P-Dichlorobenzene (Stinky aromatics)

Para-dichlorobenzene is the principal molecule found in mothballs. We used to use naphthalene, but these days, we've switched. I suspect neither may be particularly healthy, and I suspect that you wouldn't have much luck getting such a product on the market these days, but mothballs have been around for ages.

i-0f2e606ee07b75551d064923f4feca70-p-dichlorobenzene.gif

Tags

More like this

The 18-year-old French woman was hospitalized with scaly skin on her legs and hands, appearing unsteady and mentally sluggish, doctors said.
A quick announcement:
You may have heard that the very dangerous professor is putting his blog on mothballs so he can play more hockey.
There's a little squib in the New York Times today about the return of the Dawn mission to visit a couple of asteroids, one of t

I think mothballs are still naphthalene - p-dichlorobenzene is sold as moth flakes, and is used by bee-keepers to keep the dreaded wax-moths from invading unattended honeycomb.

By Alfred Russel … (not verified) on 14 Nov 2006 #permalink

The New England Journal of Medicine (355;4, p.423, july 27 2006) article on the mothball sniffing/chewing specifically states that the mothballs involved do contain para-dichlorobenzene.

By syregnask (not verified) on 15 Nov 2006 #permalink