Chloral

Chloral, or trichloroacetaldehyde, is a colorless, volatile aldehyde with the formula C₂HCl₃O. It is a precursor to chloral hydrate and several industrial chemicals.

Chloral hydrate: A crystalline hydrate of chloral, historically used as a sedative and hypnotic drug. Water adds to chloral’s carbonyl group to form this geminal diol.
Trichloromethyl group: The –CCl₃ substituent, in which three chlorine atoms are bonded to one carbon. This group strongly affects chloral’s carbonyl reactivity and acidity-related behavior.
DDT: A synthetic organochlorine insecticide, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, once used extensively against insect-borne disease and agricultural pests. Chloral is a feedstock in a route to DDT through chlorobenzene condensation.
Justus von Liebig: A German chemist who helped establish organic chemistry as an experimental science. Liebig prepared chloral in the early nineteenth century while investigating chlorinated compounds.
Trichloroacetic acid: A strong organic acid with the formula C₂HCl₃O₂, used in chemical analysis and synthesis. Oxidation of chloral produces this closely related trichlorinated compound.
Carbonyl group: A functional group consisting of a carbon atom double-bonded to oxygen. Chloral’s carbonyl carbon is the site of its characteristic addition reactions.
Chloral production: The industrial manufacture of chloral, commonly by chlorinating acetaldehyde or ethanol. Production methods supply the aldehyde used in chloral’s downstream chemistry.
Chlorinated organic chemistry: The study and application of organic compounds containing carbon–chlorine bonds. Chloral became an early, influential product of systematic organic chlorination.
Chloroform: A volatile chlorinated solvent with the formula CHCl₃, once widely used as an anesthetic. Alkaline cleavage of chloral can produce chloroform and a formate salt.
Acetaldehyde: A simple aldehyde with the formula CH₃CHO, also called ethanal. Replacing acetaldehyde’s methyl hydrogens with chlorine gives chloral’s carbon skeleton.

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