Talk:Naphthalene

Untitled
Naphthalene is present in Camphor ball which should be avoided by patients with G6PD. Naphthalene can act as a oxidant which may oxidize the Hemoglobin to methemoglobin which lose the ability of carrying oxygen.

Napthalene or Naphthalene
It's spelled both ways on the page. Are these a typos? Binarypower 04:04, 25 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Apparently napthalene is not a simple misspelling — it even gets several thousand hits on Google Scholar — but naphthalene is much more common. I think it's more etymologically faithful, too, but for some reason ναφθα doesn't appear in my Liddell & Scott (and neither does ναπθα). —Keenan Pepper 01:07, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

In the table on the right side of the page, under Hazards, it reads: "Dust can form explosive mixtures with air."

I'd say this explains it well enough, although not mentioned in the body of the article. Looking over the table is essential to get the full picture of what's being explained. 70.69.103.189 19:27, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Explosive?
According to some websites (sorry I don't have references) and Brainiac series 4 episode 1, Naphthalene is a very volitile material, and caused a large explosion. Is this correct? or is it naphthalene mixed with another chemical (I've heard chlorates). If naphthalene is explosive, it would need to be mentioned in this article.78.150.166.55 (talk) 10:25, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Nitronaphthalenes (1-Nitronaphthalenes, 2-Nitronaphthalenes etc. etc.) have been used in explosives to great effect, particulary the MMN bombs (Melinite and Mononitronaphthalene) introduced in 1918, but have safety issues and are no longer regarded as safe.

Feature in popular culture
This was featured on an episode of House, where it caused a disease which in the end was the main plot of the story! Hopefully someone would be able to write something in these lines. Thanks, Aeryck89 04:11, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Toxicity
..."male and female rats exhibited: evidence of carcinogenic activity, based on increased incidences of adenoma and neuroblastoma of the nose, female mice exhibited some evidence of carcinogenic activity, based on increased incidences of alveolar and bronchiolar adenomas of the lung, and male mice exhibited no evidence of carcinogenic activity."... - I think this needs clarifying/replacing; appears to be contradictory 78.150.166.55 (talk) 10:25, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Naming convention
Could someone perhaps do a brief write-up on the naming convention of napthalene derivates.


 * According to this paper, the system is as follows:


 * [[Image:Naphthalene-numbering-2D-skeletal.png|150px]]


 * Ben (talk) 23:55, 18 August 2008 (UTC)


 * For polycyclics, two IUPAC-conform nomenclatures and numbering systems exist:
 * the nomenclature for fused polycyclics and
 * the von Baeyer nomenclature.
 * The von-Baeyer system could be used for all polycycles; the numbering starts at the highest-priority bridgehead (which would be one of the two central carbons for naphthalene). However, if a polycyclic contains at least two fused rings which are each at least 5-membered, the nomenclature for fused polycyclics (P-25) applies (see p.90 of aforementioned document). As naphthalene contains two 6-membered rings fused to each other, P-25 is the preferred numbering variant. Numbering according to P-25 is shown on the right.
 * --Hbf878 (talk) 20:48, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

Naphthalene sulfonic acids would make a fine article, but probably dont belong here
The following large section was removed (with no intended rancor), because the article is about naphthalene (per se), not naphthalene sulfonic acids or any other derivatives. Naphthalene sulfonic acids merit mention (they are), but not a full section. At least in my opinion based on viewing many related articles. They deserve their own article, which I hope is written.--Smokefoot (talk) 01:17, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Dispersant/Plastizer
Naphthalene sulfonic acids are used in the manufacture of naphthalene sulfonate polymer plasticizers (dispersants) which are used to produce concrete and plasterboard (wallboard or drywall). They are also used as dispersants in synthetic and natural rubbers, and as tanning agents (syntans) in leather industries, agricultural formulations (dispersants for pesticides), dyes and as a dispersant in Lead-acid battery plates.

Naphthalene sulfonate polymers are produced by reacting naphthalene with sulfuric acid and then polymerizing with formaldehyde, followed by neutralization with sodium hydroxide or calcium hydroxide. These products are commercially sold in solution (water) or dry powder form.


 * Sulfonation Step (Naphthalene plus Sulfuric Acid):


 * H2SO4 +  C10H8  =  C10H7-SO3H  +  H2O


 * Polymerization Step (Naphthalene Sulfonic Acid plus Formaldehyde):


 * C10H7-SO3H +  C H2-O  =  C10H7-SO3H-(C10H7-SO3H)n


 * Neutralization Step (Naphthalene Sulfonic Acid Condensate plus Sodium Hydroxide):


 * C10H7-SO3H-(C10H7-SO3H)n +  NaOH  =  C10H7-SO3Na-(C10H7-SO3Na)n  +  H2O  +  Na2SO4

Wetting Agent/Surfactant
Alkyl naphthalene sulfonates (ANS) are used in many industrial applications as nondetergent wetting agents that effectively disperse colloidal systems in aqueous media. The major commercial applications are in the agricultural chemical industry, which uses ANS for wettable powder and wettable granular (dry-flowable) formulations, and the textile and fabric industry, which utilizes the wetting and defoaming properties of ANS for bleaching and dyeing operations.

Formosan termites
It is not well defined how naphtalene occurs on nests of Formosan termites and is precipitated to affirm that is directly generated by them Chen et al. 1998 DOI: 10.1021/jf9709717 Downloaded from http://pubs.acs.org on January 29, 2009. Maybe someone can search additional citations to verify that point in most recent research papers, but is mandatory rewrite that kind of affirmations if it is not well referenced. Sorry my English is too poor, so I couldn't do it. --Bestiasonica (talk) 23:08, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

In/--flammable
"It is volatile, forming an inflammable vapor,"

Is that in its meaning "highly burnable" or "completely unburnable"? I've heard both and as this is currently in the article head I think it sohuld be clarified. 90.178.52.11 (talk) 16:53, 22 February 2010 (UTC)


 * Flammable and inflammable both mean burnable (for inflammable think of inflammation), non-flammable is the opposite of flammable. 24.148.80.51 (talk) 23:54, 11 April 2013 (UTC)


 * Because the term "inflammable" is confusing to many readers, it is better to use the non-ambiguous term "flammable". Reify-tech (talk) 20:11, 21 February 2016 (UTC)

Misleading picture?
The skeletal structure shows alternating single and double bonds; this is incorrect. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.149.203.229 (talk) 18:44, 3 April 2012 (UTC)
 * This is a standard way of depicting aromatic compounds. Although using a circle within the rings is more precise, drawing as alternating single and double bonds is more common and readily interpreted as aromaticity.  -- Ed (Edgar181) 14:11, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

Health effects
Usage/ban in China either this ban is not in effect or is not enforced. Chinese relatives use these, and a quick search shows they are widely sold http://www.alibaba.com/countrysearch/CN/moth-ball.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.149.125.42 (talk) 11:13, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/10813745.Council_warns_against_use_of_poisonous_mothballs/ includes "The mothballs contain poisonous substance naphthalene and have been banned throughout Europe since 2008." An authoritative reference should be sought, and the section updated accordingly. 94.30.84.71 (talk) 12:30, 23 November 2013 (UTC)


 * P.S. Page mothball includes "Mothballs and other products containing naphthalene have been banned within the EU since 2008.[17]" and link 17 is more nearly authoritative. 94.30.84.71 (talk) 12:47, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20041024180431/http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/index.cfm?objectid=0847DDA0-F261-59BF-FAA04EB1EC032B61 to http://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/INDEX.CFM?OBJECTID=0847DDA0-F261-59BF-FAA04EB1EC032B61

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Assessment comment
Substituted at 00:50, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

desulfonation of naphthalene sulfonic acids
Are there any available methods to synthesise naphthelene from (naphthelene-2-sulfonic acids) other than heating in dil.H2SO4 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 111.91.88.194 (talk) 04:21, 24 February 2017 (UTC)
 * See Desulfonylation reactions. --Smokefoot (talk) 14:26, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

Naftalan oil
See Fringe theories/Noticeboard. --Guy Macon Alternate Account (talk) 17:22, 10 April 2024 (UTC)