Effects of chloroform
Introduction
Chloroform is an organic compound with formula CHC13, its IUPAC name is Trichloromethane. It’s a colorless sweet-smelling, dense liquid. Most of it in the environment comes from the industries since in large scale it is produced as a precursor to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and refrigerants. It can be used an euphoriant, anxiolytic, anesthetic and a sedative. It was the first ever anesthetic to be used in surgery and due to its effects, it is ceased being used for any medical purpose. Due to it anesthetic effect it has aided criminals to perpetrating crimes, they use it to make their victims unconscious. In the body it causes harmful effects to the liver and kidney and the central nervous system. Just like any chemical compound it has chemical and physical characteristics.
Chloroform molecule has physical and chemical properties and a history of how they it was discovered. It is an organic compound and has a molecular geometry structure similar to that of methane. It’s a hot clear liquid that is intensely sweet, its molecules are inflammable, it is soluble in alcohol but sparingly soluble in water, it is stored in well stoppered bottles and away from light and lastly it boils at 140 Fah (Warren, 1849). The main components found in chloroform are Methane and Chlorine. When preparing it in the lab scientists initially combine Methane and Chlorine to remove Hydrochloric acid, then then combine the new compound with chlorines breaking it down again with the same goal of removing Hydrochloric acid combining the new compound with chlorine is done until there are no traces of Hydrochloric acid left. The final substance is distilled and four different chloromethanes including chloroform (Winch, n.d).
The history of this molecule dates back to 1831, where a pharmacist produced chloroform by making a mixture of chlorinated lime and ethanol, however, he mistook it for another compound. It was not until 1834, when Jean-Baptiste who hailed from France determined the empirical formula of this compound and named it. In 1847, James Simpson discovered the anesthetic properties of chloroform when he used it to make a patient unconscious during surgery. When the patient inhaled the vapor, it seemed to have a narcotic effect on the central nervous system, this effect was produced relatively quick (History. com Editors, 2010). Despite the medical assistance it brought it was also associated with high risk of death, at one point it resulted to the death of a 15-year-old girl who had inhaled its vapor in 1848, when having an infected toe nail removed. Great care was needed while administering it since excess vapor inhaled paralyzed the lungs resulting to death. Its use as an aesthesia spread quickly such that in 1853, it was administered to Britain’s Queen Victoria during the birth of prince Leopold, her eighth child (History. com Editors, 2010).
Chloroform enters the body through the air we inhale, eating food with small amounts of chloroform, drinking water with amounts of chloroform or injecting it into the body, while in the body it has severe effects to the central nervous system, the liver and the kidney (Snow, & Richardson, 1858). A severe case that was caused by the use of it appeared in “Paris Medical Gazette” in the beginning of 1849. Chloroform was used twice on a woman who was under going a surgery to remove a tumor that was in her groins, immediately after the surgery was complete the patient started to show alarming signs such as chattering of the teeth, paleness of the face, convulsive movements of the face , complete discoloration of the lips, the flexor muscles in the hand contracted, the patient started gasping for air and showed signs of delirium, this condition lasted for around eights minutes and her medical attendants decided to stimulate her with ammonia vapor (Warren, 1849). The human skin also experiences soreness when it comes in contact with it.
Another fatal case that shows the effects of chloroform in the body occurred in the same year 1849, in the month of march. A 17-year-old girl inhaled chloroform to calm the pain that was radiating from a toothache and this resulted to her death. When a postmortem was done on her body, doctors concluded that her death was causes by inhaling a high dosage of chloroform. Her right lung appeared bright colored and the left one appeared purple. This inhaling of chloroform had made her heart flaccid and emptied all the blood from it and lastly it has caused swelling of her kidney (Warren, 1849). Mostly it is transported to the parts of the body such as the liver and the kidney through blood. Its volatility ensures that the small amounts of it stored in the body fat leaves the body, some of it leave the body through the air we breathe out. Also, while in the body it breaks down metabolites, some of these metabolites attach themselves in the cells of the body, and if they collect in high amounts in the cells, they cause harmful effects. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared chloroform is a possible cause of cancer to humans following tests carried out on mice that (Golden, Holm, Robinson, Julkunen & Reese, 1997).
Its anesthetic quality and the fact that it takes a very short time to react has resulted to wide spread use of it by criminals who use it to daze, knockout their victims or even murder them. Criminals sedate their victims with chloroform so as to commit heinous activities such as raping or even robbing them. Many cases of the use of chloroform were presented in court in the 19th century. An example of these cases was the case of Dr Thomas Neill Cream a graduate from the university of McGill college with a thesis in chloroform. He set up his practice in London and a year later one of the bodies of his victims, that he had murdered trying to perform an abortion on using chloroform was found. Having his reputation ruined in London he left for Chicago, here it is said that he sedated the wife of an Illinois station master using chloroform and she became her second murder victim. He was also responsible for killing four prostitutes but the extent to which chloroform was used in their murder was never found out (Payne, 1998). It is most likely he used chloroform just like in his two previous murders.
Another case was presented in court in 1994, a 59 years old man was on trial on allegations of raping a 17-year girl. The man purchased chloroform which he used to render her unconscious and later transport her to the location where he raped her (Payne, 1998). Most recently in 2014 David Cooper was charged in court with the murder of his girlfriend, the murder weapon was a tea towel that he has soaked in chloroform. According to Nathan Lents, who is a forensic scientist and a criminal justice professor, for chloroform to knockout someone completely at once the person requires continuous dosing. Criminals who kill their victims using it administer the victims with a higher dosage which in return makes them experience respiratory failure or cardiac arrhythmia (Janos, 2018). Over the years so many people have perished in the hands of criminals who use chloroform on their victims
Conclusion
Chloroform is an organic, sweet smelling, dense liquid whose IUPAC name is Trichloromethane. It is produced in the lab by mixing Methane and Chlorine and adding Chlorine repeatedly until there are no traces of Hydrochloric acid left. It is nonflammable, it is soluble in alcohol but slightly soluble in water. Its history dates back to 1831 but it was not until 1834 that it was named and given an empirical formula. Its anesthetic characteristics were discovered by Simpson who used it to sedate a patient during surgery. Despite the fact that it was proving to be of high importance, it posed many health risks to those who inhaled it since when used in high amounts it would result to death. It enters the body through the air we breathe, food and water that might be having traces of it. In the body it affects the central nervous system, the liver and kidney. It causes severe effects such as delirium, discoloring of the lips and paleness of the face. Chloroform inhaled into the body in large amounts results to death. Criminals have used it to sedate people, due to its sedative nature so that they can be able to perpetrate crimes such as robbery and rape. History presents the case of Doctor Thomas as evidence that it has been used to perpetrate crimes such as rape. Most recently in 2014, David cooper used it to kill his girlfriend. Chloroform is no longer used for medical purpose due to its effects on the body.
References
Golden, R. J., Holm, S. E., Robinson, D. E., Julkunen, P. H. & Reese, E.A. (1997). Chloroform Mode of Action: Implication for Cancer Risk Assessment. Retrieved from; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9356278
History. com Editors (April 26, 2010). Ether and Chloroform. Retrieved from: https://www.history.com/topics/inventions/ether-and-chloroform
Janos, A. (2018). Chloroform: How the ‘Knockout Drug’ Has Been Used to Murder Over the Last 25 Years. Retrieved from; https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/chloroform-used-as- anesthetic-but-also-murder
Payne, J. P. (1998). The Criminal Use of Chloroform. Retrieved from; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1046/j.1365-2044.1998.528-az0572.x
Snow, J., & Richardson, B. W. (1858). On chloroform and other anesthetics: Their action and administration. London: J. Churchill.
Warren, J. C. (1849). Effects of chloroform and of strong chloric ether, as narcotic agents. Boston: Ticknor.
Winch, Z. (n.d). The Chemistry of Chloroform. Retrieved from; http://www.chemistryislife.com/the- chemistry-of-chloroform
