Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is any of several chemical compounds that contain the chemical structure S(CH2CH2Cl)2. In the wider sense, compounds with the substituent S(CH2CH2X)2 and N(CH2CH2X)3 are known as sulfur mustards and nitrogen mustards, respectively, where X = Cl or Br. Such compounds are potent alkylating agents, which can interfere with several biological processes. Also known as mustard agents, this family of compounds are infamous cytotoxins and blister agents with a long history of use as chemical weapons. The name mustard gas is technically incorrect: the substances, when dispersed, are often not gases but a fine mist of liquid droplets. Sulfur mustards are viscous liquids at room temperature and have an odor resembling mustard plants, garlic, or horseradish, hence the name. When pure, they are colorless, but when used in impure forms, such as in warfare, they are usually yellow-brown. Mustard gases form blisters on exposed skin and in the lungs, often resulting in prolonged illness ending in death. The typical mustard gas is the organosulfur compound bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide.
Cantharidin is an odorless, colorless fatty substance of the terpenoid class, which is secreted by many species of blister beetles. It is a burn agent or a poison in large doses, but preparations containing it were historically used as aphrodisiacs. In its natural form, cantharidin is secreted by the male blister beetle, and given to the female as a copulatory gift during mating. Afterwards, the female beetle covers her eggs with it as a defense against predators.
Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell (cytotoxicity) or an organ such as the liver (hepatotoxicity). Sometimes the word is more or less synonymous with poisoning in everyday usage.
The Draize test is an acute toxicity test devised in 1944 by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) toxicologists John H. Draize and Jacob M. Spines. Initially used for testing cosmetics, the procedure involves applying 0.5 mL or 0.5 g of a test substance to the eye or skin of a restrained, conscious animal, and then leaving it for set amount of time before rinsing it out and recording its effects. The animals are observed for up to 14 days for signs of erythema and edema in the skin test, and redness, swelling, discharge, ulceration, hemorrhaging, cloudiness, or blindness in the tested eye. The test subject is commonly an albino rabbit, though other species are used too, including dogs. The animals are euthanized after testing if the test renders irreversible damage to the eye or skin. Animals may be re-used for testing purposes if the product tested causes no permanent damage. Animals are typically reused after a "wash out" period during which all traces of the tested product are allowed to disperse from the test site.
Lewisite (L) (A-243) is an organoarsenic compound. It was once manufactured in the U.S., Japan, Germany and the Soviet Union for use as a chemical weapon, acting as a vesicant and lung irritant. Although the substance is colorless and odorless in its pure form, impure samples of lewisite are a yellow, brown, violet-black, green, or amber oily liquid with a distinctive odor that has been described as similar to geraniums.
Irritation, in biology and physiology, is a state of inflammation or painful reaction to allergy or cell-lining damage. A stimulus or agent which induces the state of irritation is an irritant. Irritants are typically thought of as chemical agents but mechanical, thermal (heat), and radiative stimuli can also be irritants. Irritation also has non-clinical usages referring to bothersome physical or psychological pain or discomfort.
A chemical burn occurs when living tissue is exposed to a corrosive substance or a cytotoxic agent. Chemical burns follow standard burn classification and may cause extensive tissue damage. The main types of irritant and/or corrosive products are: acids, bases, oxidizers / reducing agents, solvents, and alkylants. Additionally, chemical burns can be caused by biological toxins and by some types of cytotoxic chemical weapons, e.g., vesicants such as mustard gas and Lewisite, or urticants such as phosgene oxime.
Chlormethine, also known as mechlorethamine, mustine, HN2, and embikhin (эмбихин), is a nitrogen mustard sold under the brand name Mustargen among others. It is the prototype of alkylating agents, a group of anticancer chemotherapeutic drugs. It works by binding to DNA, crosslinking two strands and preventing cell duplication. It binds to the N7 nitrogen on the DNA base guanine. As the chemical is a blister agent, its use is strongly restricted within the Chemical Weapons Convention where it is classified as a Schedule 1 substance.
Phosgene oxime, or CX, is an organic compound with the formula Cl2C=N−OH. It is a potent chemical weapon, specifically a nettle agent, which is a type of blister agent. The compound itself is a colorless solid, but impure samples are often yellowish liquids. It has a strong, disagreeable and irritating odor. It is used as a reagent in organic chemistry.
Bis(2-chloroethyl)ethylamine is the organic compound with the formula C2H5N(CH2CH2Cl)2. Often abbreviated HN1, it is a powerful vesicant and a nitrogen mustard gas used for chemical warfare. HN1 was developed in the 1920s and 1930s to remove warts and later as a military agent. Because of the latter use, it is a Schedule 1 chemical within the Chemical Weapons Convention and therefore use and production is strongly restricted. It has never been used in warfare.
2-Chloro-N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl)ethanamine, also known as trichlormethine, tris(2-chloroethyl)amine is the organic compound with the formula N(CH2CH2Cl)3. Often abbreviated HN3 or HN-3, it is a powerful blister agent and a nitrogen mustard used for chemical warfare. HN3 was the last of the nitrogen mustard agents developed. It was designed as a military agent and is the only one of the nitrogen mustards that is still used for military purposes. It is the principal representative of the nitrogen mustards because its vesicant properties are almost equal to those of HD and thus the analogy between the two types of mustard is the strongest. As a vesicant the use and production is strongly restricted within the Chemical Weapons Convention where it is classified as a Schedule 1 substance.
A dermatotoxin or dermatoxin is a toxic chemical that damages skin, mucous membranes, or both, often leading to tissue necrosis. Dermatoxins can be drugs, natural chemicals, or synthetic chemicals.
Methyldichloroarsine, sometimes abbreviated "MD" and also known as methyl Dick, is an organoarsenic compound with the formula CH3AsCl2. This colourless volatile liquid is a highly toxic vesicant that has been used in chemical warfare.
Phenyldichloroarsine, also known by its wartime name phenyl Dick and its NATO abbreviation PD, is an organic arsenical vesicant and vomiting agent developed by Germany and France for use as a chemical warfare agent during World War I. The agent is known by multiple synonyms and is technically classified as a vesicant, or blister agent.
Acute inhalation injury may result from frequent and widespread use of household cleaning agents and industrial gases. The airways and lungs receive continuous first-pass exposure to non-toxic and irritant or toxic gases via inhalation. Irritant gases are those that, on inhalation, dissolve in the water of the respiratory tract mucosa and provoke an inflammatory response, usually from the release of acidic or alkaline radicals. Smoke, chlorine, phosgene, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and ammonia are common irritants.
KB-16 is a nitrosocarbamate vesicant. KB-16 is part of the corneal clouding chemical warfare agents. KB-16 clouds the cornea for a long time.
Lewisite 2(L-2) is an organoarsenic chemical weapon with the formula AsCl(CH=CHCl)2. It is similar to lewisite 1 and lewisite 3 and was first synthesized in 1904 by Julius Arthur Nieuwland. It is usually found as a mixture of 2-chlorovinylarsonous dichloride (lewisite 1) as well as bis(2-chloroethenyl) arsinous chloride (lewisite 2) and tris(2-chlorovinyl)arsine (lewisite 3). Pure lewisite 1 is an oily, colorless liquid, however, the impure mixture can appear amber to black with an odor distinct to geraniums.
Lewisite 3(L-3) is an organoarsenic chemical weapon like lewisite 1 and lewisite 2 first synthesized in 1904 by Julius Arthur Nieuwland. It is usually found as a mixture of 2-chlorovinylarsonous dichloride as well as bis(2-chloroethenyl) arsinous chloride and tris(2-chlorovinyl)arsine. Pure lewisite 1 is an oily, colorless liquid, however, the impure mixture can appear amber to black with an odor distinct to geraniums.
O-Mustard (T) is a vesicant chemical weapon, a type of mustard gas, with around 3 times the toxicity of the original sulfur mustard. It was developed in England in the 1930s as a thickener for mustard gas to make it more persistent when used in warm climates. A mixture of 60% sulfur mustard and 40% O-mustard also has a lower freezing point than pure sulfur mustard, and was given the code name HT. O-mustard is a Schedule I substance under the Chemical Weapons Convention.
