Chloroform To Formaldehyde?

[Bwiti]

I have about a liter of old chloroform. I hate using it for extractions, because it smells horrible. Is there some way I could convert it to formaldehyde or some other useful chem?
  Split a piece of wood and I am there. Lift a stone and you will find me.

[PrimoPyro]

Chloroform is pretty damn inert. I don't know of any reaction that will turn it into any goody. But keep asking, because I want to know, too.

It will react with sodium ethoxide to form NaCl, EtOH, and dichlorocarbene, which will add to alkenes and all kinds of other shit. It's a really cool reaction, but too bad it doesnt produce ANYTHING useful to us, just damn dichlorocyclopropane derivatives with those alkenes, and only God knows what crap with other compounds.

If not made in situ with something else, it will condense to tetrachloroethene (Cl2C=CCl2) but I wonder if the dichlorocarbene will react with this double bond to form the hexachlorocyclopropane? I've always wondered this...

In any case, good luck Bwiti.

                                                  PrimoPyro
Vivent Longtemps la Ruche!

[Rhodium]

It is good for reimer-tiemann formylation of phenols. Phenol + CHCl3 + NaOH => Hydroxy-benzaldehyde.

[timsong]

I am currently trying to dig up more information on the use of chloroform in the synthesis of Mandelic Acid (P2P intermediate) by action of potassium carbonate upon a heated mixture of benzaldehyde and chloroform.

Also a nice little sleep aid can be easily made called trichlorobutanol from chloroform.

Can't find any simple conversions to formaldehyde though, only conversion to formic acid(formate)

[uemura]

bwiti!

I hate using it for extractions, because it smells horrible. Is there some way I could convert it to formaldehyde or some other useful chem?

Give it to Uemura!!!!
Where Uemura lives goverments are concerned about the destruction of the ozone layer. As a consequence you can't buy anymore CCl4 and CHCl3 without a special permission. The last bottle Uemura keeps like a treasure for use only in cases nothing else but CHCl3 can bee substituted for.

Carpe Diem

[Aurelius]

aurelius can understand CCl4, but the chloroform can be easily made from acetone and bleach- what's the big deal?

[Bwiti]

"action of potassium carbonate upon a heated mixture of benzaldehyde and chloroform."

  I'm not interested in speed, but I'm popping a chubby thinking about the substituted benzaldehydes that could be used instead. I'm guessing that bromo- substituted benzaldehydes would be a no, no? Well anyway, thanks for all the ideas folks!

"Also a nice little sleep aid can be easily made called trichlorobutanol from chloroform."

  I've stunk up my house making a clump of that stuff. Chlorbutanol makes me feel drunk; I quit drinking, so I stay the fuck away from it. I split it up and gave it to friends, and most of them hated it, so I guess there's a reason why it's not scheduled. Also, pemoline is another one of those drugs that's easy to make, but it's a waste of time and money, unless you like grinding your teeth and experiencing the opposite of euphoria.

"aurelius can understand CCl4, but the chloroform can be easily made from acetone and bleach- what's the big deal?"

  Isn't some type of formate created as a biproduct in this procedure?

  aurelius: In my dreams, a bear was growing weed and cooling the halogens with a small fan. There was a sheet of glass separating the plants from the wind of the fan..When the bear wasn't home, the propellar to the fan spun off the engine, the thin glass hot so hot that it shattered and fell, fucking crushing and ripping apart the poor bear's weed. The bear was so angry, he felt like ripping a cop's skull apart, and throwing the grey matter at a wall. The bear is very irritated, because he has no weed to smoke. Arrrr, fuck the world!
 
  Dip me in hate and give me something or someone to loath, so I can have something to live for.

[PrimoPyro]

An acetate salt will be formed when reacted with acetone.

To produce a formate, hypochlorite must be heated with ethanol.

                                                 PrimoPyro
Vivent Longtemps la Ruche!

[Aurelius]

damn, that poor, poor bear   did the bear manage to get any honey out of the raw plant material that was left?  (butane extraction)

[Bwiti]

"To produce a formate, hypochlorite must be heated with ethanol."

  Well, if formic acid ever becomes difficult to obtain without having a 9mm put to my head, then I'll keep that in mind..Hmmmm, what would be created if a hypochlorite was heated with methanol or isopropanol? This is almost as fun as imagining all the materials one could reduce with Al/Hg.

"did the bear manage to get any honey out of the raw plant material that was left?"

  He ate the leave buds raw and made a tea from the stems, which got him a little altered, but the short-term future is fucked. After christmas, the bear's hell-bent on growing 100% indicas, which will be a mix of several strains, uncluding a hash producer. He already has a new sheet of glass; it's security glass, so it'll crack, but it won't fall apart. The bear is very worried, because Capt. K-hole hasn't returned from canada yet! Hope he didn't get busted! Btw, sometime in the future, the bear will send your dream character some purple leaves and buds. Peace!

  Love my country. Fear my government.