Chloromethane, also called methyl chloride, Refrigerant-40, R-40 or HCC 40, is an

organic compound In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon- hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. Th ...

with the chemical formula . One of the

haloalkane The haloalkanes (also known as halogenoalkanes or alkyl halides) are alkanes containing one or more halogen substituents. They are a subset of the general class of halocarbons, although the distinction is not often made. Haloalkanes are widely ...

s, it is a colorless, odorless, flammable gas. Methyl chloride is a crucial reagent in industrial chemistry, although it is rarely present in consumer products, and was formerly utilized as a

refrigerant A refrigerant is a working fluid used in the refrigeration cycle of air conditioning systems and heat pumps where in most cases they undergo a repeated phase transition from a liquid to a gas and back again. Refrigerants are heavily regulate ...

Occurrence

Chloromethane is an abundant organohalogen, anthropogenic or natural, in the atmosphere.

Marine

Laboratory cultures of marine

phytoplankton Phytoplankton () are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words (), meaning 'plant', and (), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'. P ...

(''Phaeodactylum tricornutum'', ''Phaeocystis'' sp., ''Thalassiosira weissflogii'', ''Chaetoceros calcitrans'', ''Isochrysis'' sp., ''Porphyridium'' sp., ''Synechococcus'' sp., ''Tetraselmis'' sp., ''Prorocentrum'' sp., and ''Emiliana huxleyi'') produce CH₃Cl, but in relatively insignificant amounts. An extensive study of 30 species of polar macroalgae revealed the release of significant amounts of CH₃Cl in only ''Gigartina skottsbergii'' and ''Gymnogongrus antarcticus''.

Biogenesis

The

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

plant ''Batis maritima'' contains the enzyme methyl chloride transferase that catalyzes the synthesis of CH₃Cl from S-adenosine-L-methionine and chloride. This protein has been purified and expressed in '' E. coli'', and seems to be present in other organisms such as white rot fungi (''