Talk:Carbon tetrachloride

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[edit] Exposure limits

I don't want to get in an edit war on this, so I've left the numbers as typical figures.

It seems to me to make more sense to do this than to add the recommended limits for the UK, India, Japan... etc.

The alternative would be to link to a page of national limits for exposure to this, but I don't think it's worth the effort, especially as the same argument would apply to any dangerous chemical.

Perhaps another approach would be to leave the "typical" figures as per my edit, and put the sources as links at the end? jimfbleak 15:56 13 Jun 2003 (UTC)

[edit] Article title

Reasons for name change: Tetrachloromethane is the IUPAC name, but aside from IUPAC zealots, no one seems to call it that. Google statistics:

carbon tetrachloride: 63,000 tetrachloromethane: 4,310

Additionally, carbon tetrachloride is the primary entry in the Merck index and just about every chemical catalog.

[edit] Melting Point

Just a notice, there are 2 physical properties sections on the page to the left, everything is the same except the melting point. (BTW This is my first comment so please pardon me if this wasnt an error)

[edit] Hepatitis?

Why is this article under the "Hepatitis" Category? I see no relationship. If no one objects, I am going to remove it. Bonus Onus 00:41, Mar 9, 2005 (UTC)

I expect they were confused with "hepatotoxic". -- Securiger 16:08, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Aerosol propellant?

Under "Uses", we have:

Carbon tetrachloride persisted as an aerosol propellant and...

Huh? The boiling point at 1 atm is 77ºC. Aerosol propellants need to have a bp lower than STP. Clearly it can't be a propellant, but what was meant here? -- Securiger 16:08, 16 May 2005 (UTC)

I have removed the claim that it was used as an aerosol propellant. It is physically impossible for carbon tetrachloride to serve as an aerosol propellant at STP, and I have found no references hinting at what might have been meant here. I suspect confusion arose from the fact carbon tetrachloride was used in the production of CFCs (some of which were used as aerosol propellants), a fact which is already mentioned in the next paragraph. -- Securiger 05:38, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Antidepressant? Invented words! Article vandalized?

I am removing the entire text

Noted MIT researcher Dr. Makhlook Singh has noted that carbon tetrachloride has been observed to create psychedelic behavior in rats exposed to it in low concentrations for a long period of time. Dr. Singh pointed out that it may have useful medical properties if it could be refined and blended with other anti-depressant drugs, such as asycomycotacol or indiamycotacolis. He noted the latter, when blended with carbon tetrachloride, reversed noticeable brain synapse damage through, as he calls it, the Bombay effect. As he says, much research is needed to determine if any long term risks are present in the medical use, but it may radically change the process of treating such disabilities from simple depression to previously-irreversible neurological synapse damage. There is much promise in this research for those affected by neurological disorders.

Upon first reading it seemed to be absurd - but it captured my attention nonetheless because it was so full of improbability Psychedlic carbon tetrachloride! That brings a whole new meaning to disolving mental boundaries! Unfortunately, this proved to be mere vandaliasm, and I have done the following with Google to confirm: Verified that asycomycotacol appears to be a made up word. Verified that indiamycotacolis also appears to be a made up word. Verified that if there even is a Makhlook Singh at MIT or anywhere else, he sure is NOT noted, as claimed. The Bombay Effect also sounds like something out of a hollywood script rather than a researcher.

While the prospect of some college kid getting totally busted turning in a report mentioning any of the text in the vandalism, the prospect of some overinteligent and underwise junior high kid trying it out Zaphraud 22:54, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Note about name change

An anon changed the name in the article, and not very elegantly. The edits were before those of User:Carbonferum, who also seems to have copied a picture from the japanese wikipedia in another article. Dunno i Carbonferum and the anon are the same people. I'll fix this later if i remember, and no-one else does :-D. Tristanb 06:00, 25 May 2005 (UTC)

I've reverted. This seems to me to be a clear case of an common name that isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
From the preamble to IUPAC's 1993 nomenclature recommendations:
In contrast to such systematic names, there are traditional names, semisystematic or trivial, which are widely used for a core group of common compounds. Examples are "acetic acid", "benzene", "cholesterol", "styrene", "formaldehyde", "water", "iron". Many of these names are also part of general nonscientific language and are thus not confined to use within the science of chemistry. They are useful, and in many cases indispensable (consider the alternative systematic name for cholesterol, for example). Little is to be gained, and certainly much to be lost, by replacing such names. Therefore, where they meet the requirements of utility and precision, and can be expected to continue to be widely used by chemists and others, they are retained and, for the most part, preferred in this Guide.
When the governing body that recommends a system of nomenclature acknowledges that for some compounds, their systematic name has failed to displace, and insofar as the future is forseeable will continue to fail to displace, the traditional name, and is OK with that, it seems foolish to promote that system of nomenclature more zealously than the governing body itself. Shimmin 11:26, May 25, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Question

If carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) dissolved in benzene (C6H6) [and it can], would they both still be toxic? Random the Scrambled 12:17, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Flammability

At any temperature, Carbon Tet is not flammable at all. So is Chloroform and Dichloromethane.

True, but carbon tetrachloride does decompose on contact with hot surfaces or flames to give, among other products, phosgene: see the ICSC. Physchim62 (talk) 06:57, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unverified Claim

I think it is highly unlikely that Carbon tetrachloride to form phosgene. It would have to be reacted with a phosphorus bearing compound, it would not spontaneously form phosgene as the article and your comment claim. Iepeulas 20:09, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

My bad, I thought phosgene contained phosphorus, it does not. I removed the unverified template. Iepeulas 20:12, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Carbon tetrachloride does form phosgen at higher temperatures.--Xenofonos 17:26, 1 November 2007 (UTC)
And your reason for saying this is ....?--Smokefoot 23:59, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ref

The Involvement of Kupffer Cells in Carbon Tetrachloride Toxicity Edwards M. J., Keller B. J., Kauffman F. C. and Thurman R. G. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology Volume 119, Issue 2 , April 1993, Pages 275-279 , doi:10.1006/taap.1993.1069 --Stone 10:42, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The solubility of CT in water appears to be wrong.

I have found 2 other sources that list the solubility in water as 785 - 800 mg/L and not the 8 mg/L shown in the article. See www.inchem.org/documents/ehc/ehc/ehc208.htm and www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp30-p.pdf. Also I work with the Department of Toxic Substances Contol/Cal EPA and one of the carbon tetrachloride contaminated groundwater plumes would have concentrations far in excess of the solubility if 8 mg/L were correct.

John Muegge

205.225.207.186 (talk) 19:46, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Organic or Inorganic?

I find the article belongs to the category of Inorganic carbon compounds. As this compound is also a haloalkane, I doubt whether it is organic or inorganic compound. -Quest for Truth (talk) 19:20, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

The decision what compound is organic or inorganic is less hard than it sounds and it is done more of historic reasons and looks at the context. CHCl3 organic and CCl4 inorganic is OK for tha hard criteria of C-H bonds but does not make sense., The compound O=C(NH2)2, O=C(OH)2 are both more inorganic, but the first is counted organic (urea). In the context CCl4 should stay organic!--Stone (talk) 06:46, 18 February 2008 (UTC)
Thank you for Stone's quick reply! So you also think that CCl4 should get out from the list of inorganic compound and we should amend the definition of organic compound? --Quest for Truth (talk) 12:44, 19 February 2008 (UTC)
I don't think the category hurts. Some people consider it organic, some inorganic, because the exact division is a bit fuzzy and arbitrary. It can be in both categories. --Itub (talk) 13:27, 21 February 2008 (UTC)