Because carbon tetrachloride does not have any hydrogen atoms, it was historically used in proton NMR spectroscopy. It is sometimes useful as a solvent for infrared spectroscopy because there are no significant absorption bands > 1600 cm -1.

It is used as a solvent in synthetic chemistry research, but because of its adverse health effects, it is no longer commonly used, and chemists generally try to substitute it with other solvents. In organic chemistry, carbon tetrachloride serves as a source of chlorine in the Appel reaction. Hence it is a useful solvent for halogenations either by the elemental halogen, or by a halogenation reagent such as N-bromosuccinimide. Under high temperatures in air, it forms poisonous phosgene.Д«ecause it has no C-H bonds, carbon tetrachloride does not easily undergo free-radical reactions. Carbon tetrachloride is still used to manufacture less destructive refrigerants.Д¬arbon tetrachloride has also been used in the detection of neutrinos.Д¬arbon tetrachloride is one of the most potent hepatotoxins, and is widly used in scientific research to evaluate hepatoprotective agents 7,8Д¬arbon tetrachloride has practically no flammability at lower temperatures. However, these refrigerants are now believed to play a role in ozone depletion and have been phased out. Prior to the Montreal Protocol, large quantities of carbon tetrachloride were used to produce the freon refrigerants R-11 (trichlorofluoromethane) and R-12 ( dichlorodifluoromethane). Carbon tetrachloride persisted as a pesticide to kill insects in stored grain, but in 1970, it was banned in consumer products in the United States.

However, once it became apparent that carbon tetrachloride exposure had severe adverse health effects, safer alternatives such as tetrachloroethylene were found for these applications, and its use in these roles declined from about 1940 onward. In the early 20th century, carbon tetrachloride was widely used as a dry cleaning solvent, as a refrigerant, and in fire extinguishers. ДЄt -47.3 вЊ it has monoclinic crystal structure with space group C2/c and lattice constants a = 20.3, b = 11.6, c = 19.9 (.10 -1 nm), ОІ = 111В°. Solid tetrachloromethane has 2 allotropes: crystaline II below -47.5 вЊ (225.6 K) and crystaline I above -47.5 вЊ. It is somewhat volatile, giving off vapors having a smell characteristic of other chlorinated solvents, somewhat similar to the tetrachloroethylene smell reminiscent of dry cleaners' shops. As a solvent, it is well suited to dissolving other non-polar compounds, fats and oils. Because of this symmetrical geometry, the molecule has no net dipole moment that is, CCl 4 is non-polar. In the carbon tetrachloride molecule, four chlorine atoms are positioned symmetrically as corners in a tetrahedral configuration joined to a carbon atom, in the center, by single covalent bonds. Prior to the 1950's, carbon tetrachloride was manufactured by the chlorination of carbon disulfide at 105 to 130 вЊ:Д¬S 2 + 3 Cl 2 в†’ CCl 4 + S 2Cl 2 Properties Higher chlorocarbons are also subjected to 'chlorinolysis:' The production often utilizes by-products of other chlorination reactions, such as the syntheses of dichloromethane and chloroform. Д¬arbon tetrachloride was originally synthesised in 1839 by reaction of chloroform with chlorine, from the french chemist Henri Victor Regnault, but now it is mainly synthesized from methane: In 1992, production in the U.S.-Europe-Japan was estimated at 720,000,000 kg. The production of carbon tetrachloride has steeply declined since the 1980's due to environmental concerns and the decreased demand for CFCs, which were derived from carbon tetrachloride.

Carbon tetrachloride formula