Overview

1,3-butadiene (one-three-byoo-tah-DYE-een) is a colorless gas with a mild, slightly sweet odor. It occurs naturally in petroleum, from which it is extracted at refineries. The compound was first discovered in petroleum in 1886 by the English chemist Henry E. Armstrong (1848–1937) and his colleague A. K. Miller (no dates available). This discovery apparently had no practical application until 1910 when the Russian chemist Sergei Lebedev (1874–1934) developed a method for polymerizing butadiene to make a rubber-like substance. Even then, Lebedev's invention, called polybutadiene, was primarily a laboratory curiosity. There was relatively little demand for rubber products that could not be met by the vast supplies of natural rubber from Southeast Asia.

Key Facts

Other Names:

Biethylene; bivinyl; divinyl; erythrene; vinylethylene

Formula:

CH₂=CHCH=CH₂

Elements:

Carbon, hydrogen

Compound Type:

Alkene (unsaturated hydrocarbon)

State:

Gas

Molecular Weight:

54.09 g/mol

Melting Point:

−108.91°C (−164.04°F)

Boiling Point:

−4.41°C (−24.1°F)

Solubility:

Insoluble in water; soluble...