building material, or limestone aggregate for road building, as an ingredient of cement, or as the starting material for the preparation of builders’ lime by burning in a kiln.
• Agricultural lime, powdered chalk or limestone, is used as a cheap method for neutralising acidic soil, making it suitable for planting.
• Calcium carbonate is a key ingredient in many household cleaning powders like Comet and is used as a scrubbing agent.