Nerve, gases

Nerol oxide Nerve agents Nerve degeneration Nerve fibers Nerve gas... 

Heavy metals on or in vegetation and water have been and continue to be toxic to animals and fish. Arsenic and lead from smelters, molybdenum from steel plants, and mercury from chlorine-caustic plants are major offenders. Poisoning of aquatic life by mercury is relatively new, whereas the toxic effects of the other metals have been largely eliminated by proper control of industrial emissions. Gaseous (and particulate) fluorides have caused injury and damage to a wide variety of animals—domestic and wild—as well as to fish. Accidental effects resulting from insecticides and nerve gas have been reported. 

Therapeutic Function Cholinesterase reactivator (antidote for nerve gas) Chemical Name 2-[(Hydroxyimino)methyl] -1-methylpyridinium chloride Common Name 2-PAM chloride Structural Formula ... 

Organophosphates are irreversible acethylcholinester-ase inhibitors. They are used as insecticides or nerve gas ... 

Nerve gas is to be thermally decomposed by oxidation using a large excess of air in a 5-cm i.d. tubular reactor that is approximately isothermal at 620°C. The entering concentration of nerve gas is 1% by volume. The outlet concentration must be less than 1 part in lO by volume. The observed half-life for the reaction is 0.2 s. How long should the tube be for an inlet velocity of 2m/s What will be the pressure drop given an atmospheric discharge ... 

C15-0079. The reaction of CO with CI2 gives phosgene ( COCI2), a nerve gas used in World War I. Even though the stoichiomehy is simple, the mechanism has several steps ... 

Not all toxic organophosphoms compounds have uses beneficial to humans. Sarin is an extremely toxic nerve gas that is lethal to humans. In March 1995 this substance was released in a terrorist attack on a Japanese subway, resulting in several deaths and many serious injuries. Sarin and related nerve gases bind an amino acid in the enzyme responsible for muscle action. When this enzyme is deactivated, muscles contract but cannot relax. Even a small dose can be lethal if the nerve gas reaches the muscles of the heart. 

VM also called Edemo is a "V-series" nerve agent closely related to the better-known VX nerve gas. Like most of the agents in the V-series (with the exception of VX), VM has not been studied extensively studied. Little known about this compound other than its chemical formula. Since it is structurally very similar to VX it can be assumed that most properties will be similar also. 

Diisopropyl methylphosphonate, or DIMP, is a chemical by-product resulting from the manufacture and detoxification of GB (also called Sarin), a nerve gas that the Army produced... 

Diisopropyl methylphosphonate is an organophosphate compound that was first produced in the United States as a by-product of the manufacture of the nerve gas isopropyl methylphosphonofluoridate (GB, or Sarin) (ATSDR 1996 EPA 1989 Robson 1977, 1981). It is not a nerve gas and is not a metabolite or degradation product (Roberts et al. 1995). Diisopropyl methylphosphonate constitutes approximately 2-3% of the crude GB product, but it is neither a metabolite nor a degradation product of GB (EPA 1989 Rosenblatt et al. 1975b). Diisopropyl methylphosphonate is not normally produced except for its use in research. One method of producing diisopropyl methylphosphonate is to combine triisopropyl phosphite and methyl iodide. The mixture is then boiled, refluxed, and distilled, yielding diisopropyl methylphosphonate and isopropyl iodide (Ford-Moore and Perry 1951). Diisopropyl methylphosphonate may also be prepared from sodium isopropyl methylphosphonate by a reaction at 270° C, but a portion of the resulting diisopropyl methylphosphonate is converted to trimethylphosphine oxide at this temperature (EPA 1989). 

There are no measurements of the actual concentrations of diisopropyl methylphosphonate in groundwater at the RMA during the years of active production of the nerve gas Sarin (i.e., 1953-1957) (EPA 1989). The first actual measurements of the concentration of diisopropyl methylphosphonate in the groundwater on the arsenal and surrounding property to the north and west were made in 1974 (Robson 1981). The concentrations of diisopropyl methylphosphonate in the groundwater ranged from 0.5 g/L (analytical detection limit) to as much as 44,000 g/L near the abandoned waste disposal ponds. Diisopropyl methylphosphonate was discharged into a lined reservoir at the RMA in 1956 and was still present 20 years later in concentrations of about 400,000 g/L (Robson 1977). 

As a result of the hazards in using compounds such as these, the use of parathion has been banned in the United States since 1991. Another of the toxic organophosphorus compounds is sarin, a nerve gas that was produced for military use ... 

Wise, D. Cassidy s Run The Secret Spy War Over Nerve Gas. New York Random House, 2000. 

In March 1995, a Japanese religious cult, Aum Shinriyko, released sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo subway system. Thousands were injured and 11 people were killed. 

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. 

Any rational approach to the study of antidotes for nerve-gas poisoning must take this firm attachment into account. It has been observed that, in experiments in vitro, the D.F.P.-poisoned heart recovers to an appreciable extent in the presence of hydroxylamine. With this experiment in mind I. B. Wilson1 has examined the action of hydroxylamine derivatives and has had considerable success with nictonic hydroxamic acid meth-iodide (IV). The reaction envisaged here is a nucleophilic attack... 

Column (12) refers to the standard nerve gas or N.G. test obtainable with the vapour detector kit supplied by the Home Office. 

Liquid nerve gas on the skin should be washed off immediately with a large volume of water. The skin should not be wiped. 

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