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Key Documents

30603

Sigma-Aldrich

Potassium hydroxide

pellets, reag. Ph. Eur., ≥85%

Synonym(s):

Caustic potash

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About This Item

Linear Formula:
KOH
CAS Number:
Molecular Weight:
56.11
EC Number:
MDL number:
UNSPSC Code:
12352106
eCl@ss:
38100303
PubChem Substance ID:
NACRES:
NA.21

Agency

USP/NF
reag. Ph. Eur.

vapor pressure

1 mmHg ( 719 °C)

Assay

≥85%

form

pellets

impurities

≤2.0% K2CO3

pH

~13.5 (25 °C, 5.6 g/L)

mp

361 °C (lit.)

anion traces

chloride (Cl-): ≤0.02%
phosphate (PO43-): ≤0.01%
sulfate (SO42-): ≤0.02%

cation traces

Al: ≤0.001%
Ca: ≤0.001%
Fe: ≤0.001%
Na: ≤1.0%
Ni: ≤0.0005%

SMILES string

[OH-].[K+]

InChI

1S/K.H2O/h;1H2/q+1;/p-1

InChI key

KWYUFKZDYYNOTN-UHFFFAOYSA-M

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General description

Potassium hydroxide is a strong alkali that can be used in nucleophilic substitution reactions, addition reactions, and basic hydrolysis reactions. It can also be used to catalyze aldol-type reactions.

Application

Potassium hydroxide can be used as a base:
  • In the Pd-catalyzed Heck reaction of aryl halides with alkenes.
  • To synthesize β-alkylated alcohols via pincer-Ni catalyzed Guerbet reaction.
  • For the hydroxylation of aryl or heteroarylboronic acids to corresponding phenols.
It can also be used as a catalyst for the:
  • Transesterification of triglycerides to prepare biodiesels.
  • Synthesis of β-phenylethylamines via intermolecular addition of arylamines to styrenes.
  • Claisen-Schmidt condensation reaction to synthesize chalcones.

Packaging

This product is also available in glass bottles.

Pictograms

CorrosionExclamation mark

Signal Word

Danger

Hazard Statements

Hazard Classifications

Acute Tox. 4 Oral - Eye Dam. 1 - Met. Corr. 1 - Skin Corr. 1A

Storage Class Code

8A - Combustible corrosive hazardous materials

WGK

WGK 1

Flash Point(F)

Not applicable

Flash Point(C)

Not applicable


Certificates of Analysis (COA)

Search for Certificates of Analysis (COA) by entering the products Lot/Batch Number. Lot and Batch Numbers can be found on a product’s label following the words ‘Lot’ or ‘Batch’.

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Potassium hydroxide catalyzed addition of arylamines to styrenes
Jaspers D, et al.
Synlett, 2011, 1444-1448 (2011)
Novel CuCl2-cryptand-[2.2. Benzo] complex: A base free and oxidant free catalyst for Ipso-Hydroxylation of aryl/heteroaryl-boronic acids in water at room temperature
Bora S, et al.
Journal of Organometallic Chemistry, 851, 52-56 (2017)
Yuewang Huang et al.
Optics express, 23(5), 6780-6786 (2015-04-04)
We demonstrate a novel technique to fabricate sub-micron silicon nitride waveguides using conventional contact lithography with MEMS-grade photomasks. Potassium hydroxide anisotropic etching of silicon facilitates line reduction and roughness smoothing and is key to the technique. The fabricated waveguides is
Saeid Baroutian et al.
Bioresource technology, 102(2), 1095-1102 (2010-10-05)
In this study, a novel continuous reactor has been developed to produce high quality methyl esters (biodiesel) from palm oil. A microporous TiO2/Al2O3 membrane was packed with potassium hydroxide catalyst supported on palm shell activated carbon. The central composite design
Kinetics of palm oil transesterification in a batch reactor.
Darnoko D and Cheryan M.
Journal of the American Oil Chemists' Society, 77(12), 1263-1267 (2000)

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