Potassium ethyl xanthate Potassium ethyl xanthate Potassium ethyl xanthate (KEX) is an organosulfur compound with the chemical formula CHCHOCSK. It is a pale yellow powder that is used in the mining industry for the separation of ores. Unlike the related sodium ethyl xanthate, the potassium salt exists as an anhydrous salt. Xanthate salts are prepared by the action of alkoxides on carbon disulfide. The alkoxide is often generated in situ from potassium hydroxide: Potassium ethyl xanthate is a pale yellow powder that is stable at high pH but rapidly hydrolyses at pH <9 at 25 °C. Unlike the sodium derivative, potassium xanthate crystallizes
Ethyl group to polystyrene. Approximately 24.7 million tons of ethylbenzene were produced in 1999. Many ethyl-containing compounds are generated by electrophilic ethylation, i.e. treatment of nucleophiles with sources of Et. Triethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate [EtO]BF is such a reagent. For good nucleophiles, less electrophilic reagents are employed, such as ethyl halides. In unsymmetrical ethylated compounds, the methylene protons in the ethyl substituent are diastereotopic. Chiral reagents are known to stereoselectively modify such substituents. The name of the group is derived from the Aether, the first-born Greek elemental god of air (and at that time a general term for any highly volatile compound) and "hyle",