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| Names | |
|---|---|
| IUPAC name tetrachlorooxirane | |
| Other names Perchloroethylene oxide (PCEO), Epoxyperchlorovinyl, Tetrachloroepoxyethane | |
| Identifiers | |
| 3D model (JSmol) | |
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| Properties | |
| C2Cl4O | |
| Molar mass | 181.82 g·mol−1 | 
| Appearance | liquid | 
| Density | 1.72 g/cm3 [1] | 
| Melting point | –58 °C [2] | 
| Boiling point | 110 °C [1] | 
| Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa). | |
Tetrachloroethylene oxide, perchloroethylene oxide (PCEO) or tetrachlorooxirane, is the perchlorinated analogue of ethylene oxide and a proposed metabolite of tetrachloroethylene. [3] It is a halogenated epoxide with the formula C2Cl4O. Tetrachloroethylene oxide is fairly stable but rearranges to trichloroacetyl chloride at higher temperatures. [4]
Tetrachloroethylene oxide was first synthesised by the English chemist Frederick William Kirkbride in 1940, by exposing a mixture of oxygen and chlorine in tetrachloroethylene to UV light. [5]
Tetrachloroethylene oxide can be obtained by the direct oxidation of tetrachloroethylene under UV light. [4]
Unlike most epoxides, PCEO does not polymerise. [4]
PCEO reacts with methanol, with mercury(II) chloride as the catalyst, giving methyl trichloroacetate and hydrogen chloride: [2]
PCEO reacts with methanolic potassium hydroxide to give potassium oxalate. [2] It is slowly decomposed by dilute acid or base solutions, giving off carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen chloride which was possibly from the further decomposition of the intermediate oxalyl chloride. [2]
Tetrachloroethylene oxide (PCEO) is a short-living metabolite of tetrachloroethylene. Unlike most epoxide metabolites, PCEO does not exhibit mutagenic or carcinogenic effects. [6]
It is metabolised to trichloroacetyl chloride which is hydrolysed to trichloroacetic acid. [7]