Methyl arsenite,

The dtsodium methyl arsenite is converted to methyl arsenic oxide by sulfur dioxidb, as indicated... 

Alkaline arsenite, O.IA As(lll) to As(V). Dissolve 4.9460 g of primary standard grade AsjOj in 40 mL of 30% NaOH solution. Dilute with 200 mL of water. Acidify the solution with 6N HCl to the acid color of methyl red indicator. Add to this solution 40 g of NaHC03 and dilute to 1 L. 

The biological cycle of arsenic in the surface ocean involves the uptake of arsenate by plankton, the conversion of arsenate to a number of as yet unidentified organic compounds, and the release of arsenite and methylated species into the seawater. Biological demethylation of the methyl-arsenicals and the oxidation of arsenite by as yet... 

In 1933 Challenger et al. discovered that trimethylarsine was synthesized from inorganic arsenic compounds by molds (93). Recently, McBride and Wolfe (94), have reported the synthesis of dimethylarsine from arsenate by cell extracts of the methanogenic bacterium M. O. H. Methylcobalamin is the alkylating coenzyme for this synthesis which requires reduction of arsenate to arsenite, methylation of arsenite to methylarsonic acid, reduction and methylation of methylarsonic acid to dimethylarsinic acid, and finally a four electron reduction of dimethylarsinic acid to dimethylarsine (Fig. 13). 

Blakley BR, Sisodia CS, Mukkur TK. 1980. The effect of methyl mercury, tetraethyl lead, and sodium arsenite on the humoral immune response in mice. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 52 245-254. 

Sorption of methyl arsenic onto metal oxides has received scant attention. Lafferty and Loeppert (2005) found that MMAs(III) and DMAs(III) were not appreciably sorbed onto goethite or ferrihydrite within the pH range of 3 to 11, while arsenite was strongly sorbed to both the oxides. In contrast, MMAs(V) and arsenate were sorbed from pH 3 to 10 in great... 

Marine algae transform arsenate into nonvolatile methylated arsenic compounds such as methanearsonic and dimethylarsinic acids (Tamaki and Frankenberger 1992). Freshwater algae and macrophytes, like marine algae, synthesize lipid-soluble arsenic compounds and do not produce volatile methylarsines. Terrestrial plants preferentially accumulate arsenate over arsenite by a factor of about 4. Phosphate inhibits arsenate uptake by plants, but not the reverse. The mode of toxicity of arsenate in plants is to partially block protein synthesis and interfere with protein phosphorylation — a process that is prevented by phosphate (Tamaki and Frankenberger 1992). 

Dimethylarsinic acid is the major metabolite of orally administered arsenic trioxide, and is excreted rapidly in the urine (Yamauchi and Yamamura 1985). The methylation process is true detoxification, since methanearsonates and cacodylates are about 200 times less toxic than sodium arsenite (NAS 1977). The marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus), unlike all other animal species studied to date, was not able (for unknown reasons) to metabolize administered As+5 to demethylarsinic acid most was reduced to As+3. Only 20% of the total dose was excreted in urine as unchanged As+5, and another 20% as As+3. The rest was bound to tissues, giving distribution patterns similar to arsenite (Vahter and Marafante 1985). Accordingly, the marmoset, like the rat, may be unsuitable for research with arsenicals. 

Lee, T.C., S. Wang-Wuu, R.Y. Huang, K.C.C. Lee, and K.Y. Jan. 1986b. Differential effects of pre-and posttreatment of sodium arsenite on the genotoxicity of methyl methanesulfonate in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Cancer Res. 46 1854-1857. 

The first step of the process is performed in a separate, dedicated building. The drums of arsenic trioxide are opened in an air-evacuated chamber and automatically dumped into 50% caustic soda. A dust collection system is used. The drums are carefully washed with water, the washwater is added to the reaction mixture, and the dmms are crushed and sold as scrap metal. The intermediate sodium arsenite is obtained as a 25% solution and is stored in large tanks prior to further reaction. In the next step, the 25% sodium arsenite is treated with methyl chloride to produce the disodium salt DSMA (disodium methanearsenate, hexahydrate). This DSMA can be sold as a herbicide however, it is more generally converted to MSMA, which has more favorable application properties [8]. 

There are reports indicating that arsenic compounds can damage cellular DNA, thereby acting as genotoxins, as assessed by the comet or single-cell gel assay. Some reports indicate that arsenite possesses this activity (5-7), whereas another indicates that although the methylated trivalent species are genotoxic, arsenite itself is not (8). 

Oxoalkylarsonic acids lose arsenite by elimination, presumably after enolization, as described earlier (Section IV,B,2,c, and Fig. 9). In contrast, 3-oxoalkylphosphonic acids are stable e.g., the phosphono-methyl analogue of glycerone phosphate is a substrate for aldolase (118). The elimination of arsenite from 3-oxoalkylarsonic acids, but not of phosphite from 3-oxoalkylphosphonic acids, may reflect the fact that arsenite is relatively stable compared with arsenate, whereas phosphite is unstable compared with phosphate. 

Methylation of arsenic is an important pollution problem because of the widespread use of arsenic compounds in insecticides and because of the presence of arsenate in the phosphate used in household detergents.421 422 After reduction to arsenite, methylation occurs in two steps (Eq. 16-45). Additional reduction steps result in the formation of dimethylarsine, one of the principal products of action of methanogenic bacteria on arsenate. The methyl transfer is shown as occurring through CH3+, with an accompanying loss of a proton from the substrate. However, a CH3 radical may be transferred with formation of a cobalt(II) corrinoid.423... 

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