Benzene

Benzene is colorless and flammable liquid with a sweet and gasoline-like smell with  C6H6 as its chemical formula. benzol is organic chemical compounds as a ring which is surrounded by 6 carbons atoms and six hydrogens atoms and known as a hydrocarbon. mineral naphtha is another name of these compounds.

it has different physical and chemical properties. Its molar mass is 78.11 g/mole with density of 0.87 g/cm3.

There are different sources for this component but it is mainly found in crude oil and it is a major part of gasoline. Moreover, it is produced in the earth’s atmosphere and is observed in the air due to the burning of coal and oil emission, gas station and motor vehicle exhaust. Although, industrial methods for manufacturers of this material involved various chemical processes. Given below are some of them.

• Catalytic reforming

In this process, mixture of hydrocarbons with boiling point in a range of 60-200  is mixture with hydrogen gas and followed by chloride catalysts under heating and high pressure. At the final step, benzene will be separated from other aromatics through filtration. This is so much effective process for the production of aromatics.

• Toluene hydrodealkylation

This process has involved in the conversion of toluene to benzene. At the first step, toluene is mixed with hydrogen and passes through oxides catalysts under high temperature and high pressure.

• Toluene disproportionation

In this process, two toluene molecules react with each other and 1 molecule xylene and 1 molecule benzene will be produced.

• Steam cracking

This process includes the production of ethylene and other alkenes from aliphatic hydrocarbons. Pyrolysis gasoline is the main step in this process which ended up to make olefins and benzene-rich liquid as a by-product.

• Reduction of phenols and halobenzene by metals
• Decarboxylation of benzoic acid to benzene
• The reaction of diozonium compounds by hypophosphorous acid aniline
• Trimerization of acetylene

chemical and physical properties of  Benzene 

In the table below some of the chemical and physical properties of this product are mentioned. All data that is mentioned in this table is gathered from Wikipedia website:

Application of Benzene

The main usage of benzene is to act as a precursor to the production of chemicals with a more complex structure. Also, it is mostly used in industrial chemicals. Given below are some of its uses.

• To make plastics, resin, synthetic fibers, textiles and nylon fibers
• Produce of styrene to make different polymers and plastics like polystyrene and EPS
• To make rubbers, lubricants, dyes, detergents, pesticide
• To synthesize drugs, glues, adhesives, cleaning products, paint strippers
• To manufacturer tobacco smoke and gasoline
• Intermediate to make other chemicals like ethylbenzene, cumene, cyclohexane, nitrobenzene, and alkylbenzene.
• To produce cyclohexane, toluene, phenol, and acetone for resins and adhesives
• To make explosives
• As a fuel additive

Chemical reactions 

The most common reaction which it can involve is substitution of protons with other groups. Sulfonation, chlorination, nitration, hydrogenation and metal complex are other chemical process including benzene.

Handling, Health effect, and Toxicity

Nowadays, people extremely are exposed the benzene through, filling their car with gasoline, using household products, so it is classified as a carcinogen. There are several ways to reduce its hazards, namely, stop breathing its vapors, storing gasoline in stable containers, stop handling gasoline in homes, filling a container of gasoline under ventilation.

Exposure may happen through inhalation from wood smoke, tobacco smoke, automobile service stations, soft drinks, contamination of water supply, and skin contact.

Therefore, the risk of cancer and other illness increase gradually during modern capitalism. Benzene can lead to some hematological malignancy, such as acute myeloid leukemia, aplastic anemia, myelodysplastics syndrome, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and chronic myloid leukemia.