Dimethylformamide (DMF)

About This Product

N,N-Dimethylformamide, DMF, has the formula C3H7NO and CAS number 68-12-2. It is a clear, colourless, high-boiling liquid, boiling at 153 °C, fully miscible with water and with most organic solvents, and one of the most widely used polar aprotic solvents in industry. DMF dissolves polymers and salts that few other solvents can, including polyurethanes and polyacrylonitrile, which is why it underpins the wet-coagulation process for polyurethane synthetic leather and the spinning of acrylic fibre. Its weakness is slow hydrolysis to formic acid and dimethylamine, the source of the fishy odour in degraded solvent, and both breakdown products interfere with sensitive chemistry. This grade therefore limits acidity as formic acid and alkalinity as dimethylamine to 0.0010 percent each, with methanol at the same level, water at 0.050 percent and conductivity at 2.0 µS/cm as a check on ionic contamination. DMF is classified as toxic to reproduction, and in the EU it is subject to a REACH restriction requiring users to keep workplace exposure below harmonised limits. It is used in polyurethane synthetic leather and coatings, acrylic and spandex fibre spinning, pharmaceutical and agrochemical synthesis including Vilsmeier formylation, peptide synthesis, and electronics and resin processing. Bio Green Chem supplies DMF at 99.9 percent minimum to specification on methanol, colour, water, acidity, alkalinity, conductivity and the pH of a 20 percent solution, in 190 kg drums or ISO tanks. It is a flammable liquid that may damage the unborn child and is harmful by inhalation and skin contact; handle to the safety data sheet.