Physical and Chemical Properties
Cetylpyridinium chloride has the molecular formula C21H38NCl and at its pure form is in a solid state at room temperature. It has a melting point of 77 °C when anhydrous or 80–83 °C in its monohydrate form. It is insoluble in acetone, acetic acid, or ethanol. It has a pyridine-like odor. It is combustible. Concentrated solutions are destructive to mucous membranes. It is toxic when swallowed or inhaled, but is commonly used at low concentrations in many over-the-counter oral health care products (see below regarding the use of CPC in OTC drugs).
In some products, cetylpyridinium bromide is used instead. Its properties are virtually identical.
Its critical micelle concentration (CMC) is 0.00124M, corresponding to 0.042% in water.
Read more about this topic: Cetylpyridinium Chloride
Famous quotes containing the words physical, chemical and/or properties:
“The physical world is meaningless tonight
And there is no other.”
—Wallace Stevens (18791955)
“We are close to dead. There are faces and bodies like gorged maggots on the dance floor, on the highway, in the city, in the stadium; they are a host of chemical machines who swallow the product of chemical factories, aspirin, preservatives, stimulant, relaxant, and breathe out their chemical wastes into a polluted air. The sense of a long last night over civilization is back again.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“The reason why men enter into society, is the preservation of their property; and the end why they choose and authorize a legislative, is, that there may be laws made, and rules set, as guards and fences to the properties of all the members of the society: to limit the power, and moderate the dominion, of every part and member of the society.”
—John Locke (16321704)