Bismuth history

Acute porphyria Do not use clarithromycin in combination with ranitidine bismuth citrate in patients with a history of acute porphyria. 

Bismuth, discovered in 1753, has a long history of medical uses ranging from treatment of syphilis and malaria to diarrhea. More recently, antibacterial properties of bismuth-containing antacids have been used to treat peptic ulcers. In general the medical use of bismuth has declined with the advent of new drug therapies. 

The Germanisches Museum in Nuremberg preserved a collection of boxes, caskets, chests, and little cupboards decorated in bright colors painted over a background of metallic bismuth (28, 45). In his History of Bismuth from 1400 to 1800, E. O. von Lippmann stated that one of these was made in about 1480 ( 46). By 1572 this art had developed into a craft there, and in 1613 its artisans were incorporated into a guild (47). 

During the history of a half century from the first discovery of the reaction (/) and 35 years after the industrialization (2-4), these catalytic reactions, so-called allylic oxidations of lower olefins (Table I), have been improved year by year. Drastic changes have been introduced to the catalyst composition and preparation as well as to the reaction process. As a result, the total yield of acrylic acid from propylene reaches more than 90% under industrial conditions and the single pass yield of acrylonitrile also exceeds 80% in the commercial plants. The practical catalysts employed in the commercial plants consist of complicated multicomponent metal oxide systems including bismuth molybdate or iron antimonate as the main component. These modern catalyst systems show much higher activity and selectivity... 

The biological effects of arsenic have been studied for years because of its (1) long history as a poison, (2) uses in industry, (3) clinical applications in protozoal and neoplastic diseases and (4) use in chemical warfare. In contrast, the biochemical effects of bismuth and antimony are not as well documented. Although most of the known compounds derived from the three metals are man-made, some adducts also occur naturally " . It is clear that these compounds in their ionic states are potent metabolic inhibitors and are lethal at sufficiently high doses. In the elemental state, arsenic, at least, is relatively nontoxic and is presumably the form consumed in years past by the arsenic eaters of the Alps. ... 

At site A in Table 16, concentrations of all metals in the second soil-core depth were higher than those in the first soil-core depth. Bismuth and antimony concentrations in the soil core under the second core depth were less than those of natural concentrations, 0.34 and 0.37 /rgg , respectively. At sites B and C, the profiles of metal concentrations were somewhat different from those in site A The difference is probably due to dissimilarities in pollution history, surrounding circumstances and properties of soil. 

Both patients had a history of refractory airway disease that put them at risk of respiratory complications after bismuth aspiration. Fortunately neither developed any serious respiratory compromise immediately after aspiration or required intubation. 

Arsenic has a long history as a poison. Its applications include (or have included) antimicrobials, herbicides, insecticides and rodenticides (and homicides). Arsenicals (as well as antimony and bismuth compounds) have been used clinically in protozoal, venereal and neoplastic diseases. In World War I, arsenicals were used as chemical warfare agents (see References 1-21 and references cited therein). 

Bismuth in human history dates back about two millennia when it was used as an additive to ancient metal products. However, its identity as a distinct metal element was only established by the middle of the eighteenth century. In marked contrast to the history of inorganic bismuth chemistry which started more than two centuries ago, the chemistry of organic bismuth compounds was born only two decades ago, when Professor D.H.R. Barton and coworkers began a systematic study of organobismuth compounds and laid the foundation for further development. 

No doubt bismuth was known at a much earlier date, but its history is confused because it was called marcasite, a name that has been used for many other substances also and is now mainly used to denote a rhombic variety of iron pyrites FeS2. Most of the later writers regarded it as a semi-metal. Barba, a South American priest, wrote in 1640 that bismuth had been discovered in Bohemia and that it was a metal somewhat like a cross between tin and lead, without being either of the two . It was apparently used in the manufacture of pewter rendering it harder and more sonorous. Hellot, the French chemist noticed that Cornish smelters added it to their metal, and in 1737 he succeeded in preparing a button of bismuth from a cobalt ore. Geoffroy in 1753 showed conclusively that bismuth was not a variety of lead, but a distinct metallic species. 

There are several chemical elements the history of whose discovery is not clear. We had every reason to classify the nine elements described in Chapter 1 as the elements of antiquity. For the five elements—phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and zinc—discussed in this chapter, there is evidence that people knew these elements (with the exception of phosphorus), or at least their ores and minerals, in prehistoric times, or at any rate before the Christian era. But the knowledge of them was confused and ambiguous. It became better much later, at the time of alchemistry when various chemical procedures were performed in laboratories and chemist s shops. Although their nature remained unclear, they were a basis of many useful compounds (particularly, acids and salts). 

Thus, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, bismuth, and zinc have unusual histories. By a strange caprice of nature, P, As, Sb, and Bi are in the main subgroup of the fifth group of the periodic table and the similarity in their properties often resulted in confusion. 

The introduction of spectral analysis made it possible to reveal the existence in natural objects of elements that could not be seen, felt or weighed. Now the history repeated itself but the role of indicator was played by radioactive radiaton, which could be measured with a radiometric technique. However, the results of the Curies were not faultless. They were wrong in suggesting a chemical similarity between polonium and bismuth. Even a brief look at the periodic system shows that the existence of a heavy analogue of bismuth is hardly possible. But one must not forget that the Curies did not extract pure metal, could not determine its relative atomic mass, and, finally, did not see differences in the spectra of polonium and bismuth. This is why they actually ignored a possible analogy between polonium and tellurium. 

Wood s metal consists of bismuth, lead, tin and cadmium. It has a melting range between 50 and 80°C. Rose s metal, an alloy of bismuth, lead and tin, melts at about 100°C. It takes its name from the German chemist and pharmacist Valentin Rose Sr. (1736-1771). Tin is used as one component in bdl metal, a type of bronze. The use of tin in ornaments and household articles has been treated above in connection with tin in history. 

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