Methanol is toxic to humans, causing blindness in low doses (15 ML) and death in larger amounts (100-250 mL). Industrially, it is used both as a acetic acid (CH3COOH), and the gasoline additive methyl tert-butyl ether [MTBE,CH3OC(CH3)3].
Ethanol was one of the first organic chemicals to be prepared and purified. Its production by fermentation of grains and sugars has been carried out for millennia,and its purification by distillation goes back at least as far as the twelfth century. Ethanol for nonbeverage use is obtained by acidcatalyzed hydroration of ethylene. United States for use as a solvent or as a chemical intermediate in other industrial reactions.