A colorless or pale yellow liquid (ClCH₂COCH₃) with a pungent odor, used in organic synthesis and historically as a tear gas.
From chloro- (chlorine) + acetone (the simplest ketone), a compound combining chlorine with the ketone functional group.
Chloroacetone was experimented with as a chemical weapon in World War I—its tear-inducing properties made it a primitive tear gas—but its extreme irritant effects made it too unpredictable and it was abandoned for more reliable agents.
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