Question

Name two poisonous gases which can be prepared from chlorine gas.

Answer 1

Chlorine is a greenish yellow gas which has a pungent and suffocating odour. Chlorine gas is used in the preparation of many poisonous gases. One such gas has the chemical formula ${\text{COC}}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}$ and the other poisonous gas has the formula ${\text{ClC}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{SC}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{Cl}}$ .

Complete step by step answer:
The names of two poisonous gases which can be prepared from chlorine gas are phosgene gas and mustard gas.
-Phosgene gas is an organic chemical compound and has the chemical formula ${\text{COC}}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}$ . It is colourless and it is found to smell like freshly cut hay or grass in low concentrations.
-Phosgene gas is a very poisonous gas and was widely used in World War I as a chemical weapon. It was reported that the use of phosgene as a chemical weapon in the war resulted in about 85,000 deaths.
-The industrial production of phosgene is done by passing purified carbon monoxide and chlorine gas through a bed of porous activated carbon which acts as a catalyst.
${\text{CO + C}}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}} \to {\text{COC}}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}$
-This reaction is exothermic and so the reactor must be cooled during the reaction. The reaction is typically carried out between 50 and 150 degree Celsius.
In Spite of being less dangerous than other chemical weapons, it is still regarded as a viable chemical warfare agent as it is very easy to manufacture.
-Mustard gas is an organic compound having the formula ${\text{ClC}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{SC}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{Cl}}$ . It is prepared by treating disulfur dichloride with ethylene. This is called the Levinstein process.
${\text{8}}{{\text{S}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{C}}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{ + 16}}{{\text{C}}_{\text{2}}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{4}}} \to 8{\left( {{\text{ClC}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}{\text{C}}{{\text{H}}_{\text{2}}}} \right)_{\text{2}}}{\text{S + }}{{\text{S}}_{\text{8}}}$

-Mustard gas is a prototypical substance of the sulphur-based family of vesicant and cytotoxic chemical warfare agents. It can form large blisters on skin and in the lungs. It was also used as a warfare agent in World War I.

Note:
-Besides the preparation of poisonous gases, chlorine is also used in the manufacture of dyes, drugs and organic compounds like DDT, refrigerants (freon,${\text{CC}}{{\text{l}}_{\text{2}}}{{\text{F}}_{\text{2}}}$ ), bleaching powder, carbon tetrachloride etc.
-Chlorine is also used in the metallurgy of gold and platinum.
-It is also used for bleaching wood pulp, cotton and textiles.