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Diss Factsheets
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EC number: 201-167-4 | CAS number: 79-01-6
- Life Cycle description
- Uses advised against
- Endpoint summary
- Appearance / physical state / colour
- Melting point / freezing point
- Boiling point
- Density
- Particle size distribution (Granulometry)
- Vapour pressure
- Partition coefficient
- Water solubility
- Solubility in organic solvents / fat solubility
- Surface tension
- Flash point
- Auto flammability
- Flammability
- Explosiveness
- Oxidising properties
- Oxidation reduction potential
- Stability in organic solvents and identity of relevant degradation products
- Storage stability and reactivity towards container material
- Stability: thermal, sunlight, metals
- pH
- Dissociation constant
- Viscosity
- Additional physico-chemical information
- Additional physico-chemical properties of nanomaterials
- Nanomaterial agglomeration / aggregation
- Nanomaterial crystalline phase
- Nanomaterial crystallite and grain size
- Nanomaterial aspect ratio / shape
- Nanomaterial specific surface area
- Nanomaterial Zeta potential
- Nanomaterial surface chemistry
- Nanomaterial dustiness
- Nanomaterial porosity
- Nanomaterial pour density
- Nanomaterial photocatalytic activity
- Nanomaterial radical formation potential
- Nanomaterial catalytic activity
- Endpoint summary
- Stability
- Biodegradation
- Bioaccumulation
- Transport and distribution
- Environmental data
- Additional information on environmental fate and behaviour
- Ecotoxicological Summary
- Aquatic toxicity
- Endpoint summary
- Short-term toxicity to fish
- Long-term toxicity to fish
- Short-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Long-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Toxicity to aquatic algae and cyanobacteria
- Toxicity to aquatic plants other than algae
- Toxicity to microorganisms
- Endocrine disrupter testing in aquatic vertebrates – in vivo
- Toxicity to other aquatic organisms
- Sediment toxicity
- Terrestrial toxicity
- Biological effects monitoring
- Biotransformation and kinetics
- Additional ecotoxological information
- Toxicological Summary
- Toxicokinetics, metabolism and distribution
- Acute Toxicity
- Irritation / corrosion
- Sensitisation
- Repeated dose toxicity
- Genetic toxicity
- Carcinogenicity
- Toxicity to reproduction
- Specific investigations
- Exposure related observations in humans
- Toxic effects on livestock and pets
- Additional toxicological data
Endpoint summary
Administrative data
Link to relevant study record(s)
Description of key information
Key value for chemical safety assessment
Additional information
Studies in experimental animals and humans have shown that trichloroethylene is rapidly and extensively absorbed by all routes of exposure. Once absorbed it readily distributes to all compartments within the body. Although trichloroethylene preferentially partitions into fat rich tissues, there is no evidence of prolonged retention at these sites. Trichloroethylene is predominantly cleared from the body by metabolism, accounting for 50 to 99% of the absorbed dose. Studies in humans and a variety of experimental animal species suggest that the metabolic pathways are common to all species. The major metabolic pathway in all species involves the initial conversion of trichloroethylene by cytochrome P450 to a transient epoxide. This epoxide undergoes intramolecular rearrangement to form trichloroacetaldehyde, which in turn is hydrolysed to form chloral hydrate. Chloral hydrate then acts as a substrate for alcohol dehydrogenase and chloral hydrate dehydrogenase to yield trichloroethanol and trichloroacetic acid respectively. A second quantitatively minor pathway involving conjugation with glutathione has also been identified in rats, mice and humans.
Although all species share common metabolic pathways, differences between species and strains have been identified in the saturability of trichloroethylene metabolism. This has been investigated most thoroughly in rats and mice. Whereas the metabolism of trichloroethylene shows little evidence of saturation in B6C3F1 and Swiss-Webster mice at oral doses of up to 2000 mg/kg, there is clear evidence of saturation in all strains of rat following oral doses of 1000 mg/kg. No evidence of saturation for any metabolic pathway has been found in humans although the exposure levels were generally lower than those used in animal studies and thus saturable concentrations may not have been achieved.
Routes of elimination for trichloroethylene are the same in humans and animals and there is no evidence that the route of exposure influences the route of elimination. Most unmetabolised trichloroethylene is exhaled; the percentage which is exhaled increases when metabolism becomes saturated. Other metabolites which have been detected in exhaled air include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and a small amount of trichloroethanol. Metabolites of trichloroethylene are predominantly eliminated in the urine with a small proportion eliminated in the bile and faeces. Other routes of elimination have not been investigated.
Information on Registered Substances comes from registration dossiers which have been assigned a registration number. The assignment of a registration number does however not guarantee that the information in the dossier is correct or that the dossier is compliant with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (the REACH Regulation). This information has not been reviewed or verified by the Agency or any other authority. The content is subject to change without prior notice.
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