Mustard gases, described

At the end of World War I, medical thought was turning to the possibility that soldiers who had been gassed with mustard, chlorine, phosgene, and other agents would develop tuberculosis. In the early postwar years, publications described efforts to identify cases of tuberculosis among gas casualties. The expected epidemic failed to appear, and attention subsided. More extensive studies, such as that of Beebe, were initiated.1 Gradually, mustard gas became the... 

Except with high concentrations of H, the initial vesicating reaction may take hours, so that more of the agent is absorbed before its presence is recognized. Cullumbine, describing the action of an experimental droplet on human skin, said, "The first macroscopic sign of the action of mustard gas appears under temperate climatic conditions about two hours later" (after application). Penetration of the skin is rapid, but only about 12X remains in the skin, the rest moving into the circulatory system. 

Mann 3 examined the records of 84 men described as suffering from "delayed mustard gas keratitis." This group had been treated at the Contact Lenses Clinic at Moorfields, England. The eye injuries were described as "typical mustard gas scars with corneal degeneration." Mann found a low incidence of onset of trouble in the early postwar years, with a sharp rise in 1931 and peaks in 1934 and 1937 (Figure 4-1). Most, 19-23 yr old when gassed, were about 33-37 when the eye trouble peaked. The onset of symptoms was commonly provoked by minor eye injuries and followed by ulcers that tended to recur spontaneously and cause steady diminution in visual acuity. These men were all fitted with contact lenses. About half were able to wear them with improved vision the others varied from partial success to total failure. Even those helped most, however, suffered slow deterioration of visual acuity. 

The disposition of more than 12000 tons of munitions and toxic chemicals, including mustard gas, arsenicals chloroacetophenone, is described by Loucks Elliot (Ref)... 

J.D.S. Haldane, Callinicus A Defence of Chemical Warfare, London (1925), p. 74 Haldane also describes in this book how someone placed a drop of mustard gas on the chair of the Director of the British Chemical Warfare Department. He ate his meals off the mantelpiece for a month ... 

El mass spectra of mustard gas (see Table 1) and several derivatives, including its main precursor and hydrolysis product thiodiglycol, have been described (911). The fragmentation of mustard gas... 

An alternative approach for the analysis of blood samples from the same group of Iranian mustard gas victims has been described (50). As mustard gas alkylates amino acids in hemoglobin, adducts will be formed, which remain in the bloodstream for some time. Selective cleavage of the alkylated N-terminal valine of the a-chain of hemoglobin was carried out by using the modified Edman reagent pentafluorophenyl isothiocyanate. After derivatiza-tion of the adduct-derived pentafluorophenylthio-hydantoin with heptafluorobutyric anhydride, the... 

Charlotte Auerbach and colleagues in 1946 described studies (actually conducted in 1941) that demonstrated that mustard gas could induce mutations and that these were similar at the whole-organism level in Drosophila to those induced by X-rays. Thus, research began in the new area of chemical mutagenesis that ran in parallel with radiation mutagenesis studies. 

The syntheses of [12]aneS4, [13]aneS4, and [14]aneS4 were first reported by Rosen and Busch (182, 183, 184 see also 107) Black and McLean (21,22) reported the synthesis of [18]aneSe using the procedure first developed by Reid and co-workers (146,211). This latter procedure involves the condensation of dithiolate with the corresponding dibro-moalkane (Scheme 3). In 1974 Ochrymowycz and co-workers described the synthesis of 19 S2-, S4-, S5-, and Se-donor macrocyclic compounds in low to moderate yields (Scheme 4) (151). Although the route involved the use of mustard gas or its derivatives, this was an important breakthrough in the synthesis of polythia macrocycles. 

The term vapour is sometimes used to describe the gaseous phase of a substance that exists as a liquid at room temperature. Thus, mustard vapour, nerve agent vapour and vapour hazard are terms used in the chemical warfare area. The use of such terms is not, however, standardized or universal and we still speak of mustard gas and nerve gas. There is much to be said for adopting a simple approach there are three phases of matter solid, liquid and gas introducing the term vapour as a variant of gas does not seem to be helpful. 

Study of tissue samples from lungs of Iranian casualties who died as a result of exposure to mustard gas has revealed a pattern identical with that described above. In all, tissue from four patients was studied. Alveolar capillary congestion, haemorrhage, oedema, the formation of hyaline membranes and fibrosis were seen. The casualties died as a result of multi-system organ failure and the changes in the lung parenchyma were very similar to those seen in cases of Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) (Maynard, unpublished observations). 

During World War I, careful studies were made of the changes in white cell counts which occurred after exposure to mustard gas. The following phases were described ... 

Several histories of chemical warfare describe the chemicals available in the world s arsenals (Fullerton et al. 1996 Harris and Paxman 1982 Heller 1984 Newhouse 1987 Shemer and Danon 1994). World War I combatants saw the introduction of cyanide, chlorine, phosgene, mustard gas, and arsenic (Newhouse 1987). With the use of such fear-inducing weapons, separating true poisoning symptoms from gas hysteria, now called acute stress disorder or, in some cases, malingering, became difficult (Gilchrist 1928 Heller 1984 Hulbert 1920 Newhouse 1987). 

Although some ancient Egyptian writings describe the use of crude drugs to treat ulcerating skin tumors, modem cancer chemotherapy is about five decades old. Just before World War II, it was found that mustard gas, and various derivatives, are highly cytotoxic, espe-... 

Described in Mein Kampf. Hider is said to have ascribed the recovery of his sight after being blinded by mustard gas to divine intervention — a supernatural sign which made him determined to become a politician. 

Decontamination of chemical warfare agents (CWA s) is important not only for battlefield applications, but for cleanup as well. Some common CWA s are VX-((9-ethyl S -(2iisopropylamino)ethyl methylphosphonotioate), which is a nerve gas, and HD (mustard gas), which is a blistering agent. For much of the CWA decontamination research, CWA simulants which have similar chemical structures and properties as CWA s but are much less toxic, are used. In the work described here, DMMP (dimethylmethylphosphonate) and 2-CEES (2 chloroethyl sulfide) will be used as CWA simulants for VX and HD,... 

An Italian military correspondent described the chemical tactics in more detail, including a bombardment over 12 hours in which mustard gas was spread over a sector 30 kilometres broad by 20 kilometres deep. Only in the middle of the sector was nerve agent used, and, as the Iranian soldiers fled from the middle, they left a corridor through the sector behind them. After about five hours, the nerve agents had dissipated sufficiently to enable the Iraqi tanks to drive along the corridor. ... 

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