It is a colorless liquid, odorless when pure, and with boiling points approximately 69 °C (156 °F). It is widely used as a cheap, relatively safe, largely unreactive, and easily evaporated non-polar solvent, and modern gasoline blends contain about 3% hexane.
The term hexanes refer to a mixture, composed largely (>60%) of hexane, with varying amounts of the isomeric compounds 2-methylpentane and 3-methylpentane, and, possibly, smaller amounts of nonisomeric C5, C6, and C7 (cyclo)alkanes. These hexanes are cheaper than pure hexane and are often used in large-scale operations not requiring a single isomer (e.g., as cleaning solvent or for chromatography).
Specification
N-hexane is an organic compound with the formula C6H14, belonging to the straight chain saturated fatty hydrocarbons, obtained from the cracking and fractionation of crude oil, colorless liquid with a faint distinctive odor. It is volatile, almost insoluble in water, soluble in chloroform, ether, ethanol. Mainly used as solvents, such as vegetable oil extraction solvent, propylene polymerization solvent, rubber and paint solvent, pigment thinner. It is used to extract oil from soybean, rice bran, cottonseed and other edible oils and spices. In addition, the isomerization of n-hexane is one of the important processes for producing the harmonic components of high-octane gasoline.
