Chlorinated paraffins – A historical consideration including remarks on their complexity

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) are high production volume chemicals currently produced and used in higher quantities than any other medium-size polyhalogenated compound (class). In addition, the composition of industrial CP mixtures is highly complex and poorly understood. In this article, we searched in the literature for the beginning of the chlorination of alkanes and how this substance class developed from niche applications to unmatched quantities in various industrial applications. Also, an estimation was made on the theoretical variety of chloroparaffins and the possible complexity of industrial CP mixtures. These data may explain why little is known about CPs although the production volume throughout the industrial generation was virtually always higher than the one of PCBs and has continued to increase after the ban of the latter. •Historic data on the invention of chlorinated alkanes and early uses is presented.•The start of the industrial CP production was linked with the chlor-alkali process.•The approximated maximum variety of chloroparaffins was calculated.•The variety of CPs increases by a factor of 4 per additional carbon.•The variety of industrial products increases in the order SCCPs ≪ MCCPs ≪ LCCPs.