[Mocook]

Hello all,

If chloroform and water are mixed what product will be yielded (if any)?

If a product is produced or even an intermediate, at what ratios are the reactants necessary for the formation of such product?

[discodermolide]

Chloroform and water do not mix. Under normal conditions they do not react with one another.

[Mocook]

"Slightly soluble in water. Dissolves in water to form a corrosive solution of hypochlorous acid which decomposes on standing to chlorine, oxygen, and chloric acid."


What do you guys think of this, legitimate?

http://cameochemicals.noaa.gov/chemical/2893

[Arkcon]

I've downloaded the MSDS for chloroform from Sigma, and that one doesn't mention avoiding water.  Its very strange for chloroform to form hypochlorus acid with water -- what would happen to the rest of the molecule?  Would it form methanol?  Chloroform can't be that reactive.  Likely the information you have (although it claims to come from Dupont) is a typo, meant to apply to another compound, or what happens if chloroform burns.  And that is hard enough to in its own right.

[salteen]

Chloroform is prone to reacting with atmospheric oxygen when exposed to light, which generates HCl and phosgene; subsequent reaction with water yields more HCl.  This is why CDCl3 is sold in dark bottles, as it minimizes the acidity that will be produced over time.  But I've never heard of it forming hyopchlorous acid when exposed to water....