1-Pentanol, (or ''n''-pentanol, pentan-1-ol), is an alcohol with five

carbon Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent—its atom making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds. It belongs to group 14 of the periodic table. Carbon mak ...

atoms and the molecular formula C₅H₁₁OH. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 65Th Ed. 1-Pentanol is a colourless liquid with a distinctive

aroma An odor (American English) or odour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is caused by one or more volatilized chemical compounds that are generally found in low concentrations that humans and animals can perceive via their se ...

. It is the straight-chain form of

amyl alcohol An amyl alcohol is any of eight alcohols with the formula C5H12O. A mixture of amyl alcohols (also called amyl alcohol) can be obtained from fusel alcohol. Amyl alcohol is used as a solvent and in esterification, by which is produced amyl acetate ...

, one of 8 isomers with that formula. The hydroxyl group (OH) is the active site of many reactions. The

ester In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an oxoacid (organic or inorganic) in which at least one hydroxyl group () is replaced by an alkoxy group (), as in the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. Glycerides a ...

formed from 1-pentanol and butyric acid is pentyl butyrate, which smells like apricot. The

formed from 1-pentanol and acetic acid is

amyl acetate Amyl acetate (pentyl acetate) is an organic compound and an ester with the chemical formula CH3COO H2sub>4CH3 and the molecular weight 130.19g/mol. It is colorless and has a scent similar to bananas and apples. The compound is the condensation p ...

(also called pentyl acetate), which smells like banana. In 2014, a study was conducted comparing the performance of

diesel fuel Diesel fuel , also called diesel oil, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and ...

blends with various proportions of pentanol as an

additive Additive may refer to: Mathematics * Additive function, a function in number theory * Additive map, a function that preserves the addition operation * Additive set-functionn see Sigma additivity * Additive category, a preadditive category with f ...

. While gaseous emissions increased with higher concentrations of pentanol, particulate emissions decreased.Wei, Liangjie & Cheung, C.s & Huang, Zuohua. (2014). Effect of n-pentanol addition on the combustion, performance and emission characteristics of a direct-injection diesel engine. Energy. 70. 10.1016/j.energy.2014.03.106. Pentanol can be used as a

solvent A solvent (s) (from the Latin '' solvō'', "loosen, untie, solve") is a substance that dissolves a solute, resulting in a solution. A solvent is usually a liquid but can also be a solid, a gas, or a supercritical fluid. Water is a solvent for ...

for coating CDs and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

s. Pentanol can be prepared by fractional distillation of

fusel oil Fusel alcohols or fuselol, also sometimes called fusel oils in Europe, are mixtures of several higher alcohols (those with more than two carbons, chiefly amyl alcohol) produced as a by-product of alcoholic fermentation. The word ''Fusel'' is Ge ...

. To reduce the use of fossil fuels, research is underway to develop cost-effective methods of producing (chemically identical) bio-pentanol with fermentation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pentanol, 1- Alkanols Primary alcohols GABAA receptor positive allosteric modulators Sedatives Hypnotics