Chloride (chcl3) is also known as trichloromethane and is a non-colour, transparent and particularly sweet liquid. Molecular weight 119. 39, boiling point 61. 3°c, vapour pressure 26. 66kpa (25°c). Volatile. Micro soluble in water and in organic solvents. Not easily burned. Photogas, hydrogen chloride and chlorine can be oxidized in air in light and flame or in contact with thermal metal surfaces. Industry is used mainly as an organic solvent and also for the purification of antibiotics such as penicillin and vitamin b12。
Chlorine is rapidly absorbed from the lungs and is widely distributed throughout the body, either through digestive tracts or unharmed skin. 30-50 per cent of inhalation after cessation of exposure is excreted in prototyre with excretion in 15 minutes, with small parts decomposition in the body and excreted in the form of chlorinated compounds in urine。
Acute poisoning is rare. Inhalation early in the intoxication, the skin and surface are hot, excited, high, low-spirited, arrhythmia, anaesthesia within minutes and reflection disappears. Respiratory palsy, larvae and insufficiency can occur in serious cases. It has been reported abroad that a group of pharmaceutical workers with inhalation concentrations ranging from 400 to 1253 mg/m3 of chloroform has had an addiction to sleep, drying, abdominal swelling, nausea, appetite, low-frequency urine, depression and anger. Long-term exposure is mainly associated with liver damage, in addition to neurosis syndrome and kidney damage for a small number of patients. Chlorine is irritated to the skin, with a sense of burning, followed by red spots, oedema, bubbles, and can cause dry skin and cracking without permanent damage。
Treatment consists mainly of treatment for symptoms. Acute poisoning prohibits adrenaline. The storage can be filled with 1-2% ethanol, which reacts to the generated photogas with ethanol to form a non-toxic ethyl carbonate。
The workshop air chlorine threshold is 50 mg/m3 (tlv-twa, usa, 1980)。
