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Deuterated dichloromethane
Deuterated chloroform , also known as chloroform-d, is an isotopically enriched form of chloroform in which most of its hydrogen atoms consist of the heavier nuclide deuterium rather than the natural isotopic mixture in which protium is predominant. Deuterated chloroform is by far the most common solvent used in NMR spectroscopy. While dichloromethane and chloroform are both commonly used solvents that dissolve a wide range of other organic compounds, deuterated chloroform is more easily produced and much less expensive than deuterated dichloromethane. In addition, it is chemically unreactive and unlikely to exchange its deuterium with its solute, and its low boiling point allows for easy sample recovery.
The properties of CDCl3 are virtually identical to those of regular chloroform, although biologically, it is slightly less toxic to the liver than CHCl3, due to its C–D bond, which is stronger than a C–H bond, making it somewhat less prone to form the destructive trichloromethyl radical.