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chloroform

  (klôr'ə-fôrm', klōr'-) pronunciation
n.

A clear, colorless, heavy, sweet-smelling liquid, CHCl3, used in refrigerants, propellants, and resins, as a solvent, and sometimes as an anesthetic. Chloroform, once widely used in human and veterinary surgery, has generally been replaced by less toxic, more easily controlled agents.

tr.v., -formed, -form·ing, -forms.
  1. To treat with chloroform to anesthetize, render unconscious, or kill.
  2. To apply chloroform to.

[CHLORO– + FORM(YL).]


 
 
Dental Dictionary: chloroform

n

A nonflammable, volatile liquid that was the first inhalation anesthetic to be discovered. It is no longer in general use because of its inherent risk factors and low margin of safety.

 

Clear, colourless, heavy, nonflammable liquid organic compound with a pleasant etherlike odour, chemical formula CHCl3. It was the first substance successfully used as a surgical anesthetic (1847); being somewhat toxic, it has been increasingly displaced by other substances for this purpose. It has some industrial uses, primarily as a solvent.

For more information on chloroform, visit Britannica.com.

 
(klôr'əfôrm) or trichloromethane (trī'klôrōmĕth'ān) , CHCl3, volatile, colorless, nonflammable liquid that has a sweetish taste and a somewhat pungent odor; it boils at 61.7°C. It dissolves freely in ethanol and ether but does not mix with water. Chloroform is produced by reaction of chlorine with ethanol and by the reduction of carbon tetrachloride with moist iron. It was once used as a general anesthetic in surgery but has been replaced by less toxic, safer anesthetics, such as ether. Chemically, it is employed as a solvent for fats, alkaloids, iodine, and other substances. When exposed to sunlight and air it reacts to form phosgene, a poisonous gas.


 

CHCl3; a liquid with an ethereal odor and sweet taste, used as a solvent; once used widely as an inhalation anesthetic and analgesic, and as an antitussive, carminative and counterirritant. An effective but dangerous anesthetic used commonly at one time especially in horses. Requires a proper mask. Prolonged anesthesia often results in severe liver damage.

 
Wikipedia: chloroform
Chloroform
Chloroform_displayed.svg
Chloroform_3D.svg
IUPAC name Trichloromethane
Other names Chloroform, Formyl trichloride, Methane trichloride, Methyl trichloride, Methenyl trichloride, TCM, Freon 20, R-20, UN 1888
Identifiers
CAS number 67-66-3
PubChem 6212
EINECS number 200-663-8
KEGG C13827
ChEBI 35255
RTECS number FS9100000
SMILES C(Cl)(Cl)Cl
InChI InChI=1/CHCl3/c2-1(3)4/h1H
Properties
Molecular formula CHCl3
Molar mass 119.38 g/mol
Appearance Colorless liquid
Density 1.48 g/cm³, liquid
Melting point

-63.5 °C

Boiling point

61.2 °C

Solubility in water 0.8 g/100 ml at 20 °C
Structure
Molecular shape Tetrahedral
Hazards
MSDS External MSDS
Main hazards Harmful (Xn), Irritant (Xi),

Carc. Cat. 2B

NFPA 704

NFPA_704.svg

0
2
0
 
R-phrases R22, R38, R40

, R48/20/22

S-phrases (S2), S36/37
Flash point Non-flammable
U.S. Permissible
exposure limit (PEL)
50 ppm (240 mg/m3) (OSHA)
Supplementary data page
Structure and
properties
n, εr, etc.
Thermodynamic
data
Phase behaviour
Solid, liquid, gas
Spectral data UV, IR, NMR, MS
Except where noted otherwise, data are given for
materials in their standard state
(at 25 °C, 100 kPa)

Infobox disclaimer and references

Chloroform, also known as trichloromethane and methyl trichloride, is a chemical compound with formula CHCl3. It does not undergo combustion in air, although it will burn when mixed with more flammable substances. It is a member of a group of compounds known as trihalomethanes. Chloroform has myriad uses as a reagent and a solvent. It is also considered an environmental hazard.

History

Chloroform was discovered in July, 1831 by the American physician Samuel Guthrie[1], and independently a few months later by the French chemist Eugène Soubeiran[2] and Justus von Liebig[3] in Germany, all of them using variations of the haloform reaction. Soubeiran produced chloroform through the action of chlorine bleach powder (calcium hypochlorite) on acetone (2-propanone) as well as ethanol). Chloroform was named and chemically characterised in 1834 by Jean-Baptiste Dumas.[4]

In 1847, the Edinburgh obstetrician James Young Simpson first used chloroform for general anesthesia during childbirth. The use of chloroform during surgery expanded rapidly thereafter in Europe. In the United States, chloroform began to replace ether as an anesthetic at the beginning of the 20th century; however, it was quickly abandoned in favor of ether upon discovery of its toxicity, especially its tendency to cause fatal cardiac arrhythmia analogous to what is now termed "sudden sniffer's death". Ether is still the preferred anesthetic in some developing nations due to its high therapeutic index and low price. Trichloroethylene, a halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbon related to chloroform, was proposed as a safer alternative, though it too was later found to be carcinogenic.

Production

Industrially, chloroform is produced by heating a mixture of chlorine and either chloromethane or methane. At 400-500 °C, a free radical halogenation occurs, converting the methane or chloromethane to progressively more chlorinated compounds.

CH4 + Cl2 → CH3Cl + HCl
CH3Cl + Cl2CH2Cl2 + HCl
CH2Cl2 + Cl2 → CHCl3 + HCl

Chloroform undergoes further chlorination to give CCl4:

CHCl3 + Cl2 → CCl4 + HCl

The output of this process is a mixture of the four chloromethanes: chloromethane, dichloromethane, chloroform (trichloromethane), and carbon tetrachloride, which are then separated by distillation.

Chloroform was first produced industrially by the reaction of acetone (or ethanol) with sodium hypochlorite or calcium hypochlorite, known as the haloform reaction. The chloroform can be removed from the attendant acetate salts (or formate salts if ethanol is the starting material) by distillation. This reaction is still used for the production of bromoform and iodoform. The haloform process is obsolete for the production of ordinary chloroform. It is, however, used to produce deuterated material industrially. Deuterochloroform is prepared by the reaction of sodium deuteroxide with chloral hydrate. ALL of the aldehyde hydrogen is retained in the product, though, and samples of higher isotopic purity are obtained from trichloroacetophenone as starting material.[citation needed]

Inadvertent synthesis of chloroform

The haloform reaction can also occur inadvertently in domestic settings. Sodium hypochlorite solution (chlorine bleach) mixed with common household liquids such as acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, ethanol, or isopropyl alcohol will all produce chloroform.

Uses

The major use of chloroform today is in the production of the freon refrigerant R-22. However, as the Montreal Protocol takes effect, this use can be expected to decline as R-22 is replaced by refrigerants that are less liable to result in ozone depletion. In addition, it is used under research conditions to anesthetize mosquitoes for experiments, most frequently for the study of malaria.

As a solvent

Chloroform is a common solvent because it is relatively unreactive, miscible with most organic liquids, and conveniently volatile. Small amounts of chloroform are used as a solvent in the pharmaceutical industry and for producing dyes and pesticides. Chloroform is an effective solvent for alkaloids in their base form and thus plant material is commonly extracted with chloroform for pharmaceutical processing. For example, it is commercially used to extract morphine from poppies, scopolamine from Datura plants. Chloroform containing deuterium (heavy hydrogen), CDCl3, is a common solvent used in NMR spectroscopy. It can be used to bond pieces of acrylic glass (which is also known under the trade name 'Perspex').

As a reagent in organic synthesis

As a reagent, chloroform serves as a source of the dichlorocarbene CCl2 group.[5] It reacts with aqueous sodium hydroxide (usually in the presence of a phase transfer catalyst) to produce dichlorocarbene, CCl2.[6][7] This reagent effects ortho-formylation of activated aromatic rings such as phenols, producing aryl aldehydes in a reaction known as the Reimer-Tiemann reaction. Alternatively the carbene can be trapped by an alkene to form a cyclopropane derivative.

Safety

As might be expected from its use as an anesthetic, inhaling chloroform vapors depresses the central nervous system. IDLH according to NIOSH is approximately 500 ppm. Breathing about 900 parts of chloroform per million parts air (900 parts per million) for a short time can cause dizziness, fatigue, and headache. Chronic chloroform exposure may cause damage to the liver (where chloroform is metabolized to phosgene) and to the kidneys, and some people develop sores when the skin is immersed in chloroform.

Animal studies have shown that miscarriages occur in rats and mice that have breathed air containing 30 to 300 ppm chloroform during pregnancy and also in rats that have ingested chloroform during pregnancy. Offspring of rats and mice that breathed chloroform during pregnancy have a higher incidence of birth defects, and abnormal sperm have been found in male mice that have breathed air containing 400 ppm chloroform for a few days. The effect of chloroform on reproduction in humans is unknown.

Chloroform once appeared in toothpastes, cough syrups, ointments, and other pharmaceuticals, but it has been banned in consumer products in the United States since 1976.

The NTP's eleventh report on carcinogens implicates it as reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen, a designation equivalent to IARC class 2A. It has been most readily associated with hepatocellular carcinoma. Caution is mandated during its handling in order to minimize unnecessary exposure; safer alternatives, such as dichloromethane, have resulted in a substantial reduction of its use as a solvent.

During prolonged storage hazardous amounts of phosgene can accumulate in the presence of oxygen and ultraviolet light. To prevent accidents, commercial chloroform is stabilized with ethanol or amylene, but samples that have been recovered or dried no longer contain any stabilizer and caution must be taken. Suspicious bottles should be tested for phosgene. Filter-paper strips, wetted with 5% diphenylamine, 5% dimethylaminobenzaldehyde, and then dried, turn yellow in phosgene vapor.

Commonly used in DNA extractions and generally in conjunction with phenol to form a biolayer with extraction buffer (tris etc). DNA will form in the supernatant while protein and non soluble cell materials will precipitate between the buffer chloroform layers.

References

  1. ^ Samuel Guthrie (1832). ".". Am. J. Sci. and Arts 21: 64. 
  2. ^ Eugène Soubeiran (1831). ".". Ann. Chim. 48: 131. 
  3. ^ Justus Liebig (1832). "Ueber die Verbindungen, welche durch die Einwirkung des Chlors auf Alkohol, Aether, ölbildendes Gas und Essiggeist entstehen". Annalen der Pharmacie 1 (2): 182-230. DOI:10.1002/jlac.18320010203. 
  4. ^ Jean-Baptiste Dumas (1834). "Untersuchung über die Wirkung des Chlors auf den Alkohol". Annalen der Pharmacie 107 (41): 650-656. DOI:10.1002/andp.18341074103. 
  5. ^ Srebnik, M.; Laloë, E. "Chloroform" Encyclopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis" 2001 John Wiley. DOI: 10.1002/047084289X.rc105
  6. ^ Vogel, E.; Klug, W.; Breuer. A. "1,6-Methano[10]annulne" Organic Syntheses, Collected Volume 6, p.731 (1988). CV6P0731.pdf
  7. ^ Gokel, G. W.; Widera, R. P.; Weber, W. P. Phase-Transfer Hofmann Carbylamine Reaction: tert-Butyl Isocyanide" Organic Syntheses, Collected Volume 6, p.232 (1988).

See also

External links


 
Translations: Translations for: Chloroform

Dansk (Danish)
n. - kloroform
v. tr. - kloroformere

Nederlands (Dutch)
chloroform, chloroformiseren

Français (French)
n. - chloroforme
v. tr. - chloroformer

Deutsch (German)
n. - Chloroform
v. - betäuben, chloroformieren

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (χημ.) χλωροφόρμιο

Italiano (Italian)
cloroformio

Português (Portuguese)
n. - clorofórmio (m) (Quím.)

Русский (Russian)
хлороформ

Español (Spanish)
n. - cloroformo
v. tr. - cloroformar, aplicar cloroformo

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kloroform

中文(简体) (Chinese (Simplified))
氯仿, 三氯甲烷, 用氯仿麻醉

中文(繁體) (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 氯仿, 三氯甲烷
v. tr. - 用氯仿麻醉

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 마취약 클로로포름
v. tr. - 클로로포름으로 마취시키다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - クロロホルム

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) كلوروفورم, بنج‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮כלורופורם‬
v. tr. - ‮הרדים בכלורופורם‬


 
 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Chloroform" Read more
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