Nitrogen mustards blister agents

World Health Organization Environmental Health Criteria 188 Nitrogen Oxides (2nd ed), pp 1 34. Geneva, International Programme on Chemical Safety, 1997 

HN-3 CeH ClsN tris(2-cbloroetbyl) amine 2,2, 2 -tricblorotrietbylamine tris(2-cbloroetbyl)amine HN-3 2-cbloro-N, AT-bis(2-cbloroetbyl)etbanamine N-metbyl lost 

Physical Form. Colorless to yellow oily liquids that evaporate very slowly. HN-1 bas a faint fisby or musty odor. HN-2 bas a soapy odor at low concentrations and a fruity odor at bigber concentrations. HN-3 may smell like bitter almond. 

Altbougb nitrogen mustards could be used in chemical warfare, there are presently no records of such use. HN-1 has been used to remove warts in the past, and HN-2 has been used sparingly in chemotherapy. 

Toxicology. Nitrogen mustards are vesicants and alkylating agents that damage the respiratory airways and cause skin and eye burns. 

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Physiological Effects. The sulfur and nitrogen mustards act first as cell irritants and finally as a cell poison on all tissue surfaces contacted. The first symptoms usually appear in 4—6 h (4). The higher the concentration, the shorter the interval of time between the exposure to the agent and the first symptoms. Local action of the mustards results in conjunctivitis (inflammation of the eyes) erythema (redness of the skin), which may be followed by blistering or ulceration and an inflammatory reaction of the nose, throat, trachea, bronchi, and lung tissue. Injuries produced by mustard heal much more slowly and are much more Fable to infection than bums of similar intensity produced by physical means or by other chemicals. 

HN-2 has the greatest blistering power of the nitrogen mustards in vapor form but is intermediate as a liquid blistering agent. It produces toxic eye effects more rapidly than does HD. 

H-series agents - a series of persistent blister agents, that include distilled mustard (HD) and the nitrogen mustards (HN-1, HN-2, and HN-3). 

Vesicants/blister agents sulfur mustard, lewisite, nitrogen mustard, mustard lewisite, and phosgene oxime. 

Blister agents such as distilled mustard (HD) and nitrogen mustard (HN) have a slow rate of action and might be persistence for three days to one week in warm weather and for some weeks in cold weather, while lewisite (L) and mustard/lewisite (HL) have a quick rate of action and would be persistent for one to three days during summer and for weeks during winter. Route of entry for these blister agents would be nearly the same eyes, lungs, and skin for vapor or aerosol, but for liquid, the points of entry would be the eyes and skin for HD and HN and eyes, skin, and mouth for L and HL. 

Most chemical agents contain specific elements in common. G and V agents all contain phosphoms and blister agents, like the mustards, contain sulfur or nitrogen. The combustion of these materials yields excited atoms that emit light characteristic of these elements. The emissions are viewed through an interference filter by a photodetector. As an alternative to a flame, low-powered, inductively coupled (or microwave) plasmas have been used as emission sources. These sources have been combined with... 

Blister agents/vesieants. These compoimds severely blister the eyes, respiratory traet and skin on exposure, and inelude nitrogen mustard, sulfur mustard. Lewisite, ete. 

Vesicant (blister) agents Lewisite (an aliphatic arsenic compound, 2-chlorovi-nyldichloroarsine), nitrogen and sulfur mustards, phosgene oxime... 

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