What is Ethanol used for?

Ethanol is produced naturally by fermentation of sugars by yeast or by petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration. It has medical uses as a preservative and disinfectant. It is used as a chemical solvent and in the synthesis of organic compounds. Ethanol is a fuel source. Ethanol can also be dehydrated to produce ethylene, an important chemical raw material.

use

Medicine,

preservatives

Ethanol is used in medical wipes and is most commonly used in antibacterial hand sanitizer gels as a bactericidal and antifungal preservative. Ethanol kills microorganisms by dissolving their membrane lipid bilayer and denatening their proteins, and is effective against most bacteria, fungi and viruses. However, it is ineffective against bacterial spores, but can be mitigated by the use of hydrogen peroxide. a 70% ethanol solution is more effective than pure ethanol because ethanol relies on water molecules for optimum antibacterial activity. Anhydrous ethanol can inactivate microorganisms without destroying them because alcohol cannot fully penetrate their membranes. Ethanol can also be used as a disinfectant and preservative because it disrupts the osmotic balance of cell membranes and causes cells to dehydrate, so water leaves cells and causes them to die.

antidote

Ethanol can be used as an antidote to ethylene glycol poisoning and methanol poisoning. Ethanol competes with methanol and ethylene glycol as a competitive inhibitor of ethanol dehydrogenase. Although ethanol has more side effects, it is cheaper and more readily available than formepirazole, which is also used as an antidote to methanol and glycol poisoning.

Medicinal solvent

Ethanol, often in high concentrations, is used to dissolve many water-insoluble medications and related compounds. Liquid preparations of pain medications, cough and cold medicines, and mouth washes, for example, may contain up to 25% ethanol and may need to be avoided in individuals with adverse reactions to ethanol such as alcohol-induced respiratory reactions. Ethanol is present mainly as an antimicrobial preservative in over 700 liquid preparations of medicine including acetaminophen, iron supplements, ranitidine, furosemide, mannitol, phenobarbital, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole and over-the-counter cough medicine.

Pharmacology

In mammals, ethanol is primarily metabolized in the liver and stomach by alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzymes.[31] These enzymes catalyze the oxidation of ethanol into acetaldehyde (ethanal):

CH3CH2OH + NAD+? CH3CHO + NADH + H+

When present in significant concentrations, this metabolism of ethanol is additionally aided by the cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP2E1 in humans, while trace amounts are also metabolized by catalase.

The resulting intermediate, acetaldehyde, is a known carcinogen, and poses significantly greater toxicity in humans than ethanol itself. Many of the symptoms typically associated with alcohol intoxication — as well as many of the health hazards typically associated with the long-term consumption of ethanol — can be attributed to acetaldehyde toxicity in humans.

The subsequent oxidation of acetaldehyde into acetate is performed by aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) enzymes. A mutation in the ALDH2 gene that encodes for an inactive or dysfunctional form of this enzyme affects roughly 50% of east Asian populations, contributing to the characteristic alcohol flush reaction that can cause temporary reddening of the skin as well as a number of related, and often unpleasant, symptoms of acetaldehyde toxicity.This mutation is typically accompanied by another mutation in the alcohol dehydrogenase enzyme ADH1B in roughly 80% of east Asians, which improves the catalytic efficiency of converting ethanol into acetaldehyde.

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