Prior to being phased out due to toxicity and environmental impact, carbon tetrachloride was widely used as a
dry cleaning solvent, as a
refrigerant, and in
lava lamps. In the last case, carbon tetrachloride is a key ingredient that adds weight to the otherwise buoyant wax. One speciality use of carbon tetrachloride was in
stamp collecting, to reveal
watermarks on postage stamps without damaging them. A small amount of the liquid is placed on the back of a stamp, sitting in a black glass or obsidian tray. The letters or design of the watermark can then be seen clearly. Today, this is done on lit tables without using carbon tetrachloride. In
organic chemistry, carbon tetrachloride serves as a source of chlorine in the
Appel reaction. : Carbon tetrachloride made from heavy
chlorine-37 has been used in the detection of
neutrinos and
antineutrinos.
Raymond Davis Jr. used carbon tetrachloride in his experiments to detect antineutrinos.
Cleaning Being a good solvent for many materials (such as grease and tar), carbon tetrachloride was widely used as a cleaning fluid for nearly 70 years. It is nonflammable and nonexplosive and did not leave any odour on the cleaned material, unlike
gasoline, which was also used for cleaning at the time. It was used as a "safe" alternative to gasoline. It was first marketed as
Katharin, in the early 1890s and as
Benzinoform later. Carbon tetrachloride was recommended for regularly cleaning the type slugs of
typewriters in office settings in the 1940s. Carbon tetrachloride was the first chlorinated solvent to be used in
dry-cleaning and was used until the 1950s. and
methyl chloroform (trichloroethane). Carbon tetrachloride was also used as an ingredient in
dry shampoos due to its solvent properties and quick evaporation from 1903 until the 1930s, when it was discontinued due to health and safety concerns. Several women had fainted from its fumes during the hair wash at the hairdressers, and
electric fans were used to blow the fumes away. In 1909, a
baronet's 29-year-old daughter, Helenora
Elphinstone-Dalrymple, died after having her hair shampooed with carbon tetrachloride. It is assumed that carbon tetrachloride was still used as a dry cleaning solvent in
North Korea as of 2006.
Medical uses Anaesthetic and analgesic Carbon tetrachloride was briefly used as a volatile inhalation anaesthetic and analgesic for intense
menstruation pains and headaches in the mid-19th century. Its anaesthetic effects were known as early as 1847 or 1848. It was introduced as a safer alternative to
chloroform by the doctor Protheroe Smith in 1864. In December 1865, the Scottish obstetrician who discovered the anaesthetic effects of chloroform on humans,
James Young Simpson, had experimented with carbon tetrachloride as an anaesthetic. Simpson named the compound "Chlorocarbon" for its similarity to chloroform. His experiments involved injecting carbon tetrachloride into two women's vaginas. Simpson orally consumed carbon tetrachloride and described it as having "the same effect as swallowing a capsule of chloroform". Because of the higher amount of chlorine atoms (compared to chloroform) in its molecule, carbon tetrachloride has a stronger anaesthetic effect than chloroform and required a smaller amount. and "more pleasant than chloroform", During anaesthesia, carbon tetrachloride has caused such violent muscular contractions and negative effects on the heart in some patients that it had to be replaced with chloroform or ether. Such use was experimental and the anaesthetic use of carbon tetrachloride never gained popularity due to its potential toxicity.
Parasite medication The veterinary doctor Maurice Crowther Hall (1881–1938) discovered in 1921 that carbon tetrachloride was highly effective as an
anthelmintic in eradicating
hookworm via ingestion. In one of the clinical trials of carbon tetrachloride, it was tested on criminals to determine its safety for use on humans. Beginning in 1922, capsules of pure carbon tetrachloride were marketed by
Merck under the name
Necatorina (variants include
Neo-necatorina and
Necatorine). Necatorina was used as a medication against parasitic diseases in humans. This medication was most prevalently used in
Latin American countries. Its toxicity was not well understood at the time and toxic effects were attributed to impurities in the capsules rather than carbon tetrachloride itself. Due to carbon tetrachloride's toxicity,
tetrachloroethylene (which was also investigated by Hall in 1925) replaced its use as an anthelmintic by the 1940s.
Solvent Carbon tetrachloride once was a popular
solvent in organic chemistry, but because of its adverse health effects, it is rarely used today. Its use in NMR spectroscopy has been largely superseded by
deuterated solvents (mainly
deuterochloroform). The use of carbon tetrachloride in the determination of oil has been replaced by various other solvents, such as
tetrachloroethylene. Because it has no C–H bonds, it is a useful solvent for
halogenations either by the elemental
halogen or by a halogenation reagent such as
N-bromosuccinimide (these conditions are known as
Wohl–Ziegler bromination).
Fire suppression Between 1902 and 1908, carbon tetrachloride-based fire extinguishers began to appear in the United States, years after Europe. The liquid was vaporized by the heat of combustion and extinguished flames, an early form of
gaseous fire suppression. At the time it was believed the gas displaced oxygen in the area near the fire, but later research found that the gas inhibited the chemical chain reaction of the combustion process. In 1911, Pyrene patented a small, portable extinguisher that used the chemical. The extinguisher consisted of a
brass bottle with an integrated hand-pump that was used to expel a jet of liquid toward the fire. As the container was unpressurized, it could easily be refilled after use. Carbon tetrachloride was suitable for liquid and electrical fires and the extinguishers were often carried on aircraft or motor vehicles. However, as early as 1920, there were reports of fatalities caused by the chemical when used to fight a fire in a confined space. Since carbon tetrachloride freezes at –23 °C, the fire extinguishers would contain only 89–90% carbon tetrachloride and 10%
trichloroethylene (
m.p. –85 °C) or
chloroform (m.p. –63 °C) for lowering the extinguishing mixture's freezing point down to temperatures as low as –45 °C. The extinguishers with 10% trichloroethylene would contain 1%
carbon disulfide as a stabiliser.
Refrigerants Prior to the
Montreal Protocol, large quantities of carbon tetrachloride were used to produce the
chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants R-11 (
trichlorofluoromethane) and R-12 (
dichlorodifluoromethane). However, these refrigerants play a role in
ozone depletion and have been phased out. Carbon tetrachloride is still used to manufacture less destructive refrigerants.
Fumigant Carbon tetrachloride was widely used as a
fumigant to kill insect pests in stored grain. It was employed in a mixture known as 80/20, that was 80% carbon tetrachloride and 20%
carbon disulfide. The
United States Environmental Protection Agency banned its use in 1985. Another carbon tetrachloride fumigant preparation mixture contained
acrylonitrile. Carbon tetrachloride reduced the flammability of the mixture. Most common trade names for the preparation were
Acritet,
Carbacryl and
Acrylofume. The most common preparation,
Acritet, was prepared with 34 percent acrylonitrile and 66 percent carbon tetrachloride. ==Society and culture==