Chlorinated Hydrocarbons

Chloroform is the name given to the chlorinated hydrocarbon compound trichloromethane. Trichloromethane, as its name implies (tri-, meaning three) contains three chlorine atoms. Carbon tetrachloride (tetra-, four), in contrast, has four atoms of chlorine bonded to a single atom of carbon. Both molecules are essentially a methane molecule with chlorine atoms substituted in place of hydrogen atoms. Since both contain only one atom of carbon, they are among the simplest chlorinated hydrocarbon molecules.