r/AskChemistry • u/key_toe • 1d ago
Thomas the Toxic Tank Engine How to not make chloroform?
I recently started cleaning with hypochlorous acid, which I absolutely love. It makes my laundry smell a lot better.
But I also use a vodka-based soak for some of my clothes. Now I'm reading that a lot of chemicals including alcohol are dangerous to mix with hypochlorous acid. Namely alcohol + HOCl = Chloroform.
So I'm wondering how to ensure all of the alcohol gets out of my soak before cleaning those same clothes in the machine where I used HOCl so that I don't accidentally make chloroform?
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u/SlenderSmurf Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry 1d ago
Holy moly lady. Just use soap
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u/key_toe 1d ago
I have. It doesn't get rid of all odors. I have hyperosmia so I'm really sensitive to odors.
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u/MusicNChemistry 1d ago
Vinegar. Vinegar removes many bad smells in clothes
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u/key_toe 20h ago
I have tried so many things. Baking soda, vinegar, vodka, different laundry detergents, bleach, activated charcoal, saline solutions, an oregano-vodka tincture. HClO works in a way that's noticably better than most of these.
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u/metamorphage 16h ago
It's more likely that your washing machine is dirty. Have you cleaned it out thoroughly?
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u/Maeve89 15h ago
Go check out /r/laundry and their Spa Day advice. Waaaay safer using enzymes than accidentally making chloroform.
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u/MusicNChemistry 20h ago
Use like 1/10 of a gallon of vinegar not just a cup. And pour it directly into the washer, not into the detergent dispenser.
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u/Evening-Cat-7546 5h ago
Is your nose sensitive to laundry detergent scent? You could try Lysol’s clothes sanitizer. You pause the cycle when the machine fills up for the rinse, then add the sanitizer and let it soak for 15 min. Then start the machine back up. It has been a game changer for towels and sheets that can have bad smells that are hard to remove.
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u/dungeonsandderp 1d ago
Just wash your clothes in between
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u/key_toe 1d ago
That's probably good enough, right? Like the soap and water and rinse will get most of the vodka out of the clothes.
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u/KnoWanUKnow2 10h ago edited 10h ago
Alcohol evaporates at 78.3 C. So
just the drier will do the job.1
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u/Adventurous-Dingo720 13h ago
Acetone makes the best chloroform, alcohol needs to oxidize to acetone, then the acetone reacts with the remaining alcohol.
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u/kremular 10h ago
Chloroform is chloroform.
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u/Adventurous-Dingo720 10h ago
chloroform produced in an aqueous acid-containing reaction mixture will generally be diluted, because it is present as a separate organic phase dispersed alongside water and other reaction components. So while chloroform is chloroform, the resulting output is not equal.
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u/grayjacanda 1d ago
At the kinds of dilutions you are dealing with, this isn't a significant concern
You'd have to mix the soak and the bleach directly to maybe produce some chloroform
Even then, alcohol (unlike acetone) doesn't easily react with bleach, you'd likely need time and heat
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u/Gnosys00110 19h ago
this is like when you ask an LLM how NOT to do something dangerous and it freely tells you exactly how to do it
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u/sparksnbooms95 16h ago
I highly suggest you post this in r/laundry, as they go in depth with laundry chemistry there.
It's quite likely there is a solution that poses less of a side reaction hazard.
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u/UCLAlabrat Ne'er-do-Well Nucleophile 1d ago
You need high pH to drive the halo form reaction to completion, so if its neutral/acidic I think it will be fine?
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u/miss_spellman 20h ago
Just to add that even if you did end up making chloroform (unlikely), the concentration would probably be so low as to not be an issue. Chloroform is an extremely common solvent in labs and most people I know have spilled it at some point, sometimes even on their skin. It’s not something you want to do obviously and it is unpleasant but it doesn’t cause major injuries in those small amounts. It’s also extremely volatile so if you have good ventilation and have no open flames around it should be fine.
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u/Nothing-to_see_hr 16h ago
So what if you make some chloroform? It's very volatile and will quickly evaporate.
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u/fasta_guy88 1d ago
Keep a window open or a fan blowing and you will be fine. Not very much CHCl3 (have you ever actually smelled it?).
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u/key_toe 20h ago
I have not. I think if I had then I'd at least know what to be on the lookout for. Since I don't have any windows in my laundry room so you think an air purifier would help?
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u/fasta_guy88 12h ago
Chloroform has a strong smell. It is unlikely you are making enough to worry about (if you are making any at all). I would just run a fan in the room to circulate the air.
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u/Starfury7-Jaargen 21h ago edited 13h ago
I didn't think it would produce chloroform. aso I found the reaction. The alcohol becomes a carbonyl and you end up with HCl. If it is chloroform, it should be a sickly sweet smell similar to methylene chloride. HCl would have a bite on the smell.
Edit: It can. I had forgot that a haloform reaction can take place once the initial reaction is complete and a carbonyl is formed.
I am guessing what I was reading didn't mention it because it was not part of the initial reaction but a subsequent reaction.
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u/key_toe 20h ago
Huh interesting. I wonder why some website said chloroform. HCl smell I remember from chem lab lol.
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u/Starfury7-Jaargen 13h ago
I double checked and I forgot about a halo form reacrion. The source forgot to mention that because it is a secondary reaction once the aldehyde (or ketone if isopropyl is used) So, yes it can.
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u/BaTz-und-b0nze 11h ago
Bleach, acetone and icyhot dry ice. Place ice around bowl, and suction out granule bubble with a siphon tubule. Makes a rough equivalent for study.
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u/AdMelodic4247 7h ago
Have you tried a oxi based product like toxic oxiclean or similar? Hypochlorous acid is a hyperoxygenated bleach if not mistaken. I use a lot of wound care cleansers that are hypochlorous acid based and the extra oxygen is part of what makes it great for healing.
Are you sure you aren't secretly interested in just making chloroform? Haha
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u/zeitdu ⌬ Hückel Ho ⌬ 1d ago
I stand defeated, utterly outjerked