Trans-2-butene

But-2-ene

But-2-ene

Chemical compound

But-2-ene (/ˈbjuːt.tu.iːn/) is an acyclic alkene with four carbon atoms. It is the simplest alkene exhibiting cis/trans-isomerism (also known as (E/Z)-isomerism); that is, it exists as two geometric isomers cis-but-2-ene ((Z)-but-2-ene) and trans-but-2-ene ((E)-but-2-ene).

Quick Facts Names, Identifiers ...

It is a petrochemical, produced by the catalytic cracking of crude oil or the dimerization of ethylene. Its main uses are in the production of gasoline (petrol) and butadiene,[4] although some but-2-ene is also used to produce the solvent butanone via hydration to 2-butanol followed by oxidation.

The two isomers are extremely difficult to separate by distillation because of the proximity of their boiling points (~4 °C for cis and ~1 °C for trans[5]). However, separation is unnecessary in most industrial settings, as both isomers behave similarly in most of the desired reactions. A typical industrial but-2-ene mixture is 70% (Z)-but-2-ene (cis-isomer) and 30% (E)-but-2-ene (trans-isomer). Butane and but-1-ene are common impurities, present at 1% or more in industrial mixtures, which also contain smaller amounts of isobutene, butadiene and butyne.[4]

References

  1. [1]
    Record in the GESTIS Substance Database of the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
  2. [2]
    Record in the GESTIS Substance Database of the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
  3. [3]
    cis-2-Butene, International Chemical Safety Card 0397, Geneva: International Programme on Chemical Safety, March 1996. trans-2-Butene, International Chemical Safety Card 0398, Geneva: International Programme on Chemical Safety, March 1996.
  4. [4]
    2-Butene (PDF), SIDS Initial Assessment Report, Geneva: United Nations Environment Programme, February 1995.
  5. [5]
    Chemical Safety Information from Intergovernmental Organizations Archived December 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Trans-2-butene, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.