Question

How will you prepare chloroform from ethanol (give equations)?

How would you obtain chloroform from ethanol?

Answer 1

Ethanol is oxidized and halogenated in the presence of chlorine and alkali (NaOH) to form chloroform.

\[\ce{\underset{Ethanol}{CH3CH2OH} + 4Cl2 + 6NaOH -> \underset{Chloroform}{CHCl3} + HCOONa + 5NaCl + 5H2O}\]

Ethanol is first oxidized to acetaldehyde (CH₃CHO), then halogenated and hydrolyzed to give chloroform (CHCl₃) and sodium formate (HCOONa).