4261
T3D4207
Ethylene Oxide
Ethylene oxide is also called oxirane. It is a cyclic ether that is a colorless flammable gas at room temperature, with a faintly sweet odor. It is the simplest epoxide known. Because of its special molecular structure, ethylene oxide easily participates in addition reactions; e.g., opening its ring and thus easily polymerizing. Ethylene oxide is a vital industrial chemical with diverse applications, including the manufacture of polysorbate 20 and polyethylene glycol. Ethylene oxide itself is a very hazardous substance: at room temperature it is a flammable, carcinogenic, mutagenic and irritating. It is also an anaesthetic gas with a misleadingly pleasant aroma. Although too dangerous for direct household use and generally unfamiliar to consumers, ethylene oxide is used industrially for making many consumer products as well as non-consumer chemicals and intermediates. Ethylene oxide is important or critical to the production of detergents, thickeners, solvents, plastics, and various organic chemicals such as ethylene glycol, ethanolamines, simple and complex glycols, polyglycol ethers and other compounds. As a poison gas that leaves no residue on items it contacts, pure ethylene oxide is a disinfectant that is widely used in hospitals and the medical equipment industry to replace steam in the sterilization of heat-sensitive tools and equipment, such as disposable plastic syringes. A very small amount (less than 1%) is used to control insects on stored agricultural products such as nuts and spices.
75-21-8
6354
C2H4O
Colorless
-113 °C
10.7 °C
1000 mg/mL at 25°C
Inhalation, Dermal
Ethylene oxide is an alkylating agent. The addition of alkyl groups to proteins, DNA, and RNA by binding to the sulfhydryl and hydroxyl, amino, and carboxyl groups, prevents normal cellular metabolism and ultimately kills cells. It is likely that the carcinogenicity of ethylene oxide in laboratory animals arises primarily as a result of its direct alkylation of DNA and RNA. In vivo exposure to ethylene oxide induced mutations (5- to 5.6-fold) at the Hprt locus in splenic T-lymphocytes in rats and mice.
The metabolism of ethylene oxide is not completely known. Data from animal studies indicate two possible pathways for the metabolism of ethylene oxide: hydrolysis to ethylene glycol and glutathione conjugation to form mercapturic acid and meththio-metabolites.
Ethylene oxide is toxic by inhalation with an U.S. OSHA permissible exposure limit calculated over 8 hours of 1 ppm, and a short term exposure over 15 minutes of 5 ppm.
LD50 values are 72 mg/kg (rat, oral) and 187 mg/kg (rat, subcutaneous injection)
1, carcinogenic to humans. (L135)
Ethylene oxide is an industrial chemical that is important or critical to the production of detergents, thickeners, solvents, plastics, and various organic chemicals such as ethylene glycol, ethanolamines, simple and complex glycols, polyglycol ethers and other compounds. It is also used as a sterilizing agent, a fumigant, a fungicide and as an insecticide. Ethylene oxide ranks 26th in volume among the major industrial chemicals produced in the United States. About 65% of ethylene oxide is used for synthesis of ethylene glycol, an antifreeze product.
<1 ppm
At high doses (>200 ppm) ethylene oxide irritates mucous membranes of the nose and throat; higher concentrations cause damage to the trachea and bronchi, progressing into the partial collapse of the lungs. High concentrations can cause pulmonary edema and damage the cardiovascular system. Because the odor threshold for ethylene oxide varies between 250 and 700 ppm, the gas will already be at toxic concentrations when it can be smelled. Ethylene oxide is carcinogenic, mutagenic and an irritant. With chronic low doses, an increased incidence of brain tumors and mononuclear cell leukemia was found in rats that had inhaled ethylene oxide at concentrations of 10, 33, or 100 mL/m3 over a period of two years. Studies of workers exposed to ethylene oxide in ethylene oxide factories or hospital sterilizing rooms have shown an increased
incidence of leukemia, stomach cancer, cancer of the pancreas and Hodgkin's disease.
The major effects seen in workers exposed to ethylene oxide at low levels for several months or years are irritation of the eyes, skin, and mucous membranes and problems in the functioning of the brain and nerves. Acute exposure leads to central nervous system effects. Headache, nausea and vomiting are often evident. Peripheral neuropathy, impaired hand-eye coordination and memory loss have been reported in more recent case studies of chronically-exposed workers at estimated average exposure levels as low as 3 ppm. Ethylene oxide easily penetrates through the clothing and footwear, causing skin irritation and dermatitis with the formation of blisters, fever and leukocytosis. High concentrations can cause pulmonary edema and damage the cardiovascular system.
There is no antidote for ethylene oxide poisoning. Treatment is supportive of respiratory and cardiovascular functions.
2014-08-29T05:52:57Z
2014-12-24T20:26:42Z
Oxirane
C06548
27561
true
C1CO1
C2H4O
InChI=1S/C2H4O/c1-2-3-1/h1-2H2
InChIKey=IAYPIBMASNFSPL-UHFFFAOYSA-N
44.0526
44.02621475
Exogenous
Gas
-0.3
CHEMBL1743219
6114