N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone is a powerful, aprotic solvent with high solvency, and low volatility. This colorless, high boiling, high flash point and low vapor pressure liquid carries a mild amine-like odor. N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone has high chemical and thermal stability and is completely miscible with water at all temperatures. N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone can serve as a cosolvent with water, alcohols, glycol ethers, ketones, and aromatic/chlorinated hydrocarbons. N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone is both recyclable by distillation and readily biodegradable. N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone is not found on the Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) list of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.

Benefits and Applications

Electronics: N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone has been used in the electronics industry for many years as a photoresist stripper. Now, with the phase out of CFC’s, N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone has gained widespread acceptance as a solvent in other electronic applications including semi-aqueous defluxing, degreasing, and coatings (polyamide, epoxy and polyurethane).

Graffiti Removers: N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone based graffiti removers combine high performance and biodegradability with low volatility and low flammability. N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone can be blended with glycol ethers or acetates such as Arcosolv PMA, Arcosolv DPMA; they are cost effective and improve performance on surfaces defaced by lipstick and crayon graffiti.

Agricultural: The agricultural chemical industry takes advantage of NMP’s solvency and handling properties in agricultural formulations.

Pharmaceuticals: N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone is used as a solvent in pharmaceutical synthetic procedure because of its broad solvency. One potential use for N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone is as a dermal penetration enhancer for pharmaceuticals.

Consumer and Industrial Cleaners: N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone is an effective stripping agent used in floor stripping, poven cleaners, graffiti removers, and paint strippers. Due to its high solvency and low volatility, it is used in automotive and industrial cleaners with solvents such as hydrocarbons, terpenes, Arconate Propylene Carbonate and P-Series glycol ethers.

Coatings Solvent: N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone is a powerful solvent for most commercial resins. Due to its high boiling point and excellent solvent power, N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone extends and improves the properties of high temperature bake coatings. For instance, high solid binders are more easily obtained with N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone as the solvent. Quite often, baked finishes yield coatings with outstanding mechanical and dielectric properties. N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone also aids rheological control: better flow and leveling -less cratering and pinholing. For these reasons, N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone has been shown to be highly effective in wire coating and other high temperature coating applications. N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone is also the preferred solvent for urethane dispersions and is an excellent coalescent for acrylic and styrene acrylic latexes.

Petrochemical Processing: N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone has been shown to have a selective affinity for unsaturated hydrocarbons, aromatics and sulfur-bearing gases. Due to its relative non-reactivity and high solvency, N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone finds wide applicability as an extraction solvent in lube oil processing as well as in natural and synthetic gas purification's.

Miscellaneous Solvent Applications: The excellent thermal and chemical stability of N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone enhances its utility as a solvent or cosolvent in many synthetic reaction systems. N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone shows selective affinity for unsaturated hydrocarbons, aromatics, and sulfur compounds. N-Methyl-2-Pyrrolidone can serve as a cosolvent with water, aromatic/chlorinated hydrocarbons, alcohols, glycol ethers, and ketones.

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