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 carbamate a cooling, saline, bitter taste. Studies with rats, mice, and hamsters has shown that ethyl carbamate will cause cancer when it is administered orally, injected, or applied to the skin, but no adequate studies of cancer in humans caused by ethyl carbamate has been reported due to the ethical considerations of such studies. However, in 2007, the International Agency for Research on Cancer raised ethyl carbamate to a Group 2A carcinogen that is "probably carcinogenic to humans", one level below fully carcinogenic to humans. IARC has stated that ethyl carbamate can be "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen based