tetramethylurea
Sign in to saveAlso known as N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-urea
Tetramethylurea (TMU) is the organic compound with the formula (Me2N)2CO. It is a substituted urea. This colorless liquid is used as an aprotic-polar solvent, especially for aromatic compounds and is used e. g. for Grignard reagents. Tetramethylurea is a colorless liquid with mild aromatic odor. Unusual for an urea is the liquid state of tetramethylurea in a range of > 170 °C.
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- carboxamides
- Has part
- hydrogen
- Mass
- 116.095
Show 4 more facts
- canonical SMILES
- CN(C)C(=O)N(C)C
- chemical formula
- C₅H₁₂N₂O
- melting point
- -1.0
- Commons category
- Tetramethylurea
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Encyclopedic overview
4 sectionsContents
- Production
- Applications
- Safety
- References
Tetramethylurea (TMU) is the organic compound with the formula (Me2N)2CO. It is a substituted urea. This colorless liquid is used as an aprotic-polar solvent, especially for aromatic compounds and is used e. g. for Grignard reagents. Tetramethylurea is a colorless liquid with mild aromatic odor. Unusual for an urea is the liquid state of tetramethylurea in a range of > 170 °C.
==Production== It is obtained by the reaction of dimethylamine with phosgene in aqueous sodium hydroxide in a 2:1 ratio. A closely related method combines dimethylcarbamoyl chloride with excess dimethylamine. This reactions is highly exothermic. The removal of the resulting dimethylamine hydrochloride requires some effort.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “tetramethylurea” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.