Sciencemadness Discussion Board - Dichloromethane

Dichloromethane

Murexide - 25-12-2018 at 19:10

DCM is a common solvent, and my purpose is for caffeine extraction from caffeine pills (probably the most common beginner amateur use for DCM), as well as for coagulating AgCl suspensions in certain argentometric titrations (chloroform replacement). Apparently, it smells somewhat sweet, but it is dangerous at levels where it can be smelt.

The downside to DCM is that it is probably carcinogenic. Apparently it is less so than chloroform, which makes it more suitable (as well as significantly easier to obtain in Australia). It is sold as paint stripper 87% dichloromethane, which is apparently a liquid rather than a gel (significantly more convenient for distillation). Separation from ethanol can be achieved with CaCl2/H2O complexation

The other problem is storage and hand protection. Currently, in its paint thinner state it is in a metal can and it can be stored at and slightly above room temperature without explosion or leakage hazards. However, in its pure form it must be stored in either a metal container (risky, due to potential compatibility issues) or glass reagent bottles (explosion hazard unless in a freezer, which is not available, and the type of plastic cap is also an issue). Apparently, DCM creates a strong burning sensation upon contact, so it would be wise to use gloves. Unfortunately, DCM penetrates almost all common glove types. It is interesting that despite the problem of its high volatility and penetration, it is suggested as a chloroform replacement.

If DCM experiments are conducted outside for select experiments, how high is the carcinogenic risk of DCM? It would need to be distilled from a retort connected to a Ahlin connector (I am certainly not distilling a compound bp. 40C with an air condenser!), so some vapours would be released.

[Edited on 26-12-2018 by Murexide]

DavidJR - 25-12-2018 at 19:35

Why would glass bottles present an explosion hazard?

Murexide - 25-12-2018 at 22:03

DCM is very volatile even at room temperature, as it’s boiling point is 40C. If stored for long periods of time in glass bottles especially at slightly above room temperatures, pressure (of its vapour) can build up and then cause glass bottles to explode.

Justin Blaise - 25-12-2018 at 23:46

I don't think you're going to have any compatibility issues with storage in a metal can. It comes in a metal can, for one, and it's not so reactive that the surface of a metal can will appreciably reduce it. Unless your can is made of sodium. You could even just clean out the original container and put the purified stuff back in there.

Hand protection is tough. I've gotten DCM drops on my gloves and then felt burning shortly after. Best solution I could come up with was to work carefully and quickly remove gloves after I notice spills. You get a couple seconds of protection, even if DCM can penetrate, and you can use that time to quickly get your hands out of there. According to this source https://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/a?dbs+hsdb:@te... there is inadequate evidence to say it's a human carcinogen. So just distill it outdoors or in a fume hood and you'll be fine.

Murexide - 26-12-2018 at 02:16

Cleaning the original can is certainly an attractive option given that the formula is liquid and not gel so it will be easier to clean out (water, base would be preferable as it will destroy DCM but metal can will also be destroyed). With some luck, I can probably extract out 250-300mL of the 435mL theoretical DCM, the azeotrope 95% DCM 5% ethanol. The ethanol in fact is probably necessary to keep as a stabilising agent (although DCM is much less risky than chloroform in terms of phosgene formation, it is nevertheless a good idea). So 50% fillled should not provide too much of an explosion hazard, considering it will be used soon after and destroyed after with aqueous NaOH.

For the distillation, I will probably attempt something similar to my nitric acid distillation by using remote switching of the hot plate (of course using a hot water bath) situated outdoors from indoors. This should limit DCM inhalation significantly. Even though it says there is inadequate evidence of it being a confirmed carcinogen and is certainly less so than benzene, it does say it is a probable carcinogen (confirmed for lab animals), so it should probably be treated cautiously.

Thick latex gloves seem to be the best option, as they extend the period of time between exposure and contact perhaps from a few seconds to 10 or so seconds. That should be enough time.

Edit: The volatility and capacity of DCM to escape the container when not cooled in a freezer is the main reason I prefer to limit use and destroy soon after

[Edited on 26-12-2018 by Murexide]

Deathunter88 - 26-12-2018 at 02:53

Stop being so paranoid! The fact that it's sold as a consumer product DESIGNED to be spread over large areas and evaporated means that the exposure you will get from working with it as a chemistry reagent is perfectly safe. I personally wouldn't even bother wearing gloves, since it evaporates so rapidly wearing gloves is just going to trap it against your skin for longer.

Heptylene - 26-12-2018 at 03:34

You can use vented caps for glass bottles if you want to minimize the risk of explosion. It really depends on the temperature of your lab. If it's at around 20°C you will be fine. Professional labs store DCM in glass bottles at room temperature.

fusso - 26-12-2018 at 03:35

I don't think storing in a metal can will make it explode. I live in a warm place and my DCM is stored in glass beer bottle. The lid is capped loosely and has been sitting there for a year. It's still intact.

Ubya - 26-12-2018 at 10:34

where i live temperatures in summer can easily reach 35-40 °C, i expect to be hot as well in australia, so metal or glass container you still need to keep it cool somehow. i'm distilling right now all the solvents i found OTC that contain DCM, i had to wait so long because tadaaa i didn't have the right container (i will be using a glass bottle used for solvents i found while hiking on the italian Alps, really random i know, and to the cap i added a teflon disc).
i think you are a bit paranoid too, sure you don't want to breathe chlorinated solvents all day but a few whiffs won't give you cancer, if DCM does this reaction to you i don't know what benzene would do.
ps gloves are not an instoppable barrier, they are there just to slow contact with skin, if something spills on them, you must change them anyway

DavidJR - 26-12-2018 at 16:40

Quote: Originally posted by Deathunter88

Stop being so paranoid! The fact that it's sold as a consumer product DESIGNED to be spread over large areas and evaporated means that the exposure you will get from working with it as a chemistry reagent is perfectly safe. I personally wouldn't even bother wearing gloves, since it evaporates so rapidly wearing gloves is just going to trap it against your skin for longer.

I agree that it's pretty safe to use in a lab situation where you aren't evaporating large quantities into the lab atmosphere. However, I disagree that it's safe as a paint stripper since there have been numerous deaths from people using DCM based paint strippers in poorly ventilated areas. This is why it's banned in paint strippers in many places.

Re gloves, the only gloves which offer real protection against DCM are ones made from polyvinyl alcohol. They aren't suitable for general use though because they are water soluble. Any other kind of glove offers at most a few seconds of protection. Keep this in mind if you're handling DCM solutions of anything that is toxic or otherwise hazardous.

XeonTheMGPony - 2-1-2019 at 07:37

Quote: Originally posted by Murexide

DCM is very volatile even at room temperature, as it’s boiling point is 40C. If stored for long periods of time in glass bottles especially at slightly above room temperatures, pressure (of its vapour) can build up and then cause glass bottles to explode.

Guess no one has told my glass bottle this information, poor thing will be embarrassed, it's been sitting there and working for a year and some now just doing its job!

HINT: Look up some thing called a PT Chart (Pressure Vs temperature)

Screw it here it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichloromethane_(data_page)

[Edited on 2-1-2019 by XeonTheMGPony]

[Edited on 2-1-2019 by XeonTheMGPony]

Mr. Rogers - 2-1-2019 at 12:22

All the DCM I've ever bought came in a glass bottle.

Dan Vizine - 6-2-2019 at 10:10

Have you ever simply looked up sellers of industrial solvents in your town? I went to "Buffalo Industrial Solvents" and said that I wanted to buy methylene chloride. The guys said "5 gallons, 60 bucks". I said fine.

I also simply walk into Riverside Chemical Company (a local JTB distributor) and just order what I want, be it PE, toluene, acetic acid, etc. You don't need certification, identification, or company-affiliation to buy these commodity grade materials in NY.

Herr Haber - 7-2-2019 at 04:37

Gloves: nope. It'll go through the gloves yes. But not alone ! So I'd rather avoid gloves at all. The burning is tolerable in the beginning but after a short while the only thing you want to do is wash your hands again and again.
Bottle: Not gonna explode. A media bottle is fine. I have my DCM in a media bottle, it survived last summer 35 degrees without a problem. I've had some years ago from APC Pure delivered in HDPE bottle and THAT is bad.
Someone on the forum used to words "escape artist" for DCM. So true. The HDPE bottle was inside a plastic bag. I stored it, forgot about it and came back months later to find an empty bottle. The bottle and plastic bag were intact and showed no sign 1 liter of DCM had gone through.

woelen - 7-2-2019 at 05:03

I read a lot of fear mongering in this thread.

DCM, stored in glass bottles forms no explosion risk. Period. Not even at very hot summer afternoons, when stored in a normal cupboard in the house or a garage. You may get some pressure buildup in a bottle, but a normal glass bottle withstands quite some pressure. Think of bottled drinks like coca cola in glass bottles. They have MUCH more pressure inside than you will ever get in your bottle of DCM.

DCM hardly is a skin risk. It evaporates very quickly, simply waving your hands for a few seconds removes the DCM. Using gloves is overkill or even adds extra risk.

DCM is toxic, but it is not instant death in a bottle. I would worry about slow long-term release when this is in the same area as where you live on a day-by-day basis, such as was the case with the 1 liter plastic bottle which lost all DCM over a period of a year.
Occassional spills on your hands are no problem. Clean DCM simply evaporates and is not quickly absorbed, because it is not water-soluble. Things may become different if the DCM is used as solvent and contains other toxic compounds. Then a spill on your skin may be problematic, because the DCM is gone in seconds and a thin film of the toxic compound remains on your skin. If that occurs I would wet a piece of tissue with DCM and quickly use that to wipe your skin to get rid of most of the dissolved compound and then wash thoroughly with water and soap.

Again: use common sense, respect the things you work with, but do not fear them!

[Edited on 7-2-19 by woelen]

S.C. Wack - 7-2-2019 at 18:22

DCM is a skin irritant for sure though and it would not surprise me if it is absorbed...anyways, my last order of DCM came in typical quart cans, and when I went to jug it up a year later, half the DCM was gone.

zed - 8-2-2019 at 16:02

Should be sealed tight with an inner metal plug.

Even high boilers, sneak away, if not properly sealed.

Back in the days, when such items were unrestricted in commerce, I weighed a 25lb can of Safrole after several years in storage. ~ 23 Lbs remained!

My theraputic Spray and Stretch, Freon spray bottles, though never used or opened, now stand less than 1/2 full.

AJKOER - 11-2-2019 at 06:21

Quote: Originally posted by Deathunter88

Industries operate based on what their legal department assessment as to acceptable degrees of legal liability. Bottom line, the probability of lawsuits and the expected amount of settlement costs.

This is likely just poorly correlated to actual toxic levels relating to either short term or long term exposure, so don't derive any inferences of presumed safety from the willingness of some local suppliers to sell DCM. A company's variation in behavior across the world is likely a better indicator as to actual safety of a product, in my opinion.

[Edited on 11-2-2019 by AJKOER]

nimgoldman - 12-2-2019 at 20:15

I never had issues with DCM storage even during a hot summer (I use glass reagent bottle with and ABS cap).

Of course I periodically checked and vented the bottles, checking for overpressure.

I used DCM in several extractions, not caffeine but eugenol from clove oil, for example and distilled it many times.

I found that DCM sucked in lots of organic impurities and had to be purified beyond distillation (e.g. shaking with conc. sulfuric acid).

As for the hand spills, you can use two layers of gloves and immediately remove them upon exposure. Although DCM will penetrate them, it takes some time.

The health hazards manifest for people who work with DCM routinely and breathe the vapours in closed areas. If you use it occassionaly with precautions (good ventilation), you will be okay.

DrP - 13-2-2019 at 08:40

Quote: Originally posted by woelen

I read a lot of fear mongering in this thread.

DCM, stored in glass bottles forms no explosion risk. Period.
[Edited on 7-2-19 by woelen]

I can't remember if it was Dichloromethane or Diethylether... (I get them confused) but I have seen a 2.5L Winchester brown bottle of the stuff on a bench just break apart without any warning at all right before my eyes. It just broke into 2 or 3 pieces right in front of me on the bench. It was a warn day, but still. It did not explode though but would have been very nasty if there had been a naked flame on the bench. The guy using it cleaned it up whilst I waited outside to call an emergency if he passed out from the fumes or sparked an ignition somehow.

It was very strange - as it was evaporating in such a large volume there was massive distortion of vision through the fumes - like looking through heated air that is rising.

I wonder if the claims of explosion were due to the glass breaking as I described whilst there was a Bunsen flame open nearby - that could make it look like the bottle just exploded I suppose.

Tsjerk - 13-2-2019 at 09:36

DCM is not flammable. A bottle that just breaks is faulty to start with, it would break if it was filled with water.

Check this graph: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LogMethylenechlorideVap...

Even at 50 it's pressure is just at that of water at autoclave running temperature. I can guarantee you I've run many autoclaves and often opened them at running temp because I wanted to go home. Never any bottle exploded or broke while doing so.

Edit: a champagne bottle could hold it at 100.

[Edited on 13-2-2019 by Tsjerk]

DavidJR - 13-2-2019 at 09:55

Quote: Originally posted by DrP

Quote: Originally posted by woelen

I read a lot of fear mongering in this thread.

DCM, stored in glass bottles forms no explosion risk. Period.
[Edited on 7-2-19 by woelen]

If it was dichloromethane, then even if there was a naked flame right beside it, you'd have no fire, because DCM isn't flammable.

Diethyl ether, on the other hand.........

Loptr - 13-2-2019 at 10:43

Dichloromethane in glass bottles all day long. I dont use anything else. I keep all of my solvents in similar bottles.

Keras - 10-5-2019 at 23:27

I have ordered a litre of pure CH₂Cl₂ which should arrive to me later this month (it is really cheap, even in a pure form, like €8/litre). I’ll tell you in what type of storage container I get it, if you want.

DavidJR - 11-5-2019 at 08:28

I paid £9.50 for 2.5L of HPLC grade DCM, and like all of my solvents from that supplier, it came in an amber glass bottle.

Keras - 11-5-2019 at 12:13

Quote: Originally posted by DavidJR

I paid £9.50 for 2.5L of HPLC grade DCM, and like all of my solvents from that supplier, it came in an amber glass bottle.

Interesting. Cheaper than mine. What supplier did you get it from?

DavidJR - 11-5-2019 at 15:29

Quote: Originally posted by Keras

Quote: Originally posted by DavidJR

I paid £9.50 for 2.5L of HPLC grade DCM, and like all of my solvents from that supplier, it came in an amber glass bottle.

Interesting. Cheaper than mine. What supplier did you get it from?

http://rathburn.co.uk

macckone - 12-5-2019 at 16:52

A glass bottle should not break with DCM on a hot summer day (110F, 45C).
But if you live at high altitude with a hot summer day that calculus can change.
Most bottles can handle more than 20 psi. Beer bottles are around 45 psi.
Champagne are double that at 90 psi. Gallon jugs (3.7L) are less capable than smaller ones.
500ml bottles should be fine. But as a general rule unless it is in direct sunlight where it can get
exceedingly hot, you should be fine. Oh and don't store DCM in direct sunlight. Metal cans will
fail in that scenario as well.

Tkuze - 14-5-2019 at 03:28

Unfortunately I found out today that most hardware stores discontinued selling strippers(usually gels) with DCM. This was a bummer because I really needed to get some local and quickly distill it for an acid base extraction.. my lab grade DCM is still shipping

kulep - 14-5-2019 at 04:17

Quote: Originally posted by macckone

But if you live at high altitude with a hot summer day that calculus can change.

Actually it's the same. The pressure inside the bottle is the sum of the partial pressures.
If you start with a bottle filled with air, add dcm and cap it, at 40ºc the pressure inside will be 1bar (air) + 1bar (dcm) = 2bar of absolute pressure, or 1bar above atmospheric pressure.
If your atmospheric pressure changes the difference will always be 1 bar.

If before filling it with dcm you vacuum the bottle, at 40ºc the pressure inside it will be 1bar, the same as atmospheric pressure

Chemi Pharma - 14-5-2019 at 08:08

Oh man! Don't worry about CH2Cl2 or even chloroform. Both solvents are used as drugs by people that want to get high in parties, mainly carnival. Here, where I live, people sells them in 100ml stainless steel, ready to be used in the spray form. I have already seen too many people fallen down at the party hall cause this but, never, really never, have saw someone die or be sent to a hospital cause inhaled it too much.

Also, Dichloromethane and Chloroform are both non inflammable liquids and both have low vapor pressure, cause this you can storage them safely inside amber glass bottles with bung and lid almost indefinitely.

Happy now, cause with this comment I will be promoted to four stars National Hazard in the Forum

Ubya - 14-5-2019 at 08:32

Quote: Originally posted by Chemi Pharma

Also, Dichloromethane and Chloroform are both non inflammable liquids and both have low vapor pressure, cause this you can storage them safely inside amber glass bottles with bung and lid almost indefinitely.

Low vapor pressure is better for long term storage, but DCM has a high vapor pressure

edited mistake...

[Edited on 15-5-2019 by Ubya]

happyfooddance - 14-5-2019 at 23:59

Quote: Originally posted by Ubya

Quote: Originally posted by Chemi Pharma

Low vapor pressure is not better for long term storage, it's worse

DCM and chloroform have relatively high vapor pressure. DCM is stable upon storage, chloroform is not (without stabilizer). Many people have died from both: from occupational, recreational, and medical use (check literature).

draculic acid69 - 15-5-2019 at 09:29

No one Huff's DCM. chloroform is a drug but DCM isn't . DCM is poison, chloroform isnt.

clearly_not_atara - 15-5-2019 at 10:15

Chloroform is quite poisonous, even moreso than DCM last I checked, but its lower volatility means the liquid is less of an exposure risk. Both compounds are likely to be intoxicating according to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_general_anaesthetic...

draculic acid69 - 16-5-2019 at 02:11

Last you checked, have you ever smelt DCM or cloroform? One is sweet smelling and doesn't make you feel like shit, DCM smells awful and makes you feel awful.wherever you last checked doesn't compare to experience.

Chemi Pharma - 16-5-2019 at 11:11

Quote: Originally posted by draculic acid69

Last you checked, have you ever smelt DCM or cloroform? One is sweet smelling and doesn't make you feel like shit, DCM smells awful and makes you feel awful.wherever you last checked doesn't compare to experience.

Both have sweet taste and smell. You are wrong. DCM is much less toxic than Chloroform cause it has one less Chlorine atom and it's closer to methyl chloride than chloroform. Carbon tetra chloride, instead, is a potent carcinogenic and liver toxic compound. Why? cause the extra chlorine it has.

Look at ethyl chloride, an innocuous anesthetic. Why? cause it has just one chlorine molecule attached. How much more chlorine the hydrocarbon has been substituted, more toxic the compound is.

When I was 13 or 14th years old and created my first own laboratory, the times these chemicals wasn't watched, I used them for recreational purposes as a curiosity, among with a lot of my friends and nobody has died or went to a hospital or develop liver or lung diseases cause this.

As I have said, here where I live, both DCM and Choloform are sold as recreational drugs inside stainless steel spray bottles ready to use by anyone who wants to experiment it. I know, by my own experience that this chemicals do nothing with your health, besides get somebody high and be knocked down later as an unconscious body after a few minutes, if you smell it too much.

Of course now I'm an adult and don't do it anymore passed more than 30 years, even though be forced to breath a little while I'm doing my lab experiences. However, I have my own experience to say with authority that what all of the members are saying about the risks of DCM and Chloroform are bullshit.

I think GHB is worse than this as an abusing drug, don't you think so?

Ubya - 16-5-2019 at 12:11

Quote: Originally posted by Chemi Pharma

As I have said, here where I live, both DCM and Choloform are sold as recreational drugs inside stainless steel spray bottles ready to use by anyone who wants to experiment it. I know, by my own experience that this chemicals do nothing with your health, besides get somebody high and be knocked down later as an unconscious body after a few minutes, if you smell it too much.

Of course now I'm an adult and don't do it anymore passed more than 30 years, even though be forced to breath a little while I'm doing my lab experiences. However, I have my own experience to say with authority that what all of the members are saying about the risks of DCM and Chloroform are bullshit.

How wise, me too as a kid I used to melt lead on my kitchen stove without any air exchange, I've never had heavy metal poisoning or neurological problem, lead vapors are safe to sniff for years

Jokes apart (the melting lead in the kitchen is true though...), just your personal experience is not enough to declare safe a substance, there have been studies on large populations and long periods of time, and the exposure to these chemicals resulted to negative health effects.
Plus carcinogenic effects are long term, just because you and your friends didn't get cancer the day after you got high on chlorinated solvents it doesn't make them safe, you just got higher chances of getting cancer in the future, you could be lucky or not

Chemi Pharma - 16-5-2019 at 20:57

Quote: Originally posted by Ubya

How wise, me too as a kid I used to melt lead on my kitchen stove without any air exchange, I've never had heavy metal poisoning or neurological problem, lead vapors are safe to sniff for years

Funny you say that, cause it remembers me melting lead on the stove to make video games coins when I was a kid. What a kind of a mess and crazy things we do when we are younger, isn't it?

For sure you're right. I'm not saying is safe to use DCM or Chloroform with recreational use. I have experimented it once or twice when I was very young. Long term exposure can cause cancer and other lung and liver diseases, certainly. I'm just saying to don't be so paranoid if you breath a little accidentally, working with chlorinated solvents at the Lab.

Assured Fish - 16-5-2019 at 23:02

After reading through this thread suddenly i feel like a little bit less of an idiot after sleeping a week in close proximity to a small amount of DCM and getting some hexavalent chromium on my fingers.

Nice to know others are taking bigger risks than I.

woelen - 17-5-2019 at 01:13

I think it is very unwise to sniff CH2Cl2 or CHCl3 and it is even more stupid to sniff CCl4. I think you put a big mortgage on your future health if you sniff these chemicals deliberately on a regular basis.

An accidental whiff of them is no problem. You can safely experiment with these chemicals on an incidental basis, but if you use them very frequently, then you should take countermeasures to avoid inhalation.

Keras - 17-5-2019 at 03:04

Quote: Originally posted by woelen

I think it is very unwise to sniff CH2Cl2 or CHCl3 and it is even more stupid to sniff CCl4. I think you put a big mortgage on your future health if you sniff these chemicals deliberately on a regular basis.

An accidental whiff of them is no problem. You can safely experiment with these chemicals on an incidental basis, but if you use them very frequently, then you should take countermeasures to avoid inhalation.

Apparently CH₂Cl₂ is the less noxious of the three cited. Which of course is no green light to intentionally sniffing it.

draculic acid69 - 17-5-2019 at 06:02

Chemi pharma are you saying you huffed DCM and got high?

Chemi Pharma - 17-5-2019 at 07:33

Quote: Originally posted by draculic acid69

Chemi pharma are you saying you huffed DCM and got high?

Yes. But I was 13th years old and did that influenced by bad friends. I did that once or twice in 1980, at carnival parties, almost 40 years ago man. Don't blame me at all! I was quite a child. I didn't do that nevermore after this year, even studying at a Chemical Technological school and having all this chlorinated solvents at my disposal everyday. These times DCM and CHCl3 wasn't too closely watched like they are today and was common, here where I live, to use them with recreational purposes.

Good days, good days that will never come back! The world were better, you know?!

But like I've said, I don't recomend anyone to do that. I exposed myself to an unnecessary risk only because friendship and to prove that I was brave to the collegial group. A stupid thing you only do when you are too much younger and immature.

But What I've said about don't be so paranoid if you breath some DCM accidentally at the Lab still true. If even me, that got high breathing deeply DCM 40 years ago didn't became sick, I think all of us, sciencemadness members, can work with this chlorinated solvents safely, however what @Woelen said is true: if you are everyday exposed to a high ppm contaminated air with DCM or CHCL3 in the Lab, you must use personal safe equipment, like an entire facial mask.

Nobody here wants some fellows of us get liver or lung diseases, isn't it?

draculic acid69 - 17-5-2019 at 10:07

I've been around large amounts of evaporating DCM and never got high just sick.one whiff of chloroform and I'm on my ass. did the DCM actually give you a chloroform buzz?

Chemi Pharma - 17-5-2019 at 10:36

Quote: Originally posted by draculic acid69

I've been around large amounts of evaporating DCM and never got high just sick.one whiff of chloroform and I'm on my ass. did the DCM actually give you a chloroform buzz?

I will tell you what I felt 40 years ago. One time it was with DCM and one time it was with chloroform, that my colleagues of school brought from the school Lab deposit to a party we have gone. We put the DCM liquid into a scarf and begun to sniff it, all of us. Soon I heard like a noise of helicopters in my head. My body felt like unresponsive what my mind wanted. I saw a lot of bright points in my vision and the ambient were like a dream to me. A few minutes later I were knocked down on the floor, dreaming about anything I don't remember. When I woke up, 15 minutes later, I didn't remember anything what have passed around me, but with a terrible headache, with not so scare and awful symptoms, and begun to dance again at the party. Another time, some days after, we all of school guys have experimented with chloroform. The same effect. But this time I woke up very seasick, and promise myself I wont do it anymore.

And is all what I've done and it's all I have to testimony about chlorinated solvents biological effects and repeat here: don't do this stupid thing I did! I was very young and apart of the risks inhaling that substances, today you get the risk to be arrested. Work safe at your lab with an entire facial mask while doing reactions and work ups with DCM and Chloroform.

It's all I can say about that! Don't injury your lungs and liver if you want to have a long life, ok?

woelen - 17-5-2019 at 11:05

The point is clear

Every young boy (or girl) does stupid things every now and then. It happened to us all. So, no blame to you!
Just use common sense when using these chemicals, and if you use them frequently, take measures to protect yourself.
And no, they are not illegal. In some countries they are harder to get nowadays, but it is not illegal to posses some of these chemicals. In NL you still can buy DCM without problems. Chloroform is harder to find, but if you look well, you can find that as well (stabilized so that no phosgene is formed on storage).

[Edited on 17-5-19 by woelen]