Question
What are inhibitors? Explain with an example.

Answer

Inhibitors are substances that decreases the rate of chemical reactions.
e.g. Chloroform forms poisonous substance, carbonyl chloride, by air oxidation.
$\underset{\text { Chloroform }}{4 CHCl _{3(l)}}+\underset{\substack{\text { Oxygen }$
$\text { (air) }}}{3 O _{2( g )}} \longrightarrow \underset{\substack{\text { Carbonyl }$
$\text { chloride }}}{4 COCl _{2( g )}}+\underset{\text { }}{2 H _2 O _{(l)}}+2 Cl _{2( g )}$
When $2\%$ ethanol is added to chloroform, the formation of $COCl_2$ is suppressed because ethanol acts as an inhibitor and retards the above reaction.
$[$Note: Chloroform was earlier used as an anaesthetic.$]$

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