Monograph: |
M.Cresolum
A colourless, yellowish to pale brownish-yellow, or pinkish
liquid, becoming darker with age or on exposure to light, will
a characteristic odour resembling phenol, but more tarry. I
consists of a mixture of cresol isomers and other phenols ob-
tained from coal tar or petroleum. Soluble I in 50 of water
usually forming a cloudy solution: freely soluble in alcohol
in ether, in chloroform, and in fixed and volatile oils: dis
solves in solutions of alkali hydroxides: miscible with glycerol.
A saturated solution in water is neutral or slightly acid to
litmus. Store in airtight containers. Protect from light.
Cresol is a disinfectant with a similar action to phenol;
suitable precautions should be taken to prevent ab
sorption through the skin.
It has been used as Cresol and Soap Solution (Lysol) as a gen
eral disinfectant but it has been largely superseded by other
less irritant, phenolic disinfectants. Cresol has been used in
dentistry, alone or in combination with formaldehyde, but is
caustic to the skin and unsuitable for skin and wound disin
faction. The cresols have been widely used in disinfectants for
domestic and hospital use.
Poisoning. A 52-year-old man who swallowed approximate
ly 1OO mL of a petroleum distillate containing cresol 129
suffered acute intravascular haemolytic anaemia with massive
haemoglobinuria; this was probably due to cresol intoxica
tion.'
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