06103

Potassium hydroxide

technical, ≥85%, powder

• Synonym(s): Caustic potash
• Linear Formula: KOH
• CAS Number: 1310-58-3
• Molecular Weight: 56.11
• EC Number: 215-181-3
• MDL number: MFCD00003553
• UNSPSC Code: 12352106
• eCl@ss: 38100303
• PubChem Substance ID: 329748211
• NACRES: NA.21

Properties

• vapor pressure: 1 mmHg ( 719 °C)
• grade: technical
• assay: ≥85%
• form: powder
• impurities: ≤0.002% heavy metals (as Pb); ≤1.0% K₂CO₃
• pH: ~13.5 (25 °C, 5.6 g/L)
• mp: 361 °C (lit.)
• anion traces: chloride (Cl^-): ≤1000 mg/kg; sulfate (SO₄^2-): ≤50 mg/kg
• cation traces: Fe: ≤20 mg/kg
• SMILES string: [OH-].[K+]
• InChI: 1S/K.H2O/h;1H2/q+1;/p-1
• InChI key: KWYUFKZDYYNOTN-UHFFFAOYSA-M

Description

General description

Potassium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula KOH. It is a strong base and is commonly known as caustic potash. Caustic potash is mainly used for making potassium salts, acid-base titrations, and organic synthesis. Furthermore, KOH can be used as an electrolyte in some fuel cells and alkaline batteries. Potassium hydroxide readily reacts with acids. It is used in various reactions such as nucleophilic, addition, and basic hydrolysis reactions. Additionally, it is employed as a catalyst for aldol-type reactions.

Application

Potassium hydroxide can be used:

• To prepare KOH treated powder activated carbon, which is used as a catalyst for the synthesis of CNT (carbon nano tube) using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method.
• As a base in the intramolecular N-arylation of urea′s to form benzimidazol-2-ones.
• As a catalyst for the synthesis of khellactone-type compounds (10-aryl substituted-9,10-dihydropyrano[2,3-h] benzopyrone-8-ones) via one-pot, three-component (Meldrum′s acid, aryl aldehydes and 5,7-dihydroxy benzopyrone derivatives) reaction.

Safety Information

• pictograms: GHS05,GHS07
• signalword: Danger
• hcodes: H290,H302,H314
• pcodes: P234 - P260 - P280 - P301 + P312 - P303 + P361 + P353 - P305 + P351 + P338
• Hazard Classifications: Acute Tox. 4 Oral - Eye Dam. 1 - Met. Corr. 1 - Skin Corr. 1A
• Storage Class: 8A - Combustible corrosive hazardous materials
• wgk_germany: WGK 1
• flash_point_f: Not applicable
• flash_point_c: Not applicable