Chloroform: The Compound with Endless Uses
Chloroform Structure
Chloroform is a colorless, dense, liquid organic compound with the IUPAC name
trichloromethane. It is known for itsbeing nonflammable and having a pleasant odor with a very distinct
sweet taste. Chloroform was first discovered accidently by an American chemist, Dr. Samuel Guthrie,
who prepared it by chlorination of methane gas in during the search for a pesticide in 1831.
Dr. Samuel Guthrie
Later on during the Mexican-American War in 1849, Chloroform became popular as an anesthetic due to
its fast-acting ability to reduce pain due to from injury. Chloroform was once so popular that it appeared
was added in toothpastes, cough syrups, ointments, and other pharmaceuticals. Chloroform is no longer
used as an anesthetic because it was found to cause death from paralysis of the heart in one out of
3,000 patients. so Due to this alarming discovery, it was banned from consumer products in 1976.
Today, chloroform is mainly used as a precursor to Teflon.
Teflon is a high molecular weight compound that is highly hydrophobic, which and is used as a non-stick
coating on cookware or as a non-reactive agent in pipework to prevent corrosion. Moreover,
Chloroform can act as a is a solvent, which is very popular solvent used in the pharmaceutical industry
due to it being because it is very unreactive, miscibility miscible with most organic liquids, nonflammable, and highly volatility volatile. Pharmaceutical companies tend to use chloroform to produce
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 because Chloroform is
an effective solvent for alkaloids in their base form. For example, it is Some commercially used to
extractions of plant material via Chloroform is morphine from poppies and scopolamine from Datura
plants. Additionally, Chloroform containing deuterium, a heavy hydrogen, CDCl3, is a common solvent
used in NMR spectroscopy.
The reaction in the formation of chloroform through a reaction known as free radical
halogenation goes is as followed follows:
CH4 + Cl2 → CH3Cl + HCl
CH3Cl + Cl2 → CH2Cl2 + HCl
CH2Cl2 + Cl2 → CHCl3 + HCl
Chloroform can also be produced naturally in the environment through water disinfection processes
which utilize such as the chlorination of drinking water, waste water or swimming pools pool water. The
presence of chloroform in the environment does not always lead to exposure, but Chloroform exposure
can happen relatively easy easily in today’s society. People can be become exposed to chloroform by
inhaling contaminated air, by drinking contaminated water or by simply by eating Chloroform contained
food. People that who live near water treatment plants have the highest level of exposure to
chloroform. Once exposed to chloroform, different symptoms can occur. The type of symptom varies
according to how it depends on the way chloroform enters entered the body to determine its
symptoms.
Effects of Chloroform
If chloroform vapors are inhaled, it can cause shortness of breath and cause dryness of mouth and
throat to be dry. If chloroform vapors are was ingested, it will can cause severe vomiting with a burning
feeling throughout the mouth and throat. (It is better to have the sentences parallel one other because
it makes it easier to read – for example use “are” twice instead of “are” and “was”) If chloroform can be
is accumulated within the body, it will cause severe dizziness, liver and kidney damage, heart problems,
and even death.
The precise exact mechanism of how chloroform produces an anesthetic effect on in the body is
still unknown. This which is not surprising due to the fact that because many mechanisms of most
compounds that have an anesthetics effect on the body are also still uncertain. However, there are two
main theories of how drugs produce an anesthetic effect on the body. One of the theories is theory,
called Meyer Overton theory, which states that anesthetic compounds dissolve in the cellular
membrane causing structural distortion distorting the structure of the cell’s membrane. This distortion
can reduces the ability of the body to conduct a nerve impulse along a nerve cell preventing messages
being sent to be delivered to the brain.
Structure of a Nerve Cell
This theory came about through was proposed based on many observation of the potency of most
anesthetic drugs in correlation with their solubility in oil. The Another popular theory on the mechanism
of how an anesthetic compounds works is based on derived from the idea of analyzing how these
compounds interacted with specific proteins. This The theory came about when was proposed by
researchers saw who discovered that proteins such as neurotransmitter receptors and ion channels
changing changed conformation during the binding of the anesthetic compound. Many people believe
that the mechanism of action for chloroform is leads to the increase in movement of potassium ions
through certain types of potassium channels in the nerve cells leading resulting in to a hyperpolarization
of the membrane. This hyperpolarization of the nerve cell membrane causes the nerve cell to become
less excitable.
Stages in One Action Potential
When this occurs in the pre-synapse, it will decreases the ability of the nerve cells to release
neurotransmitters. When this effect occurs in the post-synapse, it will reduces the response to a
neurotransmitter. The main idea is that it does not matter where the anesthetic interacts within the
body, once inside the body, it will prevent the body from relaying that message to the brain and cause
leave the body to be clueless of to how its own body is operating it should operate.