Ethylene glycol Applications

Minor uses of ethylene glycol include making capacitors, as a chemical intermediate in the manufacture of 1,4-dioxane, as an additive to prevent corrosion in liquid cooling systems for personal computers, and in lens equipment of the cathode ray tube type for rear-projection televisions.Ethylene glycol is also used in the manufacture of some vaccines, but it is not present in these injections itself.It is used as a minor (1–2%) ingredient in shoe polish and some inks and dyes.Ethylene glycol has been used in wood rot and fungal treatments, both as a preventive measure and as an afterthought.In a few cases it has been used to dispose of partially decayed wooden objects, which will be displayed in museums.It is one of the few treatments that successfully treats wooden boat rot, and it is relatively inexpensive.Ethylene glycol may also be one of the minor ingredients in screen cleaning solutions, along with isopropyl alcohol, the main ingredient.Ethylene glycol is commonly used as a preservative for biological specimens, especially as a safer alternative to formaldehyde during secondary school dissections.It is also used as part of water-based hydraulic fluids used to control subsea oil and gas production equipment.Ethylene glycol is used as a protecting group in organic synthesis to protect carbonyl compounds such as ketones and aldehydes.

Silicon dioxide reacts with ethylene glycol and alkali metal bases under heating and reflux under nitrogen to generate highly reactive pentacoordinate silicates, thereby obtaining various new silicon compounds. [25] Silicates are essentially insoluble in all polar solvents except methanol.It can also be used in vaccine manufacturing or as a formaldehyde substitute when preserving biological specimens.

Toxicity 

Ethylene glycol has relatively high toxicity when ingested by mammals, roughly comparable to methanol, human oral LDLo = 786 mg/kg.The main danger is its sweet taste, which attracts children and animals. After ingestion, ethylene glycol is oxidized to glycolic acid, which is oxidized to toxic oxalic acid. It and its toxic byproducts first affect the central nervous system, then the heart, and finally the kidneys. Ingestion of sufficient amounts can be fatal if left untreated.In the United States alone, several people die each year.Antifreeze products for automobiles containing propylene glycol instead of ethylene glycol are available.They are generally considered safer to use because propylene glycol is less palatable and is converted in the body to lactic acid, a normal product of metabolism and exercise.Seventeen states in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States (as of 2012) require the addition of a bittering agent (denatonium benzoate) to antifreeze. In December 2012, U.S. antifreeze manufacturers voluntarily agreed to add bittering agents to all antifreeze sold in the U.S. consumer market.Hundreds of children in Indonesia and Gambia will die from acute kidney failure in 2022 because paracetamol syrup produced by New Delhi-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals contains ethylene glycol and diethylene glycol, ingredients that have been linked to deaths from acute kidney injury in Gambia.In December 2022, Uzbekistan's health ministry said children died from ethylene glycol in cough syrup made by Marion Biotech in Noida, near New Delhi..

Environmental effects

Ethylene glycol is a high-yield chemical; it breaks down in about 10 days in the air and a few weeks in water or soil.It diffuses into the environment through products containing ethylene glycol, especially at airports where it is used as a de-icing agent for runways and aircraft.Although long-term low doses of ethylene glycol are not toxic, at near-lethal doses (≥1000 mg/kg per day), ethylene glycol can produce teratogenic effects."Based on a fairly extensive database, it induces skeletal variations and deformities in rats and mice through all routes of exposure."[39] This molecule has been observed in outer space.