Chloroform: Its Uses, Misunderstandings and Hazards

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Chloroform is an anesthetic that is inhaled, and was once a widely used one. However, nowadays it isn’t because of its toxic side effects. Chloroform is another name for the colorless, dense, liquid chemical compound trichloromethane. Chloroform is nearly 40 times as sweet as sugar and has a nice odor. It is inflammable and can be used for industrial purposes like R-22 (air-conditioning), a solvent, a fire extinguishing material, and as a chemical reagent for use in synthetic reactions. Its primary use now is as an organic solvent. It is an interesting topic as chloroform is often portrayed in media as a chemical that can cause a victim that inhaled it to fall asleep quite rapidly, but in reality it takes more variables for that to happen; because of its hazardousness, it’s rarely used for treatment.
Chloroform is a dense, colorless liquid made up of CHCl3 (Carbon, Hydrogen, and chlorine) and is known for being hazardous. Chloroform can be created by heating a mixture of chlorine and either chloromethane or methane. As a solvent, it is commonly used in the lab because it is relatively unreactive. It forms a …show more content…

A lot of media has depicted chloroform as being dipped in a rag and used on victims for kidnapping, like TinTin. Chloroform was once used in small doses to treat various medical problems, like cholera, gonorrhea, and cramps to name a few. When used improperly however, the doses led to serious things like coma and death. The sleep inducing chemical concoction was also once used in certain household items, like toothpaste and cough syrup, but the uses for those were banned in 1976. Being a hazardous substance, it also has been known to be used by people committing suicide. However, it takes only the right amount of dosage (about 0.12 moles) in order to truly be knocked out by its

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