o-Phthalaldehyde

Chemical Properties

o-Phthalaldehyde is a pale yellow crystalline solid. o-Phthalaldehyde is mainly used as a high-level disinfectant (a low-temperature chemical method) for heat-sensitive medical and dental equipment such as endoscopes and thermometers; in recent years, it has gained popularity as a safe and better alternative to glutaraldehyde. There are some researches show, pH7.5 contains the sterilizing agent of o-phthalaldehyde 0.5%, and its sterilizing power, sterilization speed, stability and toxicity all are better than glutaraldehyde, can kill mycobacterium in the 5min, the bacterium number reduces by 5 logarithmic value, and o-phthalaldehyde is very stable, tasteless in pH3～9 scopes, non-stimulated to human nose, eye mucosa, and need not activate before using, various materials are had good consistency, have tangible microbiocidal activity.

Uses

o-Phthalaldehyde can be widely used for precolumn derivatization of amino acids in HPLC separation or Capillary electrophoresis. For flow cytometric measurements of protein thiol groups.

Definition

ChEBI: A dialdehyde in which two formyl groups are attached to adjacent carbon centres on a benzene ring.

Flammability and Explosibility

Notclassified

Carcinogenicity

No information on the carcinogenicity of o-phthalaldehyde in experimental animals or humans was found in a review of the literature.