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Concept
Chloroform
Summary
Chloroform, or trichloromethane (often abbreviated as TCM), is an organic compound with the formula and a common solvent. It is a very volatile, colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to PTFE and refrigerants and is a trihalomethane that serves as a powerful anesthetic, euphoriant, anxiolytic, and sedative when inhaled or ingested. Chloroform was used as an anesthetic between the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Chloroform is miscible with many solvents but it is only very slightly soluble in water (only 8 g/L at 20 °C).
The molecule adopts a tetrahedral molecular geometry with C3v symmetry. The chloroform molecule can be viewed as a methane molecule with three hydrogen atoms replaced with three chlorine atoms, leaving a single hydrogen atom.
The name "chloroform" is a portmanteau of terchloride (tertiary chloride, a trichloride) and formyle, an obsolete name for the methylidene radical (CH) derived from formic acid.
The total global flux of chloroform through the environment is approximately 660000 tonnes per year, and about 90% of emissions are natural in origin. Many kinds of seaweed produce chloroform, and fungi are believed to produce chloroform in soil. Abiotic processes are also believed to contribute to natural chloroform productions in soils, although the mechanism is still unclear.
As chloroform is a volatile organic compound, it dissipates readily from soil and surface water and undergoes degradation in air to produce phosgene, dichloromethane, formyl chloride, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen chloride. Its half-life in air ranges from 55 to 620 days. Biodegradation in water and soil is slow. Chloroform does not significantly bioaccumulate in aquatic organisms.
Chloroform was synthesized independently by several investigators 1831:
Moldenhawer, a German pharmacist from Frankfurt an der Oder, appears to have produced chloroform in 1830 by mixing chlorinated lime with ethanol; however, he mistook it for Chloräther (chloric ether, 1,2-dichloroethane).
Official source
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