Gamma (γ)-Butyrolactone (GBL) is a hygroscopic colorless oily liquid. It is a tetrahydrofuran butan-4-olide substituted by an oxo group at position 2. This has a role as both a metabolite and a neurotoxin. This is miscible in aliphatic hydrocarbons with water and the general organic and is slightly soluble. It is mainly used as an intermediate within the production of other chemicals, e.g. methyl-2-pyrrolidone. GBL has been characterized as having an intense bitter taste with faint to pleasant odor. In humans, GBL acts as a prodrug for γ-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), and it’s used as a recreational CNS depressant with effects kind of like barbiturates.
GBL can produce tetrahydrofuran and γ-butyrolactone in any proportion with a hydrogenation reaction, and the usual ratio is tetrachlorofuran: γ-butyrolactone = 3-4:1. It was contained in excerpts from unadulterated wine samples. It is an endogenous compound composed of gamma-aminobutyrate and is that gamma-hydroxybutyrate precursor. Some manufacturing companies still exist, but typically in a small scale. This finding indicates that in some wines GBL may be a present component, and will be present in similar products. The typical level is 300t/a. The production capacity accounts for 30% of the overall domestic production capacity. The concentration detected was approximately 5 μg/mL and was easily observed employing a simple extraction technique followed by GC/MS analysis. GBL is found in cheese flavorings but typically leads to content of 0.0002% GBL within the final foodstuff.
The Food and Drug Administration ( FDA) is warning customers not to purchase or eat drugs, some of which are branded as gamma-butyrolactone (abbreviated as GBL) dietary supplements. The reaction temperature of GBL is controlled at 230-240 ° C. The yield of the product is obtained by reduced pressure distillation of and the yield is above 77%. The yield of this process is approximately 95%. The purification takes place with a liquid-gas-phase extraction.
Actually, Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) has widespread industrial use. Within the laboratory, it should even be obtained via the oxidation of tetrahydrofuran (THF), for instance with aqueous sodium bromated. It’s a standard solvent found in paint strippers, cosmetics removers, and stain removers logic gate board cleaners. Recently GBL has become a very important solvent for the event of organic perovskites (such as Methylammonium lead halide), novel photovoltaic cell materials that will be processed from solution. It’s also a typical intermediate in industrial chemistry including the manufacture of pyrrolidones and in some pharmaceuticals.
GBL is a strong precursor salt solvent, including lead halides and methylammonium iodide or formamidinium iodide. It is an important intermediate organic synthesis that can be used for the synthesis of indole butyric acid, butyric acid, succinic acid, α-pyrrolidone, N-methylpyrrolidone, vinyl pyrrolidone, acetyl-γ-butyrolactone, cyclopropylamine, ciprofloxacin, vitamin B1, chlorophyll, etc. GBL is an alternative to the more toxic solvent dimethylformamide that was used in earlier stages of the production of perovskite solar cells. This is a thinner and curative agent widely used in wool, nylon, acrylonitrile and other auxiliaries for fiber dyeing and other chemical industries.
Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL) encompasses a weak narcotic effect because of its fast metabolic conversion to gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, which has a sway on the central systema nervosum. It isn’t active in its own right; its action mechanism derives from its status as a GHB prodrug. GBL may react with oxidizing materials, bases and inorganic acids, alcohols, and amines. GBL can cause irritation of the esophageal and gastro-intestinal tract if taken undiluted by mouth. Oral ingestion of GBL may cause nausea and other related problems, even more so than with GHB. GBL undergoes rapid and quantitative lactonase conversion, yielding gamma-hydroxybutyric acid.
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