Donovan's solution

Last updated
Donovan's Solution
Names
IUPAC name
Iodomercury; triiodoarsane
Other names
Liquor hydriodatis arsenici et hydrargyri
Identifiers
3D model (JSmol)
ChemSpider
PubChem CID
RTECS number
  • CG3200000
UN number 1557
  • InChI=1S/AsI3.Hg.HI/c2-1(3)4;;/h;;1H/q;+1;/p-1
    Key: QLULWSBMTZWVDE-UHFFFAOYSA-M
  • [As](I)(I)I.I[Hg]
Properties
AsHgI4
Molar mass 783.12948
AppearanceClear, colourless, or pale yellow. Darkens with age.
Boiling point 403 °C (757 °F; 676 K) at 760 mmHg
Yes
Hazards
Occupational safety and health (OHS/OSH):
Main hazards
Toxic
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).

Donovan's solution is an inorganic compound prepared from arsenic triiodide and mercuric iodide. [1] Despite its name, it is a compound and not a solution.

Contents

Method

Donovan's solution can be prepared by mixing arsenic triiodide, mercuric iodide, and sodium bicarbonate in aqueous solution. [2] [3]

Cooley's cyclopædia of practical receipts and ... information on the arts, manufactures, and trades gives a more complex method. [4]

Uses

The solution been used in veterinary medicine to treat chronic diseases of the skin [3] and as a folk remedy. [5] It was used during the 19th century to treat lepra vulgaris [6] and psoriasis [7] [8] in humans, taken internally.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iodine</span> Chemical element, symbol I and atomic number 53

Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at 114 °C (237 °F), and boils to a violet gas at 184 °C (363 °F). The element was discovered by the French chemist Bernard Courtois in 1811 and was named two years later by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac, after the Ancient Greek Ιώδης 'violet-coloured'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thallium</span> Chemical element, symbol Tl and atomic number 81

Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. It is a gray post-transition metal that is not found free in nature. When isolated, thallium resembles tin, but discolors when exposed to air. Chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861, in residues of sulfuric acid production. Both used the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy, in which thallium produces a notable green spectral line. Thallium, from Greek θαλλός, thallós, meaning "green shoot" or "twig", was named by Crookes. It was isolated by both Lamy and Crookes in 1862; Lamy by electrolysis, and Crookes by precipitation and melting of the resultant powder. Crookes exhibited it as a powder precipitated by zinc at the international exhibition, which opened on 1 May that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitrogen triiodide</span> Chemical compound

Nitrogen triiodide is an inorganic compound with the formula NI3. It is an extremely sensitive contact explosive: small quantities explode with a loud, sharp snap when touched even lightly, releasing a purple cloud of iodine vapor; it can even be detonated by alpha radiation. NI3 has a complex structural chemistry that is difficult to study because of the instability of the derivatives. Although nitrogen is more electronegative than iodine, the compound was so named due to its analogy to the compound nitrogen trichloride.

Cyanogen is the chemical compound with the formula (CN)2. The simplest stable carbon nitride, it is a colorless and highly toxic gas with a pungent odor. The molecule is a pseudohalogen. Cyanogen molecules consist of two CN groups – analogous to diatomic halogen molecules, such as Cl2, but far less oxidizing. The two cyano groups are bonded together at their carbon atoms: N≡C‒C≡N, although other isomers have been detected. The name is also used for the CN radical, and hence is used for compounds such as cyanogen bromide (NCBr) (but see also Cyano radical.)

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potassium iodide</span> Ionic compound (KI)

Potassium iodide is a chemical compound, medication, and dietary supplement. It is a medication used for treating hyperthyroidism, in radiation emergencies, and for protecting the thyroid gland when certain types of radiopharmaceuticals are used. In the third world it is also used for treating skin sporotrichosis and phycomycosis. It is a supplement used by people with low dietary intake of iodine. It is administered orally.

<i>Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy</i> Medical textbook

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phosphorus triiodide</span> Chemical compound

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arsenic acid</span> Chemical compound

Arsenic acid or arsoric acid is the chemical compound with the formula H3AsO4. More descriptively written as AsO(OH)3, this colorless acid is the arsenic analogue of phosphoric acid. Arsenate and phosphate salts behave very similarly. Arsenic acid as such has not been isolated, but is only found in solution, where it is largely ionized. Its hemihydrate form (2H3AsO4·H2O) does form stable crystals. Crystalline samples dehydrate with condensation at 100 °C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arsenous acid</span> Chemical compound

Arsenous acid (or arsenious acid) is the inorganic compound with the formula H3AsO3. It is known to occur in aqueous solutions, but it has not been isolated as a pure material, although this fact does not detract from the significance of As(OH)3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arsenic trichloride</span> Chemical compound

Arsenic trichloride is an inorganic compound with the formula AsCl3, also known as arsenous chloride or butter of arsenic. This poisonous oil is colourless, although impure samples may appear yellow. It is an intermediate in the manufacture of organoarsenic compounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isopropyl iodide</span> Chemical compound

Isopropyl iodide is the organoiodine compound with the formula (CH3)2CHI. It is colorless, flammable, and volatile. Organic iodides are light-sensitive and take on a yellow colour upon storage, owing to the formation of iodine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethyl iodide</span> Chemical compound

Ethyl iodide (also iodoethane) is a colorless flammable chemical compound. It has the chemical formula C2H5I and is prepared by heating ethanol with iodine and phosphorus. On contact with air, especially on the effect of light, it decomposes and turns yellow or reddish from dissolved iodine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mercury(I) iodide</span> Chemical compound

Mercury(I) iodide is a chemical compound of mercury and iodine. The chemical formula is Hg2I2. It is photosensitive and decomposes easily to mercury and HgI2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bismuth(III) iodide</span> Chemical compound

Bismuth(III) iodide is the inorganic compound with the formula BiI3. This gray-black salt is the product of the reaction of bismuth and iodine, which once was of interest in qualitative inorganic analysis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arsenic triiodide</span> Chemical compound

Arsenic triiodide is the inorganic compound with the formula AsI3. It is an orange to dark red solid that readily sublimes. It is a pyramidal molecule that is useful for preparing organoarsenic compounds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zirconium(III) iodide</span> Chemical compound

Zirconium(III) iodide is an inorganic compound with the formula ZrI3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lanthanum(III) iodide</span> Chemical compound

Lanthanum(III) iodide is an inorganic compound containing lanthanum and iodine with the chemical formula LaI
3
.

References

  1. Budavari, Susan (1989). "3413. Donovan's Solution" . The Merck Index (11th ed.). Merck & Co., Inc. p.  537. ISBN   091191028X. LCCN   89060001.
  2. Navy Department. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (1950). Pharmacy and Materia Medica: Military-medical Operations Courses. Bureau of Naval Personnel. p. 17.
  3. 1 2 Oxtoby, David W.; H.P. Gillis; Allan Campion (2012). Principles of modern chemistry (7th ed.). Belmont, Calif.: Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning. p. 513. ISBN   978-0840049315.
  4. Arnold James Cooley (1880). "Solution". In Richard Vine Tuson (ed.). A cyclopædia of practical receipts and ... information on the arts, manufactures, and trades. Vol. II (6th ed.). p. 1525.
  5. "Donovan's solution". Chemical Dictionary Online. Retrieved 29 November 2013.
  6. Sir Erasmus Wilson (1847). "Treatment of Lepra". On Diseases of the Skin (2nd ed.). John Churchill. p. 271.
  7. Henry G. Piffard (1881). "Psoriasis Treatment. Part 6". A Treatise On The Materia Medica And Therapeutics Of The Skin. Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington. p. 254.
  8. "Good Results of Donovan's Solution in Psoriasis". The Lancet. 70 (1770): 116. August 1857. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(02)38789-0.