HUPEC 1st TRAINING SERIE 

INTERPRETATION SKILL: Homework 3

Chloromethane
Chloromethane, frequently called
methyl chloride, is a colorless, toxic
gas. It has been known since the early
19th century.

In 1835, prominent French chemists

Jean-Baptiste Dumas of the École
Polytechnique and Eugène Péligot of
the Institut National Agronomique
(both in Paris) teamed up to devise the
first synthesis of chloromethane. 

They heated methanol and sodium

chloride in the presence of sulfuric acid
to produce the gas. Their synthesis was
the forerunner of the primary modern
manufacturing method, which uses
hydrogen chloride in place of NaCl and
H SO .
2 4

Chloromethane is found sparsely in

nature. It is usually produced by the
enzyme methyl chloride tranferase,
which is present in wood-rotting fungi
and salt marsh plants.

As of 2020, chloromethane was

the only organochlorine compound to
have been detected in space, by both
the Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array
telescope in Chile and the Rosetta
spacecraft.

Chloromethane was once widely used

as a refrigerant , but it has long since
1

been replaced by substances that are

less toxic and less harmful to the ozone
layer in Earth’s atmosphere.

Currently, it is used in industry as a

reagent in chemical production, an
extractant for oils and resins, a
propellant in foam production, and a
solvent in rubber manufacture and
petroleum refining.

Chloromethane
fast facts
 CAS Reg. 74-87-3
No.

SciFinder Methane, chloro-

nomenclature

Empirical CH Cl
3

formula

Molar mass 50.49 g/mol

Appearance Colorless gas

Boiling point –24 °C

Water 5.3 g/L

solubility