page_title: Mesitylene
section_title: Niche uses
hierarchical_section_title: Mesitylene / Applications / Niche uses
caption_attribution_description: English: (Mesitylene)molybdenum tricarbonyl
context_page_description: Mesitylene or 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene is a derivative of benzene with three methyl substituents positioned symmetrically around the ring. The other two isomeric trimethylbenzenes are 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene and 1,2,3-trimethylbenzene. All three compounds have the formula C₆H₃(CH₃)₃, which is commonly abbreviated C₆H₃Me₃. Mesitylene is a colourless liquid with sweet aromatic odor. It is a component of coal tar, which is its traditional source. It is a precursor to diverse fine chemicals. The mesityl group is a substituent with the formula C₆H₂Me₃ and is found in various other compounds.
context_section_description: Mesitylene is used in the laboratory as a specialty solvent. It can also act as a ligand in organometallic chemistry, one example being the organomolybdenum complex [(η⁶-C₆H₃Me₃)Mo(CO)₃]. which can be prepared from molybdenum hexacarbonyl.
  In the electronics industry, mesitylene has been used as a developer for photopatternable silicones due to its solvent properties.
  The three aromatic hydrogen atoms of mesitylene are in identical chemical shift environments. Therefore, they only give a single peak near 6.8 ppm in the ¹H NMR spectrum; the same is also true for the nine methyl protons, which give a singlet near 2.3 ppm. For this reason, mesitylene is sometimes used as an internal standard in NMR samples that contain aromatic protons.
  Uvitic acid is obtained by oxidizing mesitylene or by condensing pyruvic acid with baryta water.
  The Gattermann reaction can be simplified by replacing the HCN/AlCl₃ combination with zinc cyanide (Zn(CN)₂). Although it is highly toxic, Zn(CN)₂ is a solid, making it safer to work with than gaseous hydrogen cyanide (HCN). The Zn(CN)₂ reacts with the HCl to form the key HCN reactant and Zn(CN)₂ that serves as the Lewis-acid catalyst in-situ. An example of the Zn(CN)₂ method is the synthesis of mesitaldehyde from mesitylene.
caption: Structure of (mesitylene)molybdenum tricarbonyl, [(η6-C6H3Me3)Mo(CO)3]
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