| Chemical Properties |
colourless gas |
| General Description |
A colorless gas with a faint sweet odor. Shipped as a liquid under its vapor pressure. A leak may either be liquid or vapor. Contact with the liquid may cause frostbite by evaporative cooling. Easily ignited. Vapors heavier than air. Can asphyxiate by the displacement of air. Under prolonged exposure to fire or intense heat the containers may rupture violently and rocket. Used to make other chemicals and as a herbicide. |
| Air & Water Reactions |
Highly flammable. |
| Reactivity Profile |
METHYL CHLORIDE can react vigorously with oxidizing agents. May react explosively with sodium, potassium, sodium-potassium alloy, magnesium, zinc. Reacts with aluminum powder in the presence of catalytic amounts of aluminum chloride to form pyrophoric trimethylaluminum. When heated to decomposition, METHYL CHLORIDE emits highly toxic fumes of chlorine [Bretherick, 5th ed., 1995, p. 176]. |
| Health Hazard |
Inhalation causes nausea, vomiting, weakness, headache, emotional disturbances; high concentrations cause mental confusion, eye disturbances, muscular tremors, cyanosis, convulsions. Contact of liquid with skin may cause frostbite. |
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