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trichloroethene

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trichloroethene

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Also known as ethylene trichloride, trilene, triclene, ethinyl trichloride, acetylene trichloride, 1,1-dichloro-2-chloroethylene, trichloroethylene, trichlor

Trichloroethylene (TCE, IUPAC name: trichloroethene) is an organochloride with the formula C2HCl3, commonly used as an industrial degreaser. It is a clear, colourless, non-flammable, volatile liquid with a sweet chloroform-like pleasant mild smell and burning sweet taste. Trichloroethylene has been sold under a variety of trade names. Under the trade names Trimar and Trilene, it was used as a volatile anesthetic and as an inhaled obstetrical analgesic. Industrial abbreviations include trichlor, Trike, Tricky and tri. It should not be confused with the similar 1,1,1-trichloroethane, which was c

Chemical data

Formula
C2HCl3
Molecular weight
131.38 g/mol
IUPAC name
1,1,2-trichloroethene
SMILES
C(=C(Cl)Cl)Cl
InChIKey
XSTXAVWGXDQKEL-UHFFFAOYSA-N
XLogP
2.6
Polar surface area
0 Ų
H-bond donors
0
H-bond acceptors
0
Formal charge
0

via PubChem

~25 min read

Encyclopedic overview

20 sections
Contents
  • History
  • Anaesthesia
  • Production
  • Uses
  • Cleaning solvent
  • Refrigerants
  • Reactions
  • Safety
  • Chemical instability
  • Physiological effects
  • Neurological
  • Carcinogenicity
  • Metabolism
  • Exposure and regulations
  • Existing regulations
  • Remediation
  • Society and culture
  • References
  • Further reading
  • External links

Trichloroethylene (TCE, IUPAC name: trichloroethene) is an organochloride with the formula C2HCl3, commonly used as an industrial degreaser. It is a clear, colourless, non-flammable, volatile liquid with a sweet chloroform-like pleasant mild smell and burning sweet taste. Trichloroethylene has been sold under a variety of trade names. Under the trade names Trimar and Trilene, it was used as a volatile anesthetic and as an inhaled obstetrical analgesic. Industrial abbreviations include trichlor, Trike, Tricky and tri. It should not be confused with the similar 1,1,1-trichloroethane, which was commonly known as chlorothene.

==History== The earliest trichloroethylene synthesis was reported by Auguste Laurent in 1836. Laurent obtained it from the action of potassium hydroxide on a mixture of 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane and 1,1,1,2-tetrachloroethane made from the chlorination of ethylene dichloride and notated it as (at the time, the atomic weight of carbon was thought to be half of what it really is). He named trichloroethylene chlorétherise but did not investigate the compound further as his sample seemed unstable.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “trichloroethene” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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