Diethyl dicarbonate

Structural formula
General
Surname	Diethyl dicarbonate
other names	Diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) Diethyl pyrocarbonate
Molecular formula	C 6 H 10 O 5
Brief description	colorless liquid
External identifiers / databases
CAS number 1609-47-8 EC number 216-542-8 ECHA InfoCard 100.015.039 PubChem 3051 Wikidata Q421385
properties
Molar mass	162.14 g mol −1
Physical state	liquid
density	1.12 g cm −3 at 25 ° C
boiling point	93-94 ° C at 24 h Pa
Refractive index	1.3960 (20 ° C)
safety instructions
GHS labeling of hazardous substances Caution H and P phrases H: 302-315-319-335 P: 261-305 + 351 + 338
Toxicological data	100 mg kg −1 ( LD 50 ,  cat ,  oral )
As far as possible and customary, SI units are used. Unless otherwise noted, the data given apply to standard conditions . Refractive index: Na-D line , 20 ° C

Diethyl dicarbonate , also called diethyl pyrocarbonate (DEPC), is an ester of pyrocarbonic acid .

use

Diethyl dicarbonate is used in molecular biology to inactivate ribonucleases (RNases). When producing RNase-free water, 0.1% diethyl dicarbonate is autoclaved in water . Unused diethyl dicarbonate hydrolyzes to ethanol and carbon dioxide at these temperatures. Alternatively, some finished solutions can be made up with 0.05% diethyl dicarbonate and autoclaved after 12 h at room temperature, which also inactivates possible RNAse contamination from the reagents.

Until 1973 diethyl dicarbonate was used in the beverage industry for cold pasteurization of fruit juices, wine and beer ( cold sterilization ). Diethyl dicarbonate can form ethyl urethane in aqueous acidic solution and in the presence of ammonium ions (NH ₄ ⁺ ) . For this reason, the addition of diethyl dicarbonate to beverages was banned in 1973. Dimethyl dicarbonate is used as a secondary active ingredient .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Diethyl pyrocarbonate data sheet from Sigma-Aldrich , accessed on March 25, 2011 ( PDF ).
2. ↑ David R. Lide (Ed.): CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics . 90th edition. (Internet version: 2010), CRC Press / Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton, FL, Physical Constants of Organic Compounds, pp. 3-166.
3. ↑ Entry on diethyl dicarbonate in the ChemIDplus database of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) .
4. ↑ Summers, WC (1970): A simple method for extraction of RNA from E. coli utilizing diethyl pyrocarbonate. In: Anal. Biochem. 33 (2): 459-463. PMID 4910776 .
5. ↑ Entry on urethane. In: Römpp Online . Georg Thieme Verlag, accessed on March 10, 2014.