Ethanol Chemical, Drug, and Poison

The Harger Drunkometerwas introduced in 193810 help keep drunk drivers offthe road. 

The production of ethanol by fermentation of grains and sugars is one of the oldest known organic reactions, going back at least 8000 years in the Middle East and perhaps as many as 9000 years in China. Fermentation is carried out by adding yeast to an aqueous sugar solution, where enzymes break down carbohy- drates into ethanol and CO2. As 1 noted in the chapter introduc-I tion, approximately 4 billion gal- Ions of ethanol are produced each year in the United States by fermentation, with essentially the entire amount used to make E85 automobile fuel. 

Ethanol is classified medically as a central nervous system (CNS) depressant. Its effects—that is, being drunk—resemble the human response to anesthetics. There is an initial excitability and increase in sociable behavior, but this results from depression of inhibition rather than from stimulation. At a blood alcohol concentration of 0.1% to 0.3%, motor coordination is affected, accompanied by loss of balance, slurred speech, and amnesia. When blood alcohol concentration rises to 0.3% to 0.4%, nausea and loss of consciousness occur. Above 0.6%, spontaneous respiration and cardiovascular regula- 

Ethanol metaholism occurs mainly in the liver and proceeds hy oxidation in two steps, first to acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) and then to acetic acid (CH3CO2H). When continuously present in the hody, ethanol and acetaldehyde are toxic, leading to the devastating physical and meta-holic deterioration seen in chronic alcoholics. The liver usually suffers the worst damage since it is the major site of alcohol metaholism. 

23 Draw the structure of the carhonyl compound(s) from which each of the following alcohols might have been prepared, and show the products you would obtain by treatment of each alcohol with (i) NaH, (ii) SOCI2, and (iii) the Dess—Martin periodinane reagent  

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Lflgn/flppg—Ethanol Chemical, Drug, and Poison... 

One chemical that we take for granted and do not usually consider to be hazardous is the alcohol found in aU alcohohc drinks. While this alcohol, known as ethyl alcohol or ethanol to chemists, is much less toxic than methyl alcohol, it is both a drug and a potential poison. Indeed, alcohol is classified as a human carcinogen, that is, capable of causing cancer, by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (lARC) because there is evidence that excessive intake increases the incidence of cancer, for example in the oesophagus. 

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