British anti-Lewisite arsenic poisoning

Dimercaprol (British Anti-Lewisite or BAL) is a colorless, viscous oily compound with an offensive odor used in treating arsenic, mercury, and gold poisoning. It displaces the arsenic bound to enzymes. The enzymes are reactivated and can resume their normal biological activity. When given by injection, BAL can lead to alarming reactions that seem to pass in a few hours. 

The first chelating agent developed as an antidote to a heavy metal poison was 2,3-dimereaptopropanol (dimercaprol, British Anti-Lewisite, BAL). Originally intended for use on victims of the arsenical vesicant poison gas Lewisite52, it has since proved efficacious in the treatment of antimony, gold and mercury poisoning as well as... 

Another compound used to treat lead poisoning is British anti-Lewisite (BAL), originally developed to treat arsenic-containing poison gas Lewisite. As shown in Figure 10.6, BAL chelates lead through its sulfhydryl groups, and the chelate is excreted through the kidney and bile. 

Treatment of arsenic poisoning relies on removing the chemical from the body with a chelating agent. The one commonly used is dimercaprol or British anti-lewisite (see pp. 236-7). 

Treatment for these poisons is the administration of sulfhydryl reagents with adjacent sulfhydryl groups to compete with the dihydrolipoyl residues for binding with the metal ion, which is then excreted in the urine. Indeed, 2,3-dimercaptopropanol (see Figure 17.20) was developed after World War I as an antidote to lewisite, an arsenic-based chemical weapon. This compound was initially called BAL, for British anti-lewisite. 

Research on anesthetic gases during the nineteenth century facilitated the development and use of poisonous war gases in the twentieth. This led to attempts to counteract the effects of chemical warfare agents and other toxic compounds, particularly arsenicals, introduced by Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) for the treatment of syphilis. This resulted in the synthesis of the first specific chemical antidote, British anti-Lewisite (BAL), in 1945 by R.A. Peters, L.A. Stocken, and R.H.S. Thompson in Oxford. Studies on the mechanistic bases for toxicity were applied to the synthesis of effective insecticides. For example, during the 1940s, the Swiss chemist Paul Muller discovered a compound, now known as DDT, that poisons insects on contact. 

Treatment of inorganic arsenic poisoning involves decontamination procedures and use of the antidote BAL (British anti-lewisite compound 2,3-dime-rcaptopropanol). Use of demulcent to coat the gastrointestinal tract and the use of antibiotics is also recommended. Organic arsenic poisoning treatment involves only withdrawal of the feed involved, with recovery occurring in 3-5 days. Severely affected pigs should be culled. 

The heavy-metal chelating properties of thiols were taken advantage of in the design of dimercaprol ( British Anti-Lewisite, BAL) as counter poison of the arsenical war gas lewisite (Figure 20.43). Today dimercaprol is used to treat poisoning by compounds of gold, mercury, antimony and arsenic. The toxic nature of the heavy metals is masked and chelate is stable enough to be excreted as such in the urine. 

British Anti-Lewisite (BAL) is a dithiol used as an antidote in mercury poisoning. It was originally developed as an antidote to a mustard-gas-hke chemical warfare agent called Lewisite. Lewisite was developed near the end of World War I and never used. By the onset of World War II, Lewisite was considered to be obsolete because of the discovery of BAL, an effective, inexpensive antidote. The two thiol groups of BAL form a water-soluble complex with mercury (or with the arsenic in Lewisite) that is excreted from the body in the urine. 

Historically the first chromate dithiol reaction studied was that with BAL (British Anti-Lewisite) a chelating agent used in the treatment of arsenic(III) (Lewisite) and other cases of heavy metal poisoning ... 

I. Pharmacology. BAL (British anti-Lewisite, dimercaprol, 2,3-dimercaptopro-panol) is a dithiol chelating agent used in the treatment of poisoning by the heavy metals arsenic, mercury, lead, and gold. Because the vicinal thiol groups are unstable in aqueous solution, the drug is supplied as a 10% solution (100... 

Sternlieb I (1990) Perspectives on Wilson s disease. Hepatology 12 1234-1238 Stewart JR, Diamond G (1987) Renal tubular secretion of the alkanesulfonate 2,3-dimer capto-1-propane sulfonate. Am J Physiol 252 F800-F810 Stocken LA, Thompson RHS (1946) British anti-lewisite. II. Dithiol compounds as antidotes for arsenic. Biochem J 40 535-548 Sunderman FW Sr (1990) Use of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate in the treatment of nickel carbonyl poisoning. Ann Clin Lab Sci 20 12-21 Tell I, Somervaille LJ, Nilsson U, Bensryd I, Schiitz A, Chettle DR, Scott MC, Skerfving S (1992) Chelated lead and bone lead. Scand J Work Environ Health 18 113-119... 

The compound 2,3-dimercaptopropanol (HSCH2CHSHCH2OH), commonly known as British Anti-Lewisite (BAL), was developed during World War I as an antidote to arsenic-containing poison gas. (a) If each BAL molecule binds one arsenic (As) atom, how many As atoms can be removed by 1.0 g of BAL (b) BAL can also be used to remove poisonous heavy metals like mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb). If each BAL binds one Hg atom, calculate the mass percent of Hg in a BAL-Hg complex. (An H atom is removed when a BAL molecule binds an Hg atom.)... 

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