Organic Compund: Propionaldehyde

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Organic compounds are commonly found every day in every part of life. Propionaldehyde is a common organic compound also known as propanal, propaldehyde, and methylacetaldehyde with propanal being the most common alternate name. It is a clear colorless liquid at room temperature. Coming from the functional group of aldehyde, propionaldehyde has a C=O bond in replace with two hydrogen atoms, which would be the base propane molecule. The molecular formula is C3H6O, the structural formula CH3CH2CHO, the structure is found in figure 1 (end). Propionaldehyde can only be produced in few ways by a few companies and is used in many various products. There are many few specifically know health effects of propionaldehyde, but it is a very dangerous compound due to its chemical properties.
In order to produce propionaldehyde, there are very few ways in which to do so. One process that produces it is to mix propyl alcohol with a dichromate mixture which can oxidize. Oxidation is the process when a metal reacts with oxygen and a residue is left on the metal. A popular way of doing this to produce propionaldehyde is to send propyl alcohol in the vaporous state around copper metal. A second way of producing propanal is through the distillation of barium propionate and calcium formate. In order to do this the distillation must be done without any liquid substance. In the United States of America there are only three companies that manufacture propionaldehyde. These are Dow Chemical Co., Eastman Chemical Co., and OXEA Corp.. All three of the companies use manufacturing plants in the state of Texas to produce propionaldehyde. Propionaldehyde can only be transported using the name propionaldehyde, not any of the alternate names. Only authorized peo...

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