M-Xylene

m-Xylene is an aromatic hydrocarbon, based on benzene with two methyl substituents.

It is an isomer of o-xylene and p-xylene. The m stands for meta, meaning the two methyl substituents are at locants 1 and 3 on the aromatic ring.

The major chemical use of metaxylene is in the manufacture of isophthalic acid, which is used as a copolymer to alter the properties of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) making PET more suitable for the manufacture of soft drinks bottles.