A petroleum cut is a range, not a substance

Every property comes back as a range

OSHA’s chemical sampling record for VM&P naphtha, CAS 8032-32-4, reports a boiling point of 203–320 °F, a molecular weight of 87–114 (approx), a flash point of 20–55 °F and a specific gravity of 0.73–0.76 at 60 °F. Four properties, four ranges. That is not imprecision. Varnish makers’ and painters’ naphtha is a petroleum distillation cut defined by where it boils, so its composition — and therefore every property that depends on composition — varies between producers and between batches.

The absence is as informative as the ranges. Queried on September 12, 2026, PubChem returned no compound record for CAS 8032-32-4 or for 64742-89-8; a compound database indexes molecules, and this material is not one. There is consequently no authoritative single value to look up, and any data sheet that presents one is presenting a typical value for one producer’s cut. The exposure picture is unsettled too: the OSHA record notes “TLV withdrawn in 2009 [VM&P naphtha 8032-32-4],” pointing instead to the reciprocal calculation method for refined hydrocarbon solvent vapour mixtures.

The row that looks right is a different substance

Table Z-1 of 29 CFR 1910.1000 contains an entry reading “Naphtha (Coal tar),” CAS 8030-30-6, at 100 ppm and 400 mg/m³. It is a different material with a different CAS number from VM&P naphtha, and OSHA’s own sampling record gives VM&P naphtha a PEL-TWA of 300 ppm (1350 mg/m³), alongside a NIOSH REL-TWA of 350 mg/m³ and a NIOSH ceiling of 1800 mg/m³ over 15 minutes. Reading the wrong row is a live risk precisely because the common names collide.

For comparison, the Table Z-1 entry for isopropyl alcohol is unambiguous — CAS 67-63-0, 400 ppm, 980 mg/m³ — because it names one molecule. Match on the CAS number, never on the word. And note that none of these figures is a property of a purchased product: an exposure limit is an obligation on an employer, met by an exposure assessment for the actual task, which no purchase document can supply.

• Which CAS number is on the material, and does it match the row being cited?
• What distillation range and flash point does this producer’s cut actually have?
• Who owns the exposure assessment for this task, and has it been done for this material?

Scope is what a solvent selection can honestly claim

For a cleanliness application, the boundary is sharp. PRC-5001 states that test fluids “shall be selected by the user and approved by the NASA procuring activity,” and records that at JSC the approved test fluids for precision cleaning are HFE-7100 and high-purity deionised water. A solvent being appropriate for a class of work in general has no bearing on whether it is approved for a particular process, and a supplier cannot make that determination.

Where a hydrocarbon cut is in scope, specify it as a cut: the distillation range with its method, the flash point of the material as supplied and its test method, the aromatic content if the process cares, the nonvolatile residue if it is a cleaning fluid, and the lot documentation for each. Under 29 CFR 1910.106(a)(19) a flash point sorts a liquid into one of four categories, and the ranges above straddle boundaries — which is a reason to classify the delivered material rather than the name on the order. This library provides no approval for any solvent in any application, and no Alliance product is recommended here for precision cleaning or for any other use.

Requirement → evidence → decision boundary

An editorial checklist for your review—not a table of product specifications.

Revision record

1.0 · September 12, 2026 — Source-based editorial edition. No original testing or product qualification is claimed.

For commercial aerospace materials and purchasing reviews. No flight qualification, oxygen-service approval, propellant formulation or cleaning procedure is provided.