This is a list of inorganic and organic reagents commonly used in chemistry.
Reagents are "substances or compounds that are added to a system in order to bring about a chemical reaction or are added to see if a reaction occurs."[1] Some reagents are just a single element. However, most processes require reagents made of chemical compounds. Some of the most common ones used widely for specific reactive functions are listed below, but is by no means exhaustive.
| Name | General Description |
|---|---|
| Acetic acid | an organic acid; is one of the simplest carboxylic acids |
| Acetone | an organic compound; simplest example of the ketones |
| Acetylene | a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne; widely used as a fuel and chemical building block |
| Ammonia | inorganic; the precursor to most nitrogen-containing compounds; used to make fertilizer |
| Ammonium hydroxide | aqueous ammonia; used in traditional qualitative inorganic analysis |
| Azobisisobutyronitrile | organic compound; often used as a foamer in plastics and rubber and as a radical initiator |
| Baeyer's reagent | is an alkaline solution of potassium permanganate; used in organic chemistry as a qualitative test for the presence of unsaturation, such as double bonds; |
| N-Bromosuccinimide | used in radical substitution and electrophilic addition reactions in organic chemistry. Also acts as a mild oxidizer to oxidize benzylic or allylic alcohols. |
| Butanone (methyl ethyl ketone) | organic compound; similar solvent properties to acetone but has a significantly slower evaporation rate |
| Butylated hydroxytoluene | a fat-soluble organic compound that is primarily used as an antioxidant food additive |
| n-Butyllithium | an organolithium reagent; used as a polymerization initiator in the production of elastomers such as polybutadiene or styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) |
| Carbon disulfide | a non-polar solvent; used frequently as a building block in organic chemistry |
| Carbon tetrachloride | toxic, and its dissolving power is low; consequently, it has been largely superseded by deuterated solvents |
| Carbonyldiimidazole | often used for the coupling of amino acids for peptide synthesis and as a reagent in organic synthesis |
| Ceric ammonium nitrate | an inorganic compound; used as an oxidising agent in organic synthesis and as a standard oxidant in quantitative analysis |
| Chloridotris(triphenylphosphine) rhodium (I) | Coordination complex; used in homogeneous catalysis of alkenes to alkanes |
| Chloroform | organic compound; often used as CDCl3 (deuterated chloroform) as a solvent for NMR spectroscopy and as a general solvent. |
| Chromic acid | a strong and corrosive oxidising agent; an intermediate in chromium plating |
| Chromium trioxide | the acidic anhydride of chromic acid; mainly used in chrome-plating |
| Collins reagent | used to selectively oxidize primary alcohols to an aldehyde |
| Copper(I) iodide | useful in a variety of applications ranging from organic synthesis to cloud seeding |
| Dess–Martin periodinane | chemical reagent used to oxidize primary alcohols to aldehydes and secondary alcohols to ketones |
| Diborane | the central organic synthesis reagent for hydroboration |
| Dicyclohexylcarbodiimide | an organic compound; primary use is to couple amino acids during artificial peptide synthesis |
| Diethyl azodicarboxylate | a valuable reagent but also quite dangerous and explodes upon heating |
| Diethyl ether | organic compound; a common laboratory solvent |
| Dihydropyran | a heterocyclic compound; used as a protecting group for alcohols in organic synthesis.[2][3] |
| Diisobutylaluminium hydride | an organoaluminium compound ; a reducing agent; converts esters and nitriles to aldehydes |
| Diisopropyl azodicarboxylate | the diisopropyl ester of azodicarboxylic acid; a reagent in the production of many organic compounds |
| Dimethyl ether | the simplest ether; a useful precursor to other organic compounds and an aerosol propellant |
| Dimethylformamide | organic compound; a common solvent for chemical reactions |
| Dimethylsulfide | organosulfur compound; used in petroleum refining and in petrochemical production processes; a reducing agent in ozonolysis reactions |
| Dimethyl sulfoxide | an organosulfur compound; an important polar aprotic solvent that dissolves both polar and nonpolar compounds |
| Dioxane | a heterocyclic organic compound; classified as an ether |
| Ethanol | a powerful psychoactive drug; used in alcoholic beverages, in thermometers, as a solvent, and as a fuel |
| Fehling's reagent | used to differentiate between water-soluble aldehyde and ketone functional groups |
| Fenton's reagent | a solution of hydrogen peroxide and an iron catalyst that is used to oxidize contaminants or waste waters |
| Formaldehyde | the simplest aldehyde; an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, such as polymers and polyfunctional alcohols |
| Formic acid | the simplest carboxylic acid; often used as a source of the hydride ion |
| Grignard reagents | the most common application is for alkylation of aldehydes and ketones:[4] |
| Hexamethylphosphoramide | a phosphoramide; useful polar aprotic solvent and additive in organic synthesis |
| Hydrazine | It's a good reducing agent and is used in the Wolff-Kishner reaction for reducing carbonyls to its corresponding alkanes. used as a foaming agent in preparing polymer foams; also a precursor to polymerization catalysts and pharmaceuticals; also as an Oxygen scavenger in Power Plants |
| Hydrazoic acid | used primarily for preservation of stock solutions, and as a reagent |
| Hydrochloric acid | a highly corrosive, strong mineral acid with many industrial uses |
| Hydrofluoric acid | valued source of fluorine, precursor to numerous pharmaceuticals; highly corrosive |
| Hydrogen peroxide | an oxidizer commonly used as a bleach |
| Imidazole | an organic compound; this aromatic heterocyclic is a diazole and is classified as an alkaloid |
| Isopropyl alcohol | simplest example of a secondary alcohol; dissolves a wide range of non-polar compounds |
| Lime | used in Flue Gas Desulphurisation in Power Plants |
| Limestone | used in Flue Gas Desulphurisation in Power Plants |
| Lithium aluminium hydride | a reducing agent in organic synthesis; used to prepare main group and transition metal hydrides from the corresponding metal halides |
| Lithium diisopropylamide | strong base used in organic chemistry for the deprotonation of weakly acidic compounds |
| Manganese dioxide | used as a pigment and as a precursor to other manganese compounds; used as a reagent in organic synthesis for the oxidation of allylic alcohols |
| Meta-Chloroperoxybenzoic acid | used as an oxidant in organic synthesis |
| Methyl tert-butyl ether | a gasoline additive; also used in organic chemistry as a relatively inexpensive solvent |
| Millon's reagent | an analytical reagent used to detect the presence of soluble proteins |
| Nitric acid | highly corrosive and toxic strong acid; used for the production of fertilizers, production of explosives, and as a component of aqua regia, as well as mixed acid for nitration of aromatic compounds |
| Osmium tetroxide | in organic synthesis, is widely used to oxidise alkenes to the vicinal diols |
| Oxalyl chloride | used in organic synthesis for the preparation of acid chlorides from the corresponding carboxylic acids, and for Swern oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes or ketones |
| Palladium(II) acetate | a catalyst for many organic reactions by combining with many common classes of organic compounds to form reactive adduct |
| Perchloric acid | a powerful oxidizing agent; readily forms explosive mixtures; mainly used in the production of rocket fuel |
| Phosphoric acid | a mineral acid with many industrial uses; commonly used in the laboratory preparation of hydrogen halides |
| Phosphorus pentachloride | one of the most important phosphorus chlorides; a chlorinating reagent. Also used as a dehydrating agent for oximes which turn them into nitriles. |
| Phosphorus tribromide | used for the conversion of alcohols to alkyl bromides |
| Phosphorus trichloride | most important of the three phosphorus chlorides; used to manufacture organophosphorus compounds; used to convert primary and secondary alcohols into alkyl chlorides, or carboxylic acids into acyl chlorides |
| Phosphoryl chloride | used to make phosphate esters such as tricresyl phosphate |
| Potassium dichromate | a common inorganic chemical reagent, most commonly used as an oxidizing agent in various laboratory and industrial applications |
| Potassium hydroxide | a strong base; precursor to most soft and liquid soaps as well as numerous potassium-containing chemicals |
| Potassium permanganate | a strong oxidizing agent; can be used to quantitatively determine the total oxidisable organic material in an aqueous sample; a reagent for the synthesis of organic compounds |
| Pyridinium chlorochromate | used to oxidize primary alcohols to aldehydes and secondary alcohols to ketones |
| Pyridinium dichromate (Cornforth reagent) | converts primary and secondary alcohols to ketones |
| Raney nickel | an alternative catalyst for the hydrogenation of vegetable oils; in organic synthesis, used for desulfurization |
| Sakaguchi's Reagent | Detects the presence of arginine |
| Samarium(II) iodide (Kagan Reagent) | a powerful reducing agent |
| Silver oxide | used to prepare other silver compounds; in organic chemistry, used as a mild oxidizing agent |
| Silver nitrate | precursor to many other silver compounds; commonly used in inorganic chemistry to abstract halides |
| Sodium amide | used in the industrial production of indigo, hydrazine, and sodium cyanide;[5] used for the drying of ammonia; used as a strong base in organic chemistry |
| Sodium azide | gas-forming component in airbag systems; used in organic synthesis to introduce the azide functional group by displacement of halides |
| Sodium bis(trimethylsilyl)amide | a strong base; deprotonates ketones and esters to generate enolate derivative |
| Sodium borohydride | a versatile reducing agent; converts ketones and aldehydes to alcohols |
| Sodium chlorite | in organic synthesis, used for the oxidation of aldehydes to carboxylic acids |
| Sodium hydride | a strong base used in organic synthesis |
| Sodium hydroxide | strong base with many industrial uses; in the laboratory, used with acids to produce the corresponding salt, also used as an electrolyte |
| Sodium hypochlorite | frequently used as a disinfectant or a bleaching agent |
| Sodium nitrite | used to convert amines into diazo compounds |
| Sulfuric acid | strong mineral acid; applications include its use as a dehydrating agent in many chemical reactions, sulfonation, the purification of hydrocarbons, and the production of phosphoric acid |
| tert-Butyl hydroperoxide | used in a variety of oxidation processes; industrially, is used as a starter of radical polymerization |
| Tetrahydrofuran | one of the most polar ethers; a useful solvent; its main use is as a precursor to polymers |
| Tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium(0) | a catalyst for palladium-catalyzed coupling reactions |
| Tetramethylammonium hydroxide | a quaternary ammonium salt; used as an anisotropic etchant of silicon; used as a basic solvent in the development of acidic photoresist in the photolithography process |
| Tetramethylsilane | the simplest tetraorganosilane; a building block in organometallic chemistry |
| Thionyl chloride | an inorganic compound; used in chlorination reactions; converts carboxylic acids to acyl chlorides[6] |
| Thiophenol | an organosulfur compound; the simplest aromatic thiol |
| Titanium tetrachloride | an intermediate in the production of titanium metal and titanium dioxide |
| Tollens' reagent | a chemical test most commonly used to determine whether a known carbonyl-containing compound is an aldehyde or a ketone |
| Triphenylphosphine | used in the synthesis of organic and organometallic compounds |