Chloroform

Chloroform
Formyl trichloride, Methane trichloride, Methyl trichloride, Methenyl trichloride, TCM, Freon 20, R-20, UN 1888

Harmful (Xn), Irritant (Xi), and possibly carcinogenic to humans (2B)

U.S. Permissable Exposure Limit is 50 ppm (240 mg/m3) (OSHA).

Medical Research Uses
Chloroform is used for DNA and RNA extraction, in conjunction with phenol. It is  also used as an NMR solvent.

Substitutes

 *  Dichloromethane-d

Have you tried using dichloromethane instead of chloroform? yes no For nucleic acid purification by phenol-chloroform extraction and related procedures, it is often possible to substitute commercial spin columns (available in kits and in some cases separately).