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n-Butyl mercaptan																				Related Pages
										May 1994
Immediately Dangerous to Life or Health Concentrations (IDLH)
**CAS number:** 109–79–5
**NIOSH REL:** 0.5 ppm (1.8 mg/m3) 15-minute CEILING
**Current OSHA PEL:** 10 ppm (35 mg/m3) TWA
**1989 OSHA PEL:** 0.5 ppm (1.5 mg/m3) TWA
**1993-1994 ACGIH TLV:** 0.5 ppm (1.8 mg/m3) TWA
**Description of Substance:** Colorless liquid with a strong, garlic-, cabbage-, or skunk-like odor.
**LEL:** . . Unknown
**Original (SCP) IDLH:** 2,500 ppm
**Basis for original (SCP) IDLH:** The chosen IDLH is based on the mouse 4-hour LC50 of 2,500 ppm [Fairchild and Stokinger 1958] cited by ACGIH [1971]. It was also chosen to make the IDLH for butyl mercaptan consistent with the IDLH of 2,500 ppm for ethyl mercaptan, a compound with similar acute toxicity.
**Short-term exposure guidelines:** None developed
**ACUTE TOXICITY DATA**
**Lethal concentration data:**

**Species**
    **Reference**
    **LC50** **(ppm)**
    **LCLo** **(ppm)**
    **Time**
    **Adjusted 0.5-hr** **LC (CF)**
    **Derived** **value**Rat MouseDog
    Fairchild and Stokinger 1958 Fairchild and Stokinger 1958Marhold 1986
    4,020 2,500770
    ----- ----------
    4 hr 4 hr30 min
    8,040 ppm (2.0) 5,000 ppm (2.0)770 ppm (1.0)
    804 ppm 500 ppm77 ppm
 **Human data:** Accidental exposure for 1 hour to an estimated concentration of 50 to 500 ppm has been reported to cause muscular weakness, malaise, sweating, nausea, vomiting, headache, and confusion [Gobbato and Terribile 1968].
 
 **Revised IDLH:** 500 ppm **Basis for revised IDLH:** The revised IDLH for n-butyl mercaptan is 500 ppm based on acute inhalation toxicity data in workers [Gobbato and Terribile 1968] and animals [Fairchild and Stokinger 1958], and to be consistent with ethyl mercaptan which has a revised IDLH of 500 ppm.
**REFERENCES:**
1. ACGIH [1971]. n-Butyl mercaptan (n-butanethiol). In: Documentation of the threshold limit values for substances in workroom air. 3rd ed. Cincinnati, OH: American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, p. 34.
2. Fairchild EJ II, Stokinger HE [1958]. Toxicologic studies on organic sulfur compounds. I. Acute toxicity of some aliphatic and aromatic thiols (mercaptans). Am Ind Hyg Assoc J *19*:171-189.
3. Gobbato F, Terribile PM [1968]. Toxicological properties of mercaptans. Folia Medica *51*:329-341. [From ACGIH [1991]. n-Butyl mercaptan. In: Documentation of the threshold limit values and biological exposure indices. 6th ed. Cincinnati, OH: American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, pp. 183-184.]
4. Marhold J [1986]. Prehled prumyslove toxikologie: organicke latky. Prague, Czechoslovakia: Avicenum, p. 982 (in Czechoslovakian).

			
							
								Page last reviewed:  December 4, 2014						Content
							source: 	National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health NIOSH Publications & Products
Immediately Dangerous To Life or Health (IDLH) Values
Table of IDLH Values
Criteria for Determining IDLH Values
Historical Documentation
Original (SCP) Values
Abbreviations for IDLH Documentation
Abbreviations for Journal Titles Follow NIOSH Facebook
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