Chloropicrin

chloropicrin

[‚klȯr·ō′pik·rən]

(inorganic chemistry)

CCl₃NO₂ A colorless liquid with a sweet odor whose vapor is very irritating to the lungs and causes vomiting, coughing, and crying; used as a soil fumigant. Also known as nitrochloroform; trichloronitromethane.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Chloropicrin

 

(also trichloronitromethane), CCl₃NO₂, a colorless, oily liquid, with a pungent odor. Chloropicrin has a melting point of –64°C, a boiling point of 112.3°C, and a density of 1.6539 g/cm³ (at 20°C). A strong lacrimator, it is practically insoluble in water but is readily soluble in organic solvents. It is not hydrolyzed by water and alkaline aqueous solutions and may be steam-distilled. Alkaline alcohol solutions and aqueous alcohol solutions of Na₂S rapidly and quantitatively decompose chloropicrin, which at 400°C decomposes into phosgene and ClNO. Chloropicrin is produced by the chlorination of picric acid and its salts.

The minimal active concentration of chloropicrin is 0.002 mg/liter, and the intolerable concentration, 0.05 mg/liter (for 2 min); in large concentrations, it has an asphyxiating effect. Chloropicrin was used as a poison gas during World War I (1914–18). Presently it is used for checking gas masks and as a war gas for military training.

R. N. STERLIN

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.