Tetrachloroethylene oxide is fairly stable but rearranges to trichloroacetyl chloride at higher temperatures.

[4] It is metabolised to trichloroacetyl chloride which is hydrolysed to trichloroacetic acid.

[5] Tetrachloroethylene oxide was first synthesised by the English chemist Frederick William Kirkbride in 1940, by exposing a mixture of oxygen and chlorine in tetrachloroethylene to UV light.

[4] PCEO reacts with methanol, with mercury(II) chloride as the catalyst, giving methyl trichloroacetate and hydrogen chloride:[2] PCEO reacts with methanolic potassium hydroxide to give potassium oxalate.

[2] It is slowly decomposed by dilute acid or base solutions, giving off carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen chloride which was possibly from the further decomposition of the intermediate oxalyl chloride.