The scarriest lab toxin to me is bis(chloromethyl)ether (anybody who uses chloroacetyl chloride ought to pay attention).
Coincidentally, I was just reading up on chloroacetyl chloride today. Does the chloride react with itself to form bis(chloromethyl)ether, or is
something else involved? My chemistry (particularly organic) is a little rusty and I can't figure a mechanism...Zan Divine - 8-8-2012 at 11:29
On an industrial scale, CAC is made from 1,1-Dichloroethylene by a light catalyzed oxidation. BCME is a very minor contaminant. A side product, from
over-oxidation of some percentage of the starting material, is a peroxide mess which decomposes to give BCME and other, lesser, toxins.
And yet, widespread awareness of the BCME problem, from all sources, seems lacking
I still can't believe that anybody still thinks about chloromethylation via formaldehyde & HCl. But they do.
There's also a whole crew out there trying to make methylamine hydrochloride and some of their methods are probably generating toxins they don't even
know exist.
Give me fast and furious toxins any day.
[Edited on 8/8/2012 by Zan Divine]AJKOER - 11-8-2012 at 05:50
Please note that H2S can poison you via skin absorption with a perfectly good gas mask. There was a case of reported fatalies among sew workers
wearing their mask but having removed clothing thereby permitting skin exposure, so this is real.
The delayed mortality effect is also pretty scary as having received a fatal dose, you may not know it (walking dead).
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Also, those working in a low dose H2S setting, I believe there is available some research on the effects of such prolonged H2S exposure.AJKOER - 16-8-2012 at 12:56
Wait, isn't intraveinous sodium nitrite used to treat cyanide poisoning? I had no idea it also worked for H2S.
I believe Sodium thiosulfate is used to treat cyanide poisoning
Nitrite and thiosulphate. Nitrite liberates respiratory enzyme system by creating methemoglobin which cyanide anion "likes" more than the
enzyme. Thiosulphate removes the cyanide and you get hemoglobin again.
Organic nitrites would work fine enough. If you're about to die, you don't care about some harmful effects of the antidotes.
If one's working with cyanides, it's advisable to have these ampoules ready.
