Potassium hydride is a strong base and hydride donor to Lewis acids. It is generally employed in organic reactions like deprotonation, rearrangement, and elimination reactions. It is also used as a reducing agent to reduce hindered boranes and borates to substituted borohydrides.

Potassium hydride in paraffin can be used as a base in:

• Wittig reaction of various aldehydes with high Z selectivity.
• Williamson ether synthesis to prepare substituted ethers from alcohols.
• Polymerization of ethylene oxide to yield polyethylene glycols.

Melting point of paraffin used to prepare mixture is ~55-65 °C