what is toluene?
Its a thing that is in an internet search engine.
Toluene is a peteroleum distillate used in the manufacture of paints and degreasers. It is insoluable in water and many factories have faced huge ground water clean up problems when it leeched into the ground from their paint and manufacturing facilities. It smells like benzene and overexposure can cause nerve damage. Environmentalists love it. It is not something to to go around sniffing on a regular basis. I think it may also be used in some meth labs and helps them explode from time to time.
It’s a benzene ring with a methyl group attached to a carbon isn’t it? & TNT is trinitrotoluene, which has 3 NO2 groups & a methyl.
Find models of it here: http://people.ouc.bc.ca/ woodcock/molecule/molecule.html There are models of testosterone, estrogen, dinitrophenol (DNP), dimetapp & pretty much every other drug.
A good place to start would be Morrison and Boyd.
Toluene (aka methylbenzene) gives rubber cement its smell too.
As a nearly-useless trivium: Toluene is
an excellent motor fuel, having very high
octane (knock resistance) and high energy
content per volume. At least at one time, “gasoline”
used in Formula One was formulated principally
with toluene, for these reasons.
Bill, to really continue the useless trivia, I have a question.
Years ago, in “Top Fuel” drag racing, the dragsters used a mixture of benzene and nitromenthane to start the cars b/c it was dangerous to start the cars with nitromenthane alone. However, they have since changed to methanol and nitromenthane b/c(here is the part I’m unsure of) when left for more than 30 min. the mixture of benzene and nitromenthane would form a gel that was explosive on contact. I am wondering if the story about benzene and nitromenthane is true and just what the hell does nitromenthane look like on the molecular level? Thanks in advance.
There’s a model on that website I posted. Methane is a carbon with 4 hydrogens, nitromethane has a nitro (NO2) group in place of one of the hydrogens.
Imagine a tetrahedron, the H’s & the nitro group are at each vertex.
Drax, thanks for the input, but I have been told that its nitroMENthane and not nitroMEthane like I always thought it was. But I have seen pics of nitroMEthane and I do thank you for chiming in.
Never heard of nitromenthane. 