Carbon tetrachloride

Absorption and fluorescence emission spectra

Description

A colorless, volatile liquid with a sweet, distinctive odor. Carbon tetrachloride was first produced in 1839 in Germany. It was used for many years to dissolve waxes, fats, and degrease metals. It was also a popular dry cleaning solvent and spot remover, however it is no longer widely used because of its toxicity. Carbon tetrachloride was once used as a single component fumigant and as a component in funigamt mixtures (Dowfume 75). Carbon tetrachloride was also used for a while in fire extinguishers (Pyrene), but was discontinued because it decomposed in high heat to form Phosgene, a highly poisonous gas.

Synonyms and Related Terms

tetrachloromethane; tetrachlormethane; perchloromethane; tetrachlorocarbon; Carbona; Pyrene

Risks

• Nonflammable.
• Forms phosgene in electrical fires, high heat or ultraviolet light.
• Very toxic by inhalation, ingestion and skin absorption.
• Carcinogen and teratogen in both males and females.
• ThermoFisher: SDS

Physical and Chemical Properties

• Miscible in ethanol, benzene, chloroform, ether, carbon disulfide, ligroin.
• Insoluble in water at room temperature. At elevated temperatures, carbon tetrachloride can slowly react with water to form hydrochloric acid.

Composition	CCl4
CAS	56-23-5
Melting Point	-23 C
Density	1.589 g/ml
Molecular Weight	mol. wt. = 153.8
Refractive Index	1.4607
Boiling Point	} Comparisons Properties of Common Solvents Resources and Citations R. J. Gettens, G.L. Stout, Painting Materials, A Short Encyclopaedia, Dover Publications, New York, 1966 Comment: sp. grav. = 1.629 G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 147 Reed Kay, The Painter's Guide To Studio Methods and Materials, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1983 Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing) Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993 Stephen R. Edwards, Bruce M. Bell, Mary Elizabeth King, Pest Control in Museums: a Status Report 1980, Association of Sytematics Collections, Washington DC, 1980 Lynda A. Zycherman, J.Richard Schrock, A Guide to Museum Pest Control, FAIC and Association of Systematics Collections, Washington DC, 1988 Michael McCann, Artist Beware, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York City, 1979 Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982 Van Nostrand's Scientific Encyclopedia, Douglas M. Considine (ed.), Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1976 Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997 The Merck Index, Martha Windholz (ed.), Merck Research Labs, Rahway NJ, 10th edition, 1983 Comment: entry 1864 The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998 Conservation termlist at www.hants.org.uk/museums (accessed 2001)