Cardboard Tube for Chloroform in glass tubes (1973.008.010a) Chloroform, also called trichloromethane is a colorless, volatile, nonflammable, slightly water-soluble, pungent, sweet-tasting liquid, CHCl 3, usually derived from acetone, acetaldehyde, or ethyl alcohol by the reaction of chloride of lime: used chiefly in medicine as a solvent and formerly as an anesthetic.