Dichloromethane (Methylene Chloride)

About This Product

Dichloromethane, also known as methylene chloride or DCM, has the formula CH2Cl2 and CAS number 75-09-2. It is a clear, colourless, dense liquid with a sweetish odour, boiling at about 40 °C, only slightly soluble in water and miscible with most organic solvents. Its usefulness comes from an unusual combination: it dissolves a very wide range of organic compounds, it is practically non-flammable, and it boils low enough to be stripped from a product with little heat, which protects heat-sensitive pharmaceutical intermediates and natural extracts. It is also denser than water, so in liquid–liquid extraction it forms the lower layer. The same volatility is the reason for its regulation. Vapour accumulates in low, poorly ventilated spaces, and the body metabolises dichloromethane to carbon monoxide, which is why fatal exposures have occurred during paint stripping. In the EU its use in paint strippers is restricted under REACH, and in the United States most consumer and many commercial uses have been withdrawn under TSCA, leaving closed industrial processes as the core market. Commercial grades are stabilised against decomposition, and the stabiliser type should be agreed for the intended use. It is used as an extraction and reaction solvent in pharmaceutical manufacture, as the solvent in interfacial polycarbonate production, in industrial metal degreasing, in adhesives and film casting, and as an auxiliary blowing agent for polyurethane foam. Bio Green Chem supplies dichloromethane at 99 percent minimum purity in 250 kg drums or ISO tanks, with the stabiliser system and full specification confirmed with the quotation. It is suspected of causing cancer and causes drowsiness at high vapour concentrations; handle to the safety data sheet.