Youtor
Ethanol
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Ethanol • CH[3]CH[2]OH • Ethyl alcohol • Ethanol is a molecule widely found in nature and human civilization. As a metabolic byproduct, it can be found in fruits and all the cells of living organisms. Yeast cells produce ethanol by converting sugar into energy under anaerobic conditions. Well-known as alcoholic fermentation, this process is utilized to produce alcoholic beverages such as beer and wine. Huge amounts of alcohol can be toxic. A blood alcohol level of 4 g/l can lead to death -- 5 g/l are definitely lethal. Prolonged heavy consumption causes permanent damage to the brain and other organs. Alcohol has also the potential to promote cancer formation. The enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) is responsible for breaking down alcohol before it becomes toxic for the human body. A mutation of ADH leads to the alcohol flush reaction, also known as Asian Flush Syndrome. Native to East Asia, this syndrome is most common in China. In the twelth century, alchemists from the School of Salerno produced ethanol from distilled wine for the first time. In 1796, J. T. Lowitz obtained pure ethanol by filtering distillation products, and in 1808, Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure determined its chemical formula. The first synthetic ethanol was made in 1826 independently by Henry Hennell in Great Britain and Georges-Simon Serullas in France. In 1828, Michael Faraday prepared ethanol by acid-catalyzed hydration of ethylene, a process similar to current industrial ethanol synthesis. Ethanol is used in many ways. As a solvent, it is irreplaceable in biochemistry, synthetic chemistry, and industrial chemistry. At high concentrations, it denatures proteins and lipids and therefore is a historically powerful disinfectant in medicine, and is still used in laboratories and clinical environments. In addition, it is gaining importance as a fuel. No less than 86 billion liters were produced in 2010, and the volume keeps increasing. The need for new biotechnological methods to obtain ethanol for use as fuel is rising. In the event of an energy crisis, we might need more than the enjoyment of drinking it... • Ljiljana Fruk's and Bernd Lintermann's Molecules that Changed the World is part of the publication Molecular Aesthetics, Peter Weibel, Ljiljana Fruk (eds.), published by ZKM | Karlsruhe and The MIT Press in 2013, see: http://shop.zkm.de/
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