page_title: Dichloromethane
section_title: Specialized uses
hierarchical_section_title: Dichloromethane / Uses / Specialized uses
caption_attribution_description: English: Dichloromethane near IR spectrum. I took this spectrum using an Ocean Optics near IR (NIR-512) temperature-regulated InGaAs detector spectrometer [1] with IR fiber optic light guide. This is a very rough spectrum and should not be used for any kind of quantitative data whatsoever. I took it by shining the light from a halogen lightbulb through a tiny (~20ml) beaker of liquid dichloromethane (~2cm liquid optical path) and into the fiber optic of the spectrometer (I subtracted the spectrum of the empty beaker before taking this one). The spectrometer was not really intended to be used this way and it is a very sloppy way to take a spectrum! Nonetheless, based on comparing it to simillarly taken spectra of water and ethanol, I think it likely fairly accurately shows real features of the NIR spectrum of this compound. I normalized the transmittance to 100%.
context_page_description: Dichloromethane is an organochloride compound with the formula CH₂Cl₂. This colorless, volatile liquid with a moderately sweet aroma is widely used as a solvent. Although it is not miscible with water, it is polar, and miscible with many organic solvents.
context_section_description: The chemical compound's low boiling point allows the chemical to function in a heat engine that can extract mechanical energy from small temperature differences. An example of a DCM heat engine is the drinking bird. The toy works at room temperature. It is also used as the fluid in Christmas lights that have the colored bubbling tube above a lamp as a source of heat and a small amount of rock salt to provide thermal mass and a nucleation site for the phase changing solvent.
  DCM chemically welds certain plastics. For example, it is used to seal the casing of electric meters. Often sold as a main component of plastic welding adhesives, it is also used extensively by model building hobbyists for joining plastic components together. It is commonly referred to as "Di-clo."
  It is used in the garment printing industry for removal of heat-sealed garment transfers, and its volatility is exploited in novelty items: bubble lights and jukebox displays.
  DCM is used in the material testing field of civil engineering; specifically it is used during the testing of bituminous materials as a solvent to separate the binder from the aggregate of an asphalt or macadam to allow the testing of the materials.
  Dichloromethane extract of Asparagopsis taxiformis, a seaweed fodder for cattle, has been found to reduce their methane emissions by 79%.
  It is also the principal component of paint stripper, although replacements exist.
caption: Near IR absorption spectrum of dichloromethane showing complicated overlapping overtones of mid IR absorption features.
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