The Collaborative International Dictionary
chloral hydrate \chloral hydrate\ n. 1. a chemical substance ( CCl3.CH(OH)2) which is a hydrate of trichloroacetaldehyde. It crystallizes as white monoclinic plates, obtained by treating chloral with water. It produces sleep when taken internally or hypodermically, and is used in medicine as a hypnotic and sedative; -- called also chloral
Note: It may be habit-forming, and is a controlled substance listed in the U. S. Code of Federal Regulations. It is sometimes used to render a person unconscious for illegal or nefarious purposes, and in this use, a concentrated solution is one of the agents called knockout drops.
WordNet
n. a colorless crystalline drug used as a sedative; irritates the stomach and can be addictive
Wikipedia
Chloral hydrate is an organic compound with the formula C H Cl O. It is a colorless solid. It has limited use as a sedative and hypnotic pharmaceutical drug. It is also a useful laboratory chemical reagent and precursor. It is derived from chloral (trichloroacetaldehyde) by the addition of one equivalent of water.
It was discovered through the chlorination ( halogenation) of ethanol in 1832 by Justus von Liebig in Gießen. Its sedative properties were first published in 1869 and subsequently, because of its easy synthesis, its use was widespread. It was widely used recreationally and misprescribed in the late 19th century. Chloral hydrate is soluble in both water and ethanol, readily forming concentrated solutions. A solution of chloral hydrate in ethanol called "knockout drops" was used to prepare a Mickey Finn. More reputable uses of chloral hydrate include its use as a clearing agent for chitin and fibers and as a key ingredient in Hoyer's mounting medium, which is used to prepare permanent or semi-permanent microscope slides of small organisms, histological sections, and chromosome squashes. Because of its status as a regulated substance, chloral hydrate can be difficult to obtain. This has led to chloral hydrate being replaced by alternative reagents in microscopy procedures.
It is, together with chloroform, a minor side-product of the chlorination of water when organic residues such as humic acids are present. It has been detected in drinking water at concentrations of up to 100 micrograms per litre (µg/L) but concentrations are normally found to be below 10 µg/L. Levels are generally found to be higher in surface water than in ground water.
Chloral hydrate has not been approved by the FDA in the United States or the EMA in the European Union for any medical indication and is on the list of unapproved drugs that are still prescribed by clinicians. Usage of the drug as a sedative or hypnotic may carry some risk given the lack of clinical trials.
Usage examples of "chloral hydrate".
If we find any traces of chloral hydrate, we'll take the next step.
If she went home and finished up the chloral hydrate, that would be her funeral, but I didn't want her stumbling and breaking her neck on our premises.
Some time in his absence his flat was entered and some chloral hydrate put into his whisky.
She obtained a double supply of chloral hydrate at the druggist's, forging her husband's name to the prescription.
Without taking her eyes from him she held up her hand, and the little bottle of chloral hydrate that Callahan tossed landed squarely in it.
When she came out and told you about the confrontation you gave her a quick drink of something laced with chloral hydrate that knocked her out.
Little did Julia suspect that Booth would mousetrap her champagne, just as she had mousetrapped her chaperone's beddy-bye slug of wartime white lightning, with chloral hydrate.
Soon, he knew, he would have to resort to chloral hydrate to knock himself into a dreamless abyss.
There's a lot of that old stand-by, chloral hydrate, in it, but it's been refined, (he smell removed, also the after-effects are negative.
Hell no, she said, it be good old fashion chloral hydrate and it will knock your enemy ass over teakettle, gare-on-teed.
She carried a very small vial of chloral hydrate, which she used as sparingly as possible.
There was gunpowder of all varieties, antimony, blasting-powder, mercury cyanide, chloral hydrate, chlorate of potash, samples of various kinds of shot, some of the outlawed soft-nosed dumdum bullets, cartridges, shells, pieces of metal purposely left with jagged edges, platinum, aluminum, iron, steel—.