cyanureeves - 4-11-2010 at 08:18
i googled chloroform and it stated that it will slowly decompose to phosgene in the presence of oxygen. like open air?how about in a bottle without
ethanol?this stuff is pretty interesting.it is used for morphine extraction from opium for example.
ScienceSquirrel - 4-11-2010 at 08:53
Chloroform will react with oxygen at room temperature to form phosgene but the rate is very slow and a trace of ethanol is sufficient to convert the
phosgene formed to diethyl carbonate.
Besides a full bottle of chloroform will contain very little oxygen as the heavy chloroform vapour tends to displace the air from the bottle.
Maybe a very old bottle that has been on the shelf for years with only a few mls in the bottom would contain a lot of phosgene.
Much more dangerous is the pyrolysis of chloroform to phosgene, inhaling chloroform vapour through a cigarette can result in phosgene poisoning!
As for opium and morphine you are getting in to some seriously heavy shit there to use the technical term!
chloroform
cyanureeves - 4-11-2010 at 10:52
thanks. still its intersting because of the ill fame chloroform has.i wouldnt know what to do with an opium poppy but morphine was a life saver during
the civil war. hell so was chloroform.i was just a bit apprehensive about it.