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Making chloroform so I can sleep better at night [video]

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Re: Making chloroform so I can sleep better at night [video]

#11

Post by adamsmith143 »

Undergrad in our lab was working after hours and once dropped an entire jug of choloroform which promptly exploded on the floor. He shat a brick and ran out of the building. Fire Department and Hazmat cleanup crews both showed up and shut down the entire building.

Re: Making chloroform so I can sleep better at night [video]

#12

Post by antognini »

yreg wrote: post #9
ravenstine wrote: post #6

I decided to open the Wikipedia page for Chloroform while this video played and thought it was interesting that the idea that criminals can immediately knock someone out with a chloroform soaked rag is really a work of fiction. Not that it couldn't be done, but that it would probably take minutes and not just a few seconds.

There is a reason why anesthesiologists are paid well. Knocking someone out safely is not a joke. (Not only in US where everything health-related involves big money, but also in the countries which underpay other healthcare professionals.)

My dad is an anesthesiologist and likes to joke that he can knock you out for cheap. Waking you up afterwards costs extra.

Re: Making chloroform so I can sleep better at night [video]

#13

Post by Octokiddie »

It's worth noting that the general class of reaction described here ("Haloform reaction") was discovered in 1822, and rediscovered after that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haloform_reaction

Organic chemistry is a very old field whose older literature can still be used and remains relevant today.

Also, inhaling anything you produce in a lab, even if you did distill it, is idiotic.

Re: Making chloroform so I can sleep better at night [video]

#14

Post by dalyons »

ravenstine wrote: post #6

I decided to open the Wikipedia page for Chloroform while this video played and thought it was interesting that the idea that criminals can immediately knock someone out with a chloroform soaked rag is really a work of fiction. Not that it couldn't be done, but that it would probably take minutes and not just a few seconds.

Pro tip: make it boiling hot. I knocked myself out instantly (but briefly) by accidentally breathing in over a boiling chloroform vat at a biotech internship. Came to a few seconds later on the floor. (Don’t actually recommend)

Re: Making chloroform so I can sleep better at night [video]

#16

Post by cinntaile »

adamsmith143 wrote: post #11

Undergrad in our lab was working after hours and once dropped an entire jug of choloroform which promptly exploded on the floor. He shat a brick and ran out of the building. Fire Department and Hazmat cleanup crews both showed up and shut down the entire building.

Don't you usually only take what you need such that accidents like these can't happen?

Re: Making chloroform so I can sleep better at night [video]

#17

Post by labrador »

I'm a recovering nitrous oxide addict so this is interesting, but people should proceed with caution. I didn't know laughing gas could be addictive for some people until it was too late.

In the film Cider House Rules, Michael Caine plays a doctor addicted to ether for sleep

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cider_House_Rules_(film)

Google result: Is chloroform stronger than ether? Fluothane and chloroform produced similar anesthesia, and was 4 1/2 times more potent than ether.

Re: Making chloroform so I can sleep better at night [video]

#18

Post by xkcd-sucks »

Chloroform is great for extractions (if you don't care about the environment) because it sinks to the bottom of a sep funnel, but the thing about it being a knockout gas or sleep aid is complete BS.

Based on an unpublished study of about 4 degenerate chemistry undergrads:

    - It PROBABLY takes several minutes of inhalation through a saturated rag to induce full loss of consciousness, although shorter times do produce noticeable wooziness
    - However, full unconsciousness was not achieved in any subject because chloroform tasted too Totally Gross to continue past a minute or so (choking sickly-sweet) 
    - Subjective effects wore off within a few minutes, however the gross flavor persisted for several hours afterword much longer as residual chloroform washed out (along with mild headaches)
    - Ingestion was not investigated.
So, in order to incapacitate someone you would have to force them to do really unpleasant for a long time, in which case you might as well choke them out, and the victim would regain consciousness quickly. And as a sleep aid it would likely need to be ingested, would induce sleep but not maintain it (i.e. wake up shortly), and would leave the user reeking of gross chloroform for long after.

Join us for our continued lecture series, covering topics such as:

    - Why microwave assisted reactions in DMSO are a bad idea
    - Why attempting GHB synthesis via permanganate oxidation of THF is a bad idea
    - Harm reduction re: consumption of USP 99.9% ethanol
    - How peroxyacid syntheses of various things do not scale up well and how they absolutely should not be coerced into running more quickly
    - The poor efficacy of DMSO in assisting drug translocation through skin

Re: Making chloroform so I can sleep better at night [video]

#19

Post by binarymax »

antognini wrote: post #12
yreg wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a reason why anesthesiologists are paid well. Knocking someone out safely is not a joke. (Not only in US where everything health-related involves big money, but also in the countries which underpay other healthcare professionals.)

My dad is an anesthesiologist and likes to joke that he can knock you out for cheap. Waking you up afterwards costs extra.

This really is the ultimate anesthesiologist dad joke.
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