D.F.P. and related compounds

Passing reference has already been made to experiments with D.F.P. in cases of glaucoma, post-operative paralytic ileus and myasthenia gravis. The intra-ocular tension in glaucoma appears 

More will now be said about the conditions of paralytic ileus and myasthenia gravis. 

One definition of post-operative paralytic ileus is the fisulure of the patient to pass faeces or flatus within 60 hr. of the termination of a surgical abdominal operation . A somewhat similar condition may arise in cases of gross mechanical obstruction of the gut. It is well known also that operations involving handling of the gut or the peritoneum are especially liable to cause paralytic ileus. Peritonitis and post-operative pain, inadequately treated with morphia, also precipitate paralytic ileus. Pneumonia, meningitis and typhoid predispose to paralytic ileus, whilst severe hypothyroidism can also be complicated by a paralytic ileus. 

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This matter is given some consideration in Chapter m. In passing we may note here that it is because of the parasympathomimetic action of D.F.P. and related compounds that the term nerve gas has been applied. 

On pp. 2 and 43 reference was made to the intense myosis that we experienced when exposed to low concentrations of D.F.P. In fact, appreciable myosis is brought about by concentrations very much lower than that mentioned on p. 2. The author has frequently noted that, after dealing with D.F.P. and related compounds even under carefully controlled laboratory conditions (e.g. using fume cupboards, respirators, etc.), minute traces of material have adhered to clothing and some hours later gradually vaporized and were sufficient to cause myosis with its... 

It is some 15 years since the writer first experienced myosis with D.F.P. and related compounds, and one difference now noted during myosis is that white surfaces appear yellow. This phenomenon may well be due to changes in lens structure in the region of the optic axis. 

While carrying out early experiments with D.F.P. and related compounds on small animals, we frequently noticed that extremely small quantities of these materials caused the death of flies in the room. It was this observation that led us during the war to claim the use of certain phosphorus compounds as insecticides. Schrader describes phosphorus-containing compounds made by the I.G. Farbenindustrie in Germany. Many similar compounds were also made (independently) by British and German research workers. It turned out, however, that systemic insecticides based on organo-phosphorus compounds were first commercially produced in England. ... 

In Chapter i a brief description was given of D.F.P. and some related compounds, and in this chapteir a more detailed account is given of the work initiated and carried out on the toxic phos phorofluoridates during World War II at Cambridge by an extramural Ministry of Supply research team working with the author. 

Amino-sugars and Related Compounds. Part VIII. Some Properties of 2-Deoxy-2-sulphoamino-D-glucose, Heparin, and Related Substances, A. B. Foster, E. F. Martlew, M. Stacey, P. J. M. Taylor, and J. M. Webber, /. Chem. Soc., (1961) 1204-1208. 

D. H. Phillips, DNA adducts Identification and biological significance, in DNA Adducts Derived From Safrole, Estragole and Related Compounds, and From Benzene and Its Metabolites, Vol. 125 (Eds. K. Hemminki, A. Dipple, D. E. G. Shuker, F. F. Kadlubar, D. Segerback, H. Bartsch). lARC Scientific Publications, Lyon, 1994, P 131. 

F. D. Rossini, Selected Values of Physical and Thermodynamical Properties of Hydrocarbons and Related Compounds, A. P. I. Project 44, Pittsburgh, 1953. 

Gunawardana, G. P., Koehn, F. E., Lee, A. Y., Clardy, J., He, H., and Faulkner, D. J., Pyridoacridine alkaloids from deep-water sponges of the family Pachastrellidae structure revision of dercitin and related compounds and correlation with kuanoniamines, J. Org. Chem., 57, 1523, 1992. 

Heath, D.F. (1961). Organophosphorus poisons. Anticholinesterases and related compounds. In Modem Trends in Physiological Sciences (P. Alexander, Z.M. Bacq, eds). Pergamon Press, Oxford. 

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