Poisoning properties

Extreme care should be taken when working with selenium dioxide because of its poisonous properties. 

Because small children may suck on matches, the question of toxicity is often raised and the lingering, vague, though unwarranted idea of phosphoms poisoning may cause concern to laymen and even to physicians. Potassium chlorate is the only active material that can be extracted in more than traces from a match head and only 9 mg are contained in one head. This, even multiphed by the content of a whole book, is far below any toxic amount (19) for even a small child. No poisonous properties whatsoever can be imputed to the striking strip. SAW matches are similarly harmless but, because of their easy flammabihty, they should be entirely kept out of a household with smaller children. The same warning may apply to all wooden matches. 

The common hemlock, Conium maculatum, contain five alkaloids. Power and Tutin found a similar mixture in fool s parsley, and a volatile alkaloid resembling coniine i.s stated to occur in certain aroids. According to Svagr, water hemlock Cicuta virosa) owes its poisonous properties to toxin and not to cicutine, a name sometimes used as a synonym for coniine. The toxic properties of hemlock juice have been known ftom very early times thus it was the chief ingredient in the poison administered to criminals by the Greeks. The leaves and the unripe fruits are the parts used in medicine. The following are the names and formulae of the alkaloids —... 

Using a burette or a pipette with a safety pump (this is necessary owing to the poisonous properties of the solution) measure out 25.0 mL of the arsenite solution into a 250 mL conical flask, add 25-50 mL of water, 5g of sodium hydrogencarbonate, and 2 mL of starch solution. Swirl the solution carefully until the hydrogencarbonate has dissolved. Then titrate slowly with the iodine solution, contained in a burette, to the first blue colour. 

The wide publicity given DDT and the many new pesticides that have been developed during the past few years has made the public aware of the widespread use of spray chemicals. Many misstatements about the poisonous properties of these new products have caused abnormal concern and fear over the possible presence of excessive amounts of spray residues on food crops. This concern is a natural one, because the public does not realize the very small amount of the insecticidal residue that may remain on a single service of food, which usually does not exceed 0.25 pound in weight. Nor does the public realize that only a relatively small percentage of the food we eat has ever been treated with a spray or dust of a specific pesticide. 

Lead (chemical symbol Pb, from the Latin name for the metal, plumbum) is a gray, soft, ductile, and very poisonous metal, although its poisonous properties were probably unknown to the ancients. The metal has been used, particularly in China and India, since very ancient times. Lead is not found in nature in the native, metallic form, although tiny particles of the metal are occasionally encrusted in rocks. It is unlikely, therefore, that the metal would... 

A further fact must be taken into account, which for obvious reasons did not appear in Haslam s article. As a consequence of our contracts with the Americans, we received from them above and beyond the agreement many very valuable contributions for the synthesis and improvement of motor fuels and lubrication oils, which just now during the war are most useful to us. It need not be especially mentioned that without lead-tetraethyl the present method of warfare would be unthinkable. The fact that since the beginning of the war we could produce lead-tetraethyl is entirely due to the circumstances that, shortly before, the Americans had presented us with the production plans, complete with experimental knowledge. Thus the difficult work of development (one need only recall the poisonous property of lead-tetraethyl, which caused many deaths in the U.S.A.) was spared us, since we could take up the manufacture of this product together with ail the experience that the Americans had gathered over long years. 

Those early metallurgists who were clever enough to learn how to transform crude ores to shiny metals were prohahly also observant enough to discover that some of the materials being worked with could harm them. Some of the earliest written accounts of humans on earth provide evidence that the ancient Greeks and Romans were well aware of the poisonous properties of certain plants and metals. The case of the poisoning of Socrates with hemlock is only the most famous of the early references to the deliberate use of certain plants for suicidal or homicidal purposes. 

Table 4.3 Poisonous properties of some common plants (The specific chemicals involved are in some cases not known)...

White RP, Hay J. 1901. Some recent inquiries and researches into the poisonous properties of naphthalene and the aromatic compounds. Lancet 2 582-584. 

The main genera responsible for freshwater toxic blooms are Microcystis, Anabaena, Aphanizomenon and Oscillatoria. Toxins produced include 1. anatoxins, alkaloids and peptides of Anabaena 2. the peptide microcystin and related peptides of Microcystis 3. aphantoxins, compounds of Aphanizomenon with properties similar to some paralytic shellfish poisons. Properties of Oscillatoria toxin suggest they are peptides similar to those of Microcystis. Microcystis toxins are peptides (M.W. approx. 1200) which contain three invariant D-amino acids, alanine, erythro-3-methyl aspartic and glutamic acids, two variant L-amino acids, N-methyl dehydro alanine and a 3-amino acid. Individual toxic strains have one or more multiples of this peptide toxin. The one anatoxin characterized is a bicylic secondary amine called anatoxin-a (M.W. 165). The aphantoxin isolated in our laboratory contains two main toxic fractions. On TLC and HPLC the fractions have the same characteristics as saxitoxin and neosaxitoxin. 

DC021 Burlage, H. M. Index of the plants of Texas with reputed medicinal and poisonous properties. Published by author 1968. 

Physiological Effects of Lead and its Compounds.— With the exception of one or two of the most insoluble compounds of lead, all the others are known to have very active poisonous properties. The sulphide of lead, the sulphate, and sulphite, if possessed of such, are not,... 

The preparation of any quantity of selenium dioxide from selenium is hardly worth while, and it is better to purify the commercially available dioxide. Extreme care should be taken in this operation, which should be conducted in an efficient fume cupboard, because of the very poisonous properties of selenium... 

Thallium, atomic no. 81 This element is better known for its poisonous properties and links with almost undetected deaths and Agatha Christie -type murder mysteries.2 Thallium compounds are used in some countries as cheap insecticides, particularly for killing cockroaches. Intake of this element causes stomach pains, vomiting and nausea, painful soles and palms of hands, limb weakness, double vision, involuntary eye movements, hallucina tions, characteristic hair loss and white lines across the nails. The symptoms are often mis-diagnosed as other diseases. Treatment is with the chemical Prussian Blue... 

This name reflects the poisonous property of the plant Atropos was the one of the three Fates (moirai) who cut the thread of life. 

I-IX) is far from complete, we can safely state that alkaloids have potent deterrent or poisonous properties in herbivorous animals, and also affect bacteria, fungi, viruses, and plants. The next question will be whether all the adverse activities of alkaloids, which are often assayed in in vitro systems only, are meaningful in Nature. 

The poisonous properties of the puffer fish have been known for centuries, and were described as early as ad 220 in China. A Chinese treatise written in ad 600 by Chaun Yanfang (Studies on the Origin of Diseases) described the liver, ovaries, and roe as the most poisonous. Despite the risks, puffer fish is stiU eaten as a delicacy in Japan, where it is known as fugu. Fish that contain the toxin are also accidentally eaten sometimes. Consequently poisoning cases do occur. Between 1974 and 1983 there were 646 cases and 179 fatalities. It has been estimated that as many as 200 cases a year may occur, with a mortality rate of up to 50 per cent. A trained chef should know which parts of the fish to avoid. 

Addition of carbon monoxide and hydrogen to an alkene linkage in the presence of cobalt catalysts gives aldehydes in an average yield of 50%. The reactions may be carried out in the usual hydrogenation apparatus. The poisonous properties of carbon monoxide and cobalt carbonyls call for considerable care. Compounds made by hydroformylation include cyclopentanealdehyde from cyclopentene (65%), /3-carbethoxy-propionaldehyde from ethyl acrylate (74%), and ethyl /3-formylbutyrate from ethyl crotonate (71%). 

There is no evidence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot) but this plant also has poisonous properties, which are attributed to an unstable toxin called tremetol. Transfer from cow s milk to humans can produce a condition known as milk sickness, including trembles, weakness, nausea and vomiting, prostration, delirium, and even death. 

Alkaloids.—Chemically, these are basic carbonaceous amines which like glucosides are products of metabolism. Their method of formation in plants is uncertain. Some hold that they are kata-bolic products, resulting from the breaking down of tissues, while others believe them anabolic in character. They undoubtedly serve as defensive agents in plants containing them on account of their bitter taste and poisonous properties. 

Due to their obnoxious smell and catalyst-poisoning properties, active thioesters have only encountered limited use. 

Dinitrobenzene is but little used. It is objectionable on account of its poisonous properties. The main ingredient is the meta-derivative, but the other isomers arc also present, and the commercial product may give a setting point as low as 80°. It should be free from mono-nitrobenzene, which can be recognised by its smell. 

Poisonous properties.—The amount of poison present in any part of this plant varies with the conditions of growth. The more musky-odored plants are the most poisonous. In some, the amount of alkaloid in the ripe fruit and leaves is so small that these parts may be, and are, consumed in considerable quantity without any ill consequences. Poisoning does sometimes follow, but it is not clear whether this is due to improper preparation or to careless selection of the parts used. The use of black nightshade for food is certainly not to be recommended. Cases of poisoning are recorded for calves, sheep, goats, and swine. 

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