Ethyl nitrite, toxicity

DOT CLASSIFICATION Forbidden SAFETY PROFILE Moderately toxic by inhalation. Mutation data reported. Narcotic in high concentration. A very dangerous fire and explosion hazard when exposed to heat or flame. A heat-sensitive explosive more powerful than ethyl nitrite. When heated to decomposition it emits toxic fumes of NO. See also NITRITES and n-AMYL NITRITE. 

Urethan. Carbamic acid ethyl ester ethyl carbamate urethane ethyl urethan. C3H,NO, mol wt 89.09. C 40.44%-, H 7.92%, N 15.72%, O 35.92%,. NH2COOC2H5. Prepd by heating urea with alcohol under pressure by warming urea nitrate with alcohol and sodium nitrite. Toxicity data K. J. Franklin, J, Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 42, 1 (1931). Review of carcinogenic action and metabolism Mirvish in Advan. Cancer Res 11, 1-42 (1968). 

Assimilation tests for carbon compounds use yeast nitrogen base (YNB) without carbon sources, and the assimilation test for nitrogen compounds use yeast carbon base (YCB) without assimilable nitrogen sources. For the tests described, YNB without amine acids and ammonium sulfate is used (Anonymous, 1984). Carbon sources normally examined include a number of pentoses, hexoses, disaccharides, trisaccharides, polysaccharides, alcohols, organic acids, and glycosides as specified by Yarrow (1998). Nitrogen sources commonly tested include nitrate, nitrite, ethyl-amine hydrochloride, cada-verine dihydrochloride, L-lysine, imidazole, glucosamine, creatine, and creatinine. When nitrite is used as a test compound, it is necessary to adjust the pH of the medium to 6.5 because toxic nitrous acid is formed at pH <6.0. 

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