Miracle Chemical for Yellow Car Headlights: Chloroform

Chloroform, also known as trichloromethane, is an organic compound with the formula CH3Cl. It is a colorless, heavy liquid with a pleasant smell that evaporates easily at room temperature and is commonly used as a solvent. It is widely used in the production of refrigerants. Chloroform was once frequently used in medicine as an anesthetic, but safer anesthetics are now used due to various health issues it caused.

It was independently synthesized by four researchers from three different countries around 1831. In 1830, an apothecary named Moldenhawer from Frankfurt produced chloroform by adding slaked lime (calcium hypochlorite) to ethanol. However, Moldenhawer mistakenly believed that the product he obtained was another chemical called Chloräther. In 1831, Dr. Samuel Guthrie, a physician from Sackets Harbor, sought a cheaper and safer method to produce chloric ether. He reacted slaked lime with ethanol to create chloroform and mentioned its sedative properties. Like Moldenhawer, Guthrie also believed that the liquid he discovered was chloric ether. He described this substance as “tasty” and even offered it to visitors in his laboratory, referring to it as “sweet whiskey.” In the same year, Justus von Liebig obtained chloroform through alkaline extraction from chloral, a compound he had previously discovered.

Physical Properties

Chloroform, is a colorless liquid with a pleasant odor resembling mint oil. When its vapors are inhaled, it has an extremely sweet and burning taste. Chloroform is highly volatile, non-flammable, and its vapors do not form explosive mixtures with air. Although chloroform itself is not flammable, its vapors produce a greenish color when passed through a flame. It has a melting point of –63.5 °C and a boiling point of 61.2 °C under normal pressure, and its vapors are colorless. Chloroform, with a density of 1.48 g/cm³ at 20 °C, is heavier than water and only slightly soluble in it.

Can it Knock People Out?

The cliché of using chloroform to knock people out stems from crime fiction novels where criminals use a chloroform-soaked cloth to render their victims unconscious. Although this view is widely accepted by the public and partially true, it is impossible to quickly incapacitate someone with chloroform as it requires at least 5 minutes of inhalation.

ATTENTION:

Inhaling high amounts of chloroform can lead to drowsiness, loss of consciousness, and even disruption of heart rhythm, potentially resulting in death. Prolonged exposure to chloroform can have adverse effects on the liver and kidneys. To prevent its decomposition into highly toxic and corrosive compounds such as hydrogen chloride and phosgene in the presence of oxygen, stabilizers are added to chloroform when exposed to heat and light.