styrene
Sign in to saveStyrene is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5CH=CH2. Its structure consists of a vinyl group as substituent on benzene. Styrene is a colorless, oily liquid, although aged samples can appear yellowish. The compound evaporates easily and has a sweet smell, although high concentrations have a less pleasant odor. Styrene is the precursor to polystyrene and several copolymers, and is typically made from benzene for this purpose. Approximately 25 million tonnes of styrene were produced in 2010, increasing to around 35 million tonnes by 2018.
AI overview
Styrene is a colorless, oily liquid chemical that evaporates easily and smells sweet, and it serves as the basic building block for making polystyrene plastics and related materials. The chemical is produced in enormous quantities worldwide—reaching about 35 million tonnes annually by 2018—making it an important industrial material.
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Article
17 sectionsContents
- Natural occurrence
- History
- Industrial production
- From ethylbenzene
- By dehydrogenation
- Via ethylbenzene hydroperoxide
- Other industrial routes
- Pyrolysis gasoline extraction
- From toluene and methanol
- From benzene and ethane
- Laboratory synthesis
- Polymerization
- Hazards
- Autopolymerisation
- Health effects
- References
- External links
Styrene is an organic compound with the chemical formula C6H5CH=CH2. Its structure consists of a vinyl group as substituent on benzene. Styrene is a colorless, oily liquid, although aged samples can appear yellowish. The compound evaporates easily and has a sweet smell, although high concentrations have a less pleasant odor. Styrene is the precursor to polystyrene and several copolymers, and is typically made from benzene for this purpose. Approximately 25 million tonnes of styrene were produced in 2010, increasing to around 35 million tonnes by 2018.
==Natural occurrence== Styrene is named after storax balsam (often commercially sold as styrax), the resin of Liquidambar trees of the Altingiaceae plant family. Styrene occurs naturally in small quantities in some plants and foods (cinnamon, coffee beans, balsam trees and peanuts) and is also found in coal tar.