Glycidol Guide: Formula, CAS, Applications Explained
Glycidol: Properties, Uses & Safety Insights for Industry
Discover Glycidol’s formula, CAS, properties and real-world uses. Get clear, practical insights for industry professionals. Read now and apply today.
Introduction
Looking for actionable information, about Glycidol, its identity, properties and real-world uses? This guide cuts out detail and gives exactly what formulators, procurement teams and technical decision makers need: clear chemical identifiers, key physical data, practical application insights and essential safety and sourcing considerations. Whether you look at Glycidol as a diluent, polymer modifier or synthesis intermediate you will find expert information that helps you decide quickly and move forward with confidence.
Table of Contents
Why This Matters to You
What Is Glycidol?
Key Physical and Chemical Data
How It Behaves: Reactivity and Handling
Where It’s Used: Real-World Applications
Safety, Storage and Compliance
Sourcing Smartly: Quality and Documentation
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
Why This Matters to You
If you are evaluating an epoxide, for resins, surfactants or specialty synthesis you need precise data and realistic use-cases fast.
This article gives you that: a clear profile, practical application notes and safety guidance you can act on.
Why read this? You will get a concise expert-level overview that cuts through descriptions and focuses on what matters in formulation and procurement.
Will this solve your problem? Yes by the end you will know whether the reactive epoxide fits your process and what to ask your supplier.
What Is Glycidol?
Glycidol is a molecule that carries both an epoxide ring and a primary alcohol. Because Glycidol has two functional groups Glycidol becomes very useful as a building block and a modifier, in coatings, adhesives, polymers and personal-care intermediates.
Glycidol is also called 2,3-Epoxy-1-propanol, a name that describes it as an epoxy alcohol. Glycidol belongs to the family of epoxide compounds. In some contexts you will see Glycidol written as oxirane methanol.
Key Physical and Chemical Data
Identity: Glycidol (CAS 556-52-5) formula C₃H₆O₂, MW 74.08 g/mol.
Appearance and state: The substance is an light yellow liquid. It is water-soluble. Mixes well with many organic solvents.
Data: The boiling point is approximately 160 to 161 degrees Celsius. At 15 mmHg the boiling point is around 61 to 62 degrees Celsius. The melting point is minus 54 degrees Celsius.
Properties: The density is approximately 1.117 grams per milliliter, at 25 degrees Celsius. The vapor pressure is 0.9 mmHg. The flash point is 178 degrees Fahrenheit.
How It Behaves: Reactivity and Handling
The epoxide ring drives most of glycidol’s utility, and its handling requirements. It readily undergoes ring-opening reactions with amines, acids, alcohols, and other nucleophiles, enabling grafting, chain extension, and crosslinking in resin systems.
Because it is a reactive epoxide, process teams typically:
Work under controlled temperatures to limit side reactions
Use inert atmospheres for sensitive syntheses
Monitor viscosity and gelation when used as a reactive diluent
Its alcohol group further expands coupling options, especially in hyperbranched polyglycerol routes and specialty surfactant intermediates.
Where It’s Used: Real-World Applications
Glycidol is used as an intermediate and modifier in different industries. Important uses are diluents for adhesives and coatings polymer stabilizers for natural oils and PVC, surfactant and cosmetic intermediates, pharmaceutical building blocks and specialty polymers such as hyperbranched polyglycerols. Other roles include dye-levelling, refrigeration desiccants and hydrocarbon stabilization. Growth is highest, in pharmaceuticals, coatings and advanced polymers.
Safety, Storage and Compliance
I handle glycidol with epoxide precautions: I wear gloves and goggles work in a well-ventilated area and I never let glycidol touch my skin or eyes. I store glycidol in a dry place, most suppliers say keep it around minus twenty degrees Celsius to keep it stable. I keep glycidol from strong acids, bases and reactive amines unless I am running a controlled reaction. I always check the safety data sheet, certificate of analysis and transport classification before scaling glycidol and I consult OSHA, ACGIH or local rules, for exposure limits.
Sourcing Smartly: Quality and Documentation
When evaluating suppliers pay attention to:
Purity specification, such as at 96 percent and the test methods used to check it.
Batch-to-batch Certificate of Analysis that includes parameters such as assay, water content and impurities.
Packaging that is suitable, for materials that react with moisture.
Clear labeling that includes the Glycidol compound identifiers and hazard statements.
Reliable documentation helps reduce risk and ensures audit readiness in environments.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the CAS number for Glycidol?
The CAS number is 556-52-5 commonly used to confirm identity in specs and procurement.
2. What is the chemical formula and molecular weight?
Formula: C₃H₆O₂; molecular weight is approximately 74.08 g/mol.
3. Is Glycidol water-soluble?
Yes it is reported as water-soluble and also soluble in organic solvents like alcohol and acetone.
4. How should it be stored?
Store, in a dry place; many suppliers recommend around −20 °C for improved stability with tight sealing to limit moisture uptake.
Conclusion
You now have a profile: identifiers, basic information notes on how it reacts and the main situations where this chemical is useful. Use this as a list to check when looking at SDS, CoAs and test mixes.
Step: Decide what you want the chemical to do (like make things less thick make stronger links or make more of a middle product) then ask for samples with all the papers, from the suppliers you like.
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