1,4-Butanediol is heat and light sensitive. 1,4-Butanediol reacts with acid chlorides, acid anhydrides and chloroformates. 1,4-Butanediol also reacts with oxidizing agents and reducing agents. 1,4-Butanediol is incompatible with isocyanates and acids. 1,4-Butanediol is also incompatible with peroxides, perchloric acid, sulfuric acid, hypochlorous acid, nitric acid, caustics, acetaldehyde, nitrogen peroxide and chlorine.
Health Hazard:Ingestion of large amounts needed to produce any symptoms.
Legality of 1,4-Butanediol:
While 1,4-butanediol is not currently scheduled federally in the United States, a number of states have classified 1,4-butanediol as a controlled substance. Individuals have been prosecuted for 1,4-butanediol under the Federal Analog . A federal case in New York in 2002 ruled, but that decision was later overturned by the Second Circuit. However, a Federal District Court in Chicago ruled, and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling. In the United Kingdom, 1,4-butanediol was scheduled in December 2009 as a Class C controlled substance. In Germany, the drug is not explicitly illegal, but might also be treated as illegal if used as a drug. It is controlled as a Schedule VI precursor in Canada.
Industrial Use of 1,4-Butanediol:
1,4-Butanediol is used industrially as a solvent and in the manufacture of some types of plastics, elastic fibers and polyurethanes. In organic chemistry. In the presence of phosphoric acid and high temperature, it dehydrates to the important solvent tetrahydrofuran. At about 200 °C in the presence of soluble ruthenium catalysts, the diol undergoes dehydrogenation to form butyrolactone.