tert-Butylbenzene

colourless liquid with an aromatic odour

tert-Butylbenzene is an useful intermediate for manufacturing agrochemicals and pharmaceuticals. tert-Butyl Toluene is used as a solvent for resins.

Organic synthesis, polymerization solvent, polymer linking agent.

The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 33, p. 923, 1968 DOI: 10.1021/jo01266a122
Tetrahedron Letters, 25, p. 4851, 1984 DOI: 10.1016/S0040-4039(01)91241-9

Toxic by ingestion.

Mildly toxic by ingestion. Flammable liquid when exposed to heat or flame. To fight fire, use foam, CO2, dry chemical, water spray, fog, mist. Incompatible with oxidizing materials. When heated to decomposition it emits acrid smoke and fumes

Photolytic. At 25 °C, a rate constant of 4.58 x 10^-12 cm³/molecule?sec was reported for the gasphase reaction of tert-butylbenzene with OH radicals (Ohta and Ohyama, 1985).
Chemical/Physical. tert-Butylbenzene will not hydrolyze because it has no hydrolyzable functional group (Kollig, 1995).

Wash it with cold conc H2SO4 until a fresh portion of acid is no longer coloured, then with 10% aqueous NaOH (care-effervescence), followed by distilled water until neutral. Dry it (CaSO4), and distil it in a glass helices-packed column, taking the middle fraction. [Beilstein 5 IV 1045.]