GLYCEROL

CAS NUMBER: 56-81-5

EC NUMBER: 200-289-5

MOLECULAR FORMULA: C3H8O3

MOLECULAR FORMULA: 92.09  g/mol

 

Glycerol is a triol with a structure of propane substituted at positions 1, 2 and 3 by hydroxy groups. 
Glycerol is an alditol and a triol.

Glycerin is a trihydroxyalcohol with localized osmotic diuretic and laxative effects. 
Glycerin elevates the blood plasma osmolality thereby extracting water from tissues into interstitial fluid and plasma. 

Glycerol also prevents water reabsorption in the proximal tubule in the kidney leading to an increase in water and sodium excretion and a reduction in blood volume. 
Administered rectally, glycerin exerts a hyperosmotic laxative effect by attracting water into the rectum, thereby relieving constipation. 

Glycerin is used as a solvent, humectant and vehicle in various pharmaceutical preparations.
Glycerine appears as a colorless to brown colored liquid. 

Combustible but may require some effort to ignite.
Glycerol is a naturally occurring chemical.  

Glycerol, a clear, colourless, viscous, sweet-tasting liquid belonging to the alcohol family of organic compounds.
Until 1948 all glycerol was obtained as a by-product in making soaps from animal and vegetable fats and oils, but industrial syntheses based on propylene or sugar has accounted for an increasingly large percentage of production since that time. 

Glycerol is described as the “sweet principle of fat.”
Fats and oils are valued chiefly as sources of the carboxylic acids that are present, combined in the form of esters with glycerol. 

When the acids are set free from these compounds, glycerol remains as a solution in water and is purified by coagulating and settling extraneous matter, evaporating the water, and distilling.
Glycerol or glycerin is a colourless, odourless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and mostly non-toxic. 

Glycerol is widely used in the food industry as a sweetener and humectant and in pharmaceutical formulations. 
Glycerol is an important component of triglycerides (i.e. fats and oils) and of phospholipids. 

Glycerol is a three-carbon substance that forms the backbone of fatty acids in fats.
When the body uses stored fat as a source of energy, glycerol and fatty acids are released into the bloodstream. 

The glycerol component can be converted into glucose by the liver and provides energy for cellular metabolism. 
Glycerol shows very little acute toxicity and very high oral doses or acute exposures can be tolerated. 

A sweet syrupy hygroscopic trihydroxy alcohol C3H8O3 usually obtained by the saponification of fats and used especially as a solvent and plasticizer, as a moistening agent, emollient, and lubricant, and as an emulsifying agent.
Glycerol is the simplest triol. 

Glycerol can be found in all natural fats and oils as fatty esters and is an important intermediate in the metabolism of living organisms. 
Glycerol is completely miscible with water and many alcohols and also with many heterocyclic compounds. 

A remarkable and growing source of glycerol is as a byproduct in the production of biodiesel. 
Glycerol is presently used in a large variety of applications because of Glycerols particular combination of chemical and physical properties and because Glycerol is physiologically innocuous.

Glycerol, which bears green, low-cost, and good miscibility features, provides a variety of solvent portfolios to satisfy the complex market demands. 
Owing to Glycerols abundant feedstock and unique properties, glycerol is a good candidate in catalysis, high-value-added chemical conversion, and solvents. 

Glycerol can also be used as an energy transportation medium attributed to its high boiling temperature, promising thermal stability, and fertile hydrogen bond.
Glycerol is a colorless, odorless and viscous liquid which is sweet in taste and is non-toxic. 

Not that we have tasted glycerol but the literature states Glycerol is a sweet-tasting liquid, and Glycerols name is derived from the Greek word for sweet which is glykys. 
Commercially, glycerol is known as glycerine, and most people will probably have heard of glycerols nitrated version, nitroglycerine.

Glycerol is a triol containing two primary alcohols (RCH2OH) and one secondary alcohol (R2CHOH) and Glycerols unambiguous IUPAC name is given as propane-1,2,3-triol. 
Glycerol is miscible with water as forms extensive hydrogen bonds, and is also soluble in alcohols which is important for Glycerols use in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. 

Glycerol's also extremely important in the body as a way to store important fatty acids.
Glycerol is often included in polyacrylamide gels to prevent dissociation of nucleosomes and other protein-DNA complexes during electrophoresis. 

With glycerol included, fractionation seems to be largely based on particle mass and charge. 
The concentration of glycerol during electrophoresis strongly affects the separation characteristics of polyacrylamide gels. Glycerol is an inevitable by-product of oils/fats processing, regardless of the pathway. 

Fermentative metabolism of glycerol has been studied in great detail in several species.
The use of anaerobic fermentation to convert abundant and low-priced glycerol streams generated in the production of biodiesel into higher value products represents a promising route to achieve economic viability in the biofuels industry.

Petrochemical, animal fat and vegetable oil-based biodiesel industries produce glycerol (glycerin) as a by-product. 
The crude glycerol contains impurities and therefore needs to be refined in order to be used in food, cosmetics and drugs manufacturing. 

Glycerol is first physically refined which means filtration or centrifugation, chemical additions and fractional vacuum distillation. 
Glycerol is an osmotic dehydrating agent with hygroscopic and lubricating properties which increases plasma osmolality, resulting in the movement of water from extravascular spaces into the plasma through osmosis. 

Glycerol has a demulcent property which possibly blocks sensory cough receptors in the respiratory tract.
Glycerol's properties make it useful for numerous applications. 

Approximately 40% of glycerol's use is for personal care products such as cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, lotions, mouthwash, and toothpaste. 
Glycerol's hygroscopic properties make it a good moisturizer in skin products. 

Another 25% of glycerol's annual production is used in food production. 
In the food industry glycerol is used as a moistening agent, as a solvent for food coloring and syrups, to prevent crystallization of sugar in candies and icings, as a preservative, and as a sweetening agent. 

Approximately 10% of glycerol's use goes into tobacco processing, where it is sprayed on tobacco leaves before they are shredded to serve as a moistening agent. 
Glycerol has the added benefit of imparting a sweet taste to chewing tobacco. 

The remaining 25% of glycerol's use is distributed among various industrial uses. 
Glycerol is used in cough syrups and elixir medicines. 

In industry, glycerol is found in lubricants, plasticizers, adhesives, antifreezes, resins, and insulating foams. 
At one time it was used almost exclusively in its nitrated form as an explosive (see Nitroglycerin), which today accounts for about 3% of its use.

Glycerol is used both in sample preparation and gel formation for polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. 
Glycerol (5-10%) increases the density of a sample so that the sample will layer at the bottom of a gel’s sample well.

Glycerol is also used to aid in casting gradient gels and as a protein stabilizer and storage buffer component.
The three hydroxyl groups in glycerol allow extensive hydrogen bonding that gives glycerol its characteristic syrupy viscous texture and hygroscopic character. 

 

USES:

-People use Glycerol as a medicine. 

-Glycerol is most commonly used for constipation, improving hydration and performance in athletes, and for certain skin conditions. 

-Glycerol is also used for meningitis, stroke, obesity, ear infections, and other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.

-Glycerin is a basic ingredient in the gums and resins used to make many modern protective coatings such as automotive enamels and exterior house paints. 

-Glycerin reacted with nitric and sulfuric acid forms the explosive nitroglycerin (or nitroglycerine).

-Glycerol is also a component of mono- and diglyceride emulsifiers, which are used as softening agents in baked goods, plasticizers in shortening, and stabilizers in ice cream. 

-Glycerols varied uses in the pharmaceutical and toilet goods fields include skin lotions, mouthwashes, cough medicines, drug solvents, serums, vaccines, and suppositories. 

-Another significant use is as a protective medium for freezing red blood cells, sperm cells, eye corneas, and other living tissues. 

-At one time, Glycerols largest single use was as automotive antifreeze; methanol and ethylene glycol have replaced Glycerol for this purpose.

-For skin and hair. 

-Moistener, skin protection, improves hair structure, softens skin.

-Glycerol is useful for sample preparation/protein stabilization and as a storage buffer component.

-Glycerol is useful in a variety of applications, glycerol is used as a solvent, plasticizer and humectant. 

-In polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, glycerol is used in sample preparation and gel formation. 

-At a concentration of 5-10%, glycerol is used to increase the density of a sample so that Glycerol will layer at the bottom of a sample well. 

-Additional uses include as an aid in casting gradient gels, a protein stabilizer, and storage buffer component.

-Glycerol serves as a sweetener, solvent, and humectants in food and beverages and can also help in preserving food. 

-Glycerol is also used in commercially prepared low-fat foods as filler and in liqueurs as a thickening agent. 

-Glycerol is also used along with water to preserve certain types of leaves. 

-Glycerol is also used as a sugar substitute.

-Glycerol is utilized in pharmaceutical and personal care products preparations, majorly as a means of developing smoothness, for providing lubrication and as humectants. 

-In tablets dosage, Glycerol is used a holding agent and Glycerol is also a component of glycerin soap. 

-Glycerol is found in cough syrups, elixirs, toothpaste, mouthwashes, products of skin care and water-based personal care lubricants.

-Glycerol is used in the production of nitroglycerin. 

-Allyl iodide can be synthesized by utilization of elemental phosphorus and iodine on glycerol. 

-Crude glycerol for a renewable energy source as an additive to biomass when burnt or gasified is being examined.

-When filming scenes which involve water to stop drying out of areas too quickly glycerol are used by the film industry.

-Vegetable glycerine with propylene glycol, in one of the common component of e-cigarette liquid. 

-This glycerol produces the aerosol when heated with an atomizer, delivering nicotine to the consumer.

-Glycerol is important as Glycerol is a viscous liquid and can contribute to a wine’s texture, body and mouthfeel. 

-The weight that Glycerol brings can help to smooth off a wine’s rough edges and while Glycerol has no taste Glycerol can bring a slight sweet sensation to wines, which can be favourable especially in wines like Amarone.

-Glycerol also plays an important role during fermentation. 

-The production of glycerol has two important functions for yeast: to combat osmotic stress and to maintain the oxidation-reduction balance.

-Glycerol, sometimes referred to as glycerin, is a sugar alcohol widely used in a variety of personal care products, including toothpaste, hair conditioner, cosmetics, and moisturizers.

-In products such as moisturizer creams, Glycerol helps to bring moisture to the surface of the skin, to help skin smooth. 

-Glycerol is also added to hair conditioner, shaving creams and eye drops for the same purpose.

-In over-the-counter skin care products, such as moisturizers, glycerol is added to help protect the skin from irritants. -This is also why glycerol is added to cough syrups – to help prevent irritation in throats which leads to coughing

-Glycerol is widely used in many industrial and consumer products, e.g. soaps/detergents, medicines, cosmetics, food, drinks, paints, resins and paper.

-Manufacturers add glycerol to tobacco to help keep it moist, and this is mostly via the sauce or “casing”, which is added to help process the tobacco.

-Glycerol is also used in the cigarette paper.

-Glycerol can be used safely to decrease the brain edema associated with ischemic stroke.

-Synthetic glycerine is used in food products, nutritional supplements, pharmaceutical products, personal-care products, and oral-care products. 

-In the pharmaceutical industry, glycerin is used as a sweetener in syrups, lozenges, and as an excipient in eyewash solutions. 

-Glycerol my also be found in ear drop products, jellies and creams for topical use, in expectorants for congestion, suppositories, and gel capsules. 

-As an individual prescription product, glycerin has uses as a hyperosmotic, osmotic diuretic, and ophthalmic agent. 

-Glycerol may be used as eye drop in the treatment of glaucoma to reduce the intraocular pressure, as a solution or suppository for short-term treatment of constipation or to evacuate the bowel, and in some ocular surgeries. 

-Glycerol may be given intravenously to reduce pressure inside the brain, and used externally on the skin as a moisturizer. -Glycerin has many other uses in the agricultural, food and pharmaceutical industry.

 

 

APPLICATION:

Glycerol is a raw material for the production of nitroglycerin, acetic acid glycerol, surfactants, flavors, alkyds and ester gums. 
Glycerol can be directly used in antifreeze, cosmetics, inks, etc.

Glycerol can be used as water-retaining agent (used for bread and cake); carrier solvent (used in flavor, pigment and water-soluble preservative; thickener (used for drink and wine formulation); plasticizer (candy, desert and meat product); sweetener, gas chromatographic fixative.
EEC provides Glycerol can be used for alcoholic beverages, candy, cakes, coating glazing, meat and cheese coating, alcoholic beverages, bakery products, gelatin, gelatin and other sweets.

Glycerol is used both in sample preparation and gel formation for polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. 
Glycerol (5-10%) increases the density of a sample so that the sample will layer at the bottom of a gel sample well. 

Glycerol is also used to aid in casting gradient gels and as a protein stabilizer and storage buffer component. 
Glycerol is an important basic organic raw material, being widely used in industrial, pharmaceutical and daily life. 

There are about 1700 kinds of applications, mainly for medicine, cosmetics, alkyd resin, tobacco, food, sour resin, explosives, textile printing and dyeing and so on. 
The demand of glycerol in alkyd resin, celluloid and explosives exhibits a downward trend. But its demand in medicine, cosmetics and food will continue to grow. 

In previous years, the compositions of glycerol consumption in China include: 35.7% in paint; 32.6% in toothpaste; 4.8% in cosmetics; 6% in cigarettes, 5.9% in medicine, 4.8% in polyether and 10.2% for the other. 
During the manufacture of drugs and cosmetics, glycerol is widely used to prepare a variety of preparations, solvents, moisture, antifreeze and sweeteners. 

The cyclization of glycerol and p-nitroaniline can generate 6-nitroquinoline. 
The monostearate obtained from the acidification between glycerol and stearic acid is a kind of excipient, used as the matrix of hydrophilic ointment. 

Glycerol can generate acrolein by elimination reaction, and has been used to produce methionine and glutaraldehyde. 
The potassium glycerol phosphate, sodium glycerophosphate, calcium glycerophosphate made from glycerol and phosphoric acid are all used as a nutritional medicine. 

Chlorination of glycerol can generate the intermediate monochloro-propylene glycol for the production of caffeine and guaiacol glycerol ether. 
Glycerol can participate in the cyclization and condensation of p-hydroxybenzaldehyde and, 4, 6-trihydroxy-3, 5-dimethyl benzophenone to obtain the expectorant cough medicine Rhododendron. 

Glycerol can be condensed with acetone to form 1, 2-isopropylidene glyceride. 
This can be used for the manufacture of shark liver alcohol used for increasing the count of white blood cell. 

Nitration of glycerol can generate glyceryl trinitrate, namely, vasodilator nitroglycerin. 
Glycerol can be reacted with 2, 5-diaminoanisole sulfate to give the intermediate 6-methoxy-4, 7-phenanthroline. 

Glycerol is also a raw material for the midrange marker 6-methoxy-7-nitroquinoline. 
Several quinoline derivatives were obtained from the reaction between glycerol and aromatic primary amines with such reactions being called skraup reactions. 

Another major application of glycerol is the preparation of alkyd resin. 
At present, the resin used in the paint around the world includes mainly alkyd resin, acrylic resin, vinyl resin and epoxy resin, among which, alkyd resin paint ranks first in both the United States and Japan. 

Glycerol accounts for 42% in the polyol used in the alkyd resin. 
Glycerol is easy to digest and non-toxic and can be used as a solvent, hygroscopic agent and vehicle for the food industry. 

For the seasoning and coloring food, because the glycerol is sticky, and can therefore contribute to food molding. İ
During the rapid freezing of food, glycerol can be used as a direct medium of heat transfer for food. 

Glycerol is also a lubricant for food processing and packaging machinery. 
In addition, the application of polyglycerol and polyglycerol esters during the manufacture of crispy and margarine products is increasing year by year. 

Glycerol can be used in tobacco (mainly cigars) as a humectant to keep the moisture of the tobacco, to prevent embrittlement, and to increase the sweetness of tobacco. 
In the case of cigar paper and filter paper, it is used as a plasticizer in the form of triacetin. 

Glyceryl triacetate accounts for one third of the total consumption of glycerol in the tobacco industry. 
Between 1970 and 1986, the average annual growth rate of glycerol production in China was 5.3%, but the average annual growth rate of consumption in the same period was 7%. 
In 1983 – 1986, China imported a total of 52,400 tons of glycerol with the average annual import of 1.31 million tons, accounting for 1/4 of the annual consumption. 

 

 

PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES:

Pure glycerol appears as colorless, odorless and sweet viscous liquid. 
Boiling point: 290 ° C, melting point: 17.9 ° C, the relative density: 1.2613. 

Glycerol can be miscible with water infinitely. 
Glycerol can be dissolved in 11 times ethyl acetate, about 500 times ether. 

Glycerol is insoluble in benzene, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, carbon disulfide, petroleum ether and oil. 
Anhydrous glycerol has a strong water absorption property.

Glycerol is weakly acidic, being able to react with alkaline hydroxide. 
For example, Glycerol reaction with copper hydroxide can produce bright blue cupric glycerinate (can be used to identify polyols). 

Glycerol can react with nitric acid to generate glyceryl trinitrate, also known as nitroglycerin, being a strong explosive.
Because glycerol has water absorption property, it is often used as the moisturizing agent of cosmetics, leather, tobacco, food and textile. 

Glycerol also has effect on lubricating the intestine, being able to be used for enema or suppository treatment of constipation. 
Nitroglycerides have the effect of dilating coronary arteries and can be used to treat angina. Nitroglycerin can be used as an explosive and propellant. 

Glycerol can react with binary acid to generate alkyd resin, widely being used in paints and coatings.
In nature, glycerol is widely presented in the form of esters. 

For example, a variety of animal and vegetable oils are glycerol carboxylate with hydrolyzing grease being capable to generate fatty acids and glycerol. 
At present, one of the major sources of glycerol is the byproduct of the soap industry (grease is hydrolyzed under alkaline conditions). 
The other major source is from petroleum pyrolysis gas, propylene.

 

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES:

Glycerol is a sweet-tasting, syrupy liquid.
Glycerol has not more than a slight characteristic odor, which is neither harsh nor disagreeable. 

Glycerol is a trihydric alcohol. 
Glycerol is hygroscopic and its solutions are neutral.

 

STORAGE:

Glycerin is hygroscopic. 
Pure glycerin is not prone to oxidation by the atmosphere under ordinary storage conditions, but Glycerol decomposes on heating with the evolution.
Mixtures of glycerin with water, ethanol (95%), and propylene glycol are chemically stable.

 

SYNONYM:

glycerin
56-81-5
Glycerine
1,2,3-Propanetriol
PROPANE-1,2,3-TRIOL
Glycyl alcohol
Trihydroxypropane
Glyceritol
Propanetriol
Osmoglyn
1,2,3-trihydroxypropane
Polyglycerine
Grocolene
Glysanin
Glyrol
Glycerin, synthetic
Polyglycerol
Dagralax
Ophthalgan
Vitrosupos
Glycerin, anhydrous
Synthetic glycerin
Synthetic glycerine
Optim
Moon
Star
Glycerin mist
Incorporation factor
Glycerin (mist)
Glycerinum
90 Technical glycerine
Glycerine mist
Citifluor AF 2
GlycerolumBulbold