Chloroform is available as not only an organic solvent but also photochemical molecular storage for synthetically important chemicals such as Cl(2), HCl, and COCl(2). We have succeeded in synthesizing organochlorine compounds, hydrochloric salt of amines, ureas, organic carbonates, and polycarbonate in practical high yields with photodecomposed chloroform.

Chlorine, phosgene, and trichloroacetyl chloride are some of the complex mixture of multiple products that is obtained from the oxidative photodecomposition of tetrachloroethylene. These toxic but important reagents in organic synthesis can generated and used in situ for practical syntheses of ureas, amides, carbonates, esters, carbamates, enaminones, and organochlorides.

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