This page provides supplementary chemical data on n-butane.

Material Safety Data Sheet

The handling of this chemical may incur notable safety precautions. It is highly recommend that you seek the Material Safety Datasheet (MSDS) for this chemical from a reliable source such as SIRI, and follow its directions.

Structure and properties

Structure and properties
Index of refraction, nD 1.3326 at 20°C[1]
Dielectric constant, εr 1.7697 ε0 at 23°C[2]
Symmetry group C2h
Magnetic susceptibility  ?
Surface tension 12.46 dyn/cm at 20°C
   P ≈ 225 kPa

Thermodynamic properties

Phase behavior
Density (liquid) 0°C 600 kg/m³
Density (saturated vapor) 1 atm, -0.5°C 2.6 kg/m³
Triple point 134.6 K (–138.5 °C), 0.7 Pa
Critical point 425.1 K (152.0 °C), 3796.0 kPa
Std enthalpy change
of fusion
, ΔfusHo
4.66 kJ/mol
Std entropy change
of fusion
, ΔfusSo
34.56 J/(mol·K)
Std enthalpy change
of vaporization
, ΔvapHo
22.44 kJ/mol
Std entropy change
of vaporization
, ΔvapSo
82.30 J/(mol·K)
Solid properties
Std enthalpy change
of formation
, ΔfHosolid
 ? kJ/mol
Standard molar entropy,
Sosolid
 ? J/(mol K)
Heat capacity, cp  ? J/(mol K)
Liquid properties
Std enthalpy change
of formation
, ΔfHoliquid
-147.6 kJ/mol
Standard molar entropy,
Soliquid
229.7 J/(mol K)
Heat capacity, cp 132.42 J/(mol K) –262°C to –3°C
Gas properties
Std enthalpy change
of formation
, ΔfHogas
–125.6 kJ/mol
Standard molar entropy,
Sogas
310.23 J/(mol K)
Enthalpy of combustion, ΔcHo –2877.5 kJ/mol
Heat capacity, cp 98.49 J/(mol K) at 25°C
n-butane
van der Waals' constants[3]
a = 1466.2 L2 kPa/mol2
b = 0.1226 liter per mole

Vapor pressure of liquid

P in mm Hg 1 10 40 100 400 760 1520 3800 7600 15200 30400 45600
T in °C –101.5 –77.8 –59.1 –44.2 –16.3 –0.5 18.8 50.0 79.5 116.0  —  —

n-Butane: Table data obtained from CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 44th ed.

File:LogNbutaneVaporPresure.png
Vapor pressure of n-butane. From formula\[\scriptstyle \log_{10} P_{mmHg} = 6.83029 - \frac {945.90} {240.0+T}\] obtained from Lange's Handbook of Chemistry, 10th ed.

Spectral data

UV-Vis
λmax  ? nm
Extinction coefficient, ε  ?
IR
Major absorption bands  ? cm−1
NMR
Proton NMR  
Carbon-13 NMR  
Other NMR data  
MS
Masses of
main fragments
 

References

  1. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 85th ed, pp 202
  2. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics 85th ed, pp 1148
  3. Lange's Handbook of Chemistry 10th ed, pp 1522-1524

Except where noted otherwise, data relate to standard ambient temperature and pressure.

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