• It is used to get rid of the smell of putrefaction.
• It is used as a disinfectant.
• Chlorine is used in the treatment of drinking water to kill bacteria.
• It is used to clean swimming pools.
• It is used in the production of paper and paper products.
• It is used as an antiseptic.
• It is used to produce drugs. 

Carl Wilhem Scheele, a Swedish pharmacist, first described the greenish yellow gas in 1774 after dropping hydrochloric acid onto manganese dioxide. Sir Humphry Davy recognized the gas as an element in 1810 and named it based on the Greek word for its color, khloros. Chlorine was by this time already in use.