A variety of the organic solvents used in coatings can be broadly classified by their chemical type into the following three categories:
Hydrocarbon solvents, which are organic compounds comprised of molecules consisting only of hydrogen and carbon atoms.
Oxygenated solvents, which are organic compounds comprised of molecules consisting of hydrogen, carbon and oxygen atoms.
Other solvents, which include organic compounds consisting of hydrogen, carbon, and atoms other than oxygen (such as chlorine or nitrogen). They also include inorganic compounds such as water or supercritical carbon dioxide.