Table 1. Comparison of physical and environmental properties of DMSO and Cyrene™.
| Solvent | Structure | Physical properties | Health & Safety | Environmental | Cost a |
| Dimethyl sulfoxide |
|
B.P. = 189 °C | • Low mutagenicity | SOx and odor formation, high boiling point | £59.70 for 100 mL |
| d = 1.10 g mL–1 | • LD50 > 22 000 mg kg–1 | ||||
| Dipolarity = 1.00 | • Low ecotoxicity | ||||
| Cyrene™ |
|
B.P. = 227 °C | • Low mutagenicity | High boiling point | £84.40 for 100 mL |
| d = 1.25 g mL–1 | • LD50 > 2000 mg kg–1 | ||||
| Dipolarity = 0.93 | • Low ecotoxicity |
aCosts obtained from https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/united-kingdom.html, accessed on August 2nd 2019. Cost quoted for DMSO is for molecular biology grade reagent.