Dimethyl sulfoxide

[Jay-qu]

Dimethyl sulfoxide a compound of the form (CH3)2SO, is a good solvent, liquid over a large range of temperatures (18-189C) and has a viscosity twice that of water.

Why am I posting about it? I was shown this and wondered why I had never heard of the molecule until today.

It sounds like it has some interesting properties that could be useful, but its not used

So has anyone heard about this compound before? and if so do you know any interesting facts about it?

J

[Mercedes Benzene]

Very interesting. I've heard of it before, but I never knew what it was used for (or what it could be used for). I want to say that I heard it mentioned in an episode of "House", but I'm not entirely sure.

Doing some quick searches, I found multiple companies who sell DMSO for various purposes. Here's one claiming benefits to humans if used properly. index

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Jay-qu

Is a compound of the form (CH3)2SO, is a good solvent, liquid over a large range of temperatures (18-189C) and has a viscosity twice that of water.

Why am I posting about it? I was shown this and wondered why I had never heard of the molecule until today.

It sounds like it has some interesting properties that could be useful, but its not used

So has anyone heard about this compound before? and if so do you know any interesting facts about it?

J

I've used it, I was disabled in aon the job injury and this stuff was recomened as a way to relieve pain. on touch to the skin of your foot and you can taste it in your mouth. It desolves and drags other molecules along with it when you apply it to your skin. It is also known as Horse liminent (sp?) it is sued in varous industrial processes as a solvent.

Michael

[JackOfTraDeZ]

DMSO - use it all the time in the lab. Known in the industry as an aprotic polar solvent. Dissolves dang near everything, also goes thru your skin like it ain't there, and carries everything dissolved in also. Good delivery system for drugs or poisons.

(CH3)2S=O

[Jay-qu]

Do you think it would make a good solvent that a living organism could be based around? Like in the way we have been built around water?

[Mercedes Benzene]

I suppose it's possible... however one things about dimethyl sulfoxide is that it dissolves both polar and nonpolar substances. It seems that this may be a disadvantage to creating and sustaining life, if it does in fact dissolve more substances more readily than water.

Another thing to look at would be the comparison of the specific heats of DMSO and water. That, along with the phase densities could give more clues as to DMSO's appropriatness to life.

[Jay-qu]

Well I know that it is liquid over a wide range of temps - and that definitely helps with facilitating life.

[Mercedes Benzene]

Well I know that it is liquid over a wide range of temps - and that definitely helps with facilitating life.

Unless they didn't need liquids.
I suppose that theoretically, any substance could be "life sustaining", but those organisms would have to be radically different from those on earth. That raises the question: would we consider those to be "living", or something else?

[Jay-qu]

yeah who knows... It was just one thing that we learned last year (in our constricted thinking paradigm ) that you would guess minerals and other materials for the living of the organism would need to be transported around the organism (perhaps this doesnt always hold true..) and a good medium for said transport would be a solvent.

[eric l]

I remember using DMSO in the lab - about 20 years ago - when we needed a water miscable non polar solvent. In fact we tested several, but ended by choosing THF (tetrahydrofurane). I am not sure if that was because of the price or for safety reasons.