Is dichloromethane basic or acidic or neutral?

Question

Hi, I can't seem to find any reference about DCM being acidic/basic/neutral, however when we tried to drop some amount in a red litmus paper it turned to blue. So based on that experiment, I think it's either basic, or contaminated...thanks to those who can help, and if possible please state your sources, thanks!

Answer 1

Dichloromethane (more commonly called methylene chloride) is neutral in water solution.   However,  it will hydrolyze over some time in the reaction.

CH2Cl2  + H2O  -->  CH2O  + 2HCl  

which would be very acidic.   CH2O is formaldehyde which is neutral.

Note that this is in water solution.   If you just put the pure methylene chloride on the litmus paper,  it might cause some color change but that would be something not relating to acidity or basicity as pH only has meaning in water solution.   If that's what you did,  try putting a drop of your methylene chloride into water and measuring the pH.   I suspect it will be neutral or somewhat acidic.

Answer 2

DCM is neutral.

if anything the degradation products would be chloroform,phosgene and hydrochloric acid (exposure to sunlight would do this) . If anything the the sample should be acidic. something is wrong with your sample

Answer 3

CH2Cl2 is not supposed to dissociate (or decompose) when brought in contact with water, so it must be neutral. Your sample may be contaminated.

Answer 4

hi........

it has zero dipole moment so it is neutral.

Answer 5

It is neutral because it is alkane, and all alkanes dont have polarity, so they cant donate or attract protons , so they r neutral

Answer 6

should be neutral as its a tetrahedral geometry - non-polar so its Cl-CH2-Cl