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Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE)
Citation:
Lee, JaniceS AND R. Blain. Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE). Chapter 62, Raymond D. Harbison, Marie M. Bourgeois, Giffe T. Johnson (ed.), Industrial Toxicology. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ, , 643--650, (2015). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118834015.ch62
Impact/Purpose:
This chapter discusses the physical and chemical properties of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE).
Description:
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) consider MTBE to be a skin and eye irritant. However, in acute testing studies, results indicated that MTBE was not a skin sensitizer or primary skin irritant and eye irritation to be transient. Longer-term exposure to MTBE induces several forms of cancer in rodents. Progressive nephropathy is the main pathology associated with chronic MTBE exposure in rats. MTBE has primarily been used as a gasoline additive in unleaded gasoline, in the manufacture of isobutene, as a chromatographic eluent, and as a pharmaceutical agent. Exposure to MTBE in humans can occur through inhalation, ingestion, and eye or skin contact. An occupational exposure may occur through inhalation and dermal contact at workplaces where MTBE is produced or used.
