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Mustard gas or sulfur mustard is a chemical compound belonging to a family of cytotoxic and blister agents known as mustard agents. The name mustard gas is widely used, but it is technically incorrect: the substance, when dispersed, is often not actually in a vapor, but is instead in the form of a fine mist of liquid droplets.
Phosgene is the organic chemical compound with the formula COCl2. It is a colorless gas; in low concentrations, its odor resembles that of freshly cut hay or grass. Phosgene is a valued industrial building block, especially for the production of precursors of polyurethanes and polycarbonate plastics.
Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear warfare, biological warfare and radiological warfare, which together make up CBRN, the military acronym for nuclear, biological, and chemical, all of which are considered "weapons of mass destruction" (WMDs), a term that contrasts with conventional weapons.
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.
The use of toxic chemicals as weapons dates back thousands of years, but the first large scale use of chemical weapons was during World War I. They were primarily used to demoralize, injure, and kill entrenched defenders, against whom the indiscriminate and generally very slow-moving or static nature of gas clouds would be most effective. The types of weapons employed ranged from disabling chemicals, such as tear gas, to lethal agents like phosgene, chlorine, and mustard gas. This chemical warfare was a major component of the first global war and first total war of the 20th century. The killing capacity of gas was limited, with about 90,000 fatalities from a total of 1.3 million casualties caused by gas attacks. Gas was unlike most other weapons of the period because it was possible to develop countermeasures, such as gas masks. In the later stages of the war, as the use of gas increased, its overall effectiveness diminished. The widespread use of these agents of chemical warfare, and wartime advances in the composition of high explosives, gave rise to an occasionally expressed view of World War I as "the chemist's war" and also the era where weapons of mass destruction were created.
Lewisite (L) 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.
Diphosgene is a chemical compound with the formula ClCO2CCl3. This colorless liquid is a valuable reagent in the synthesis of organic compounds. Diphosgene is related to phosgene and has comparable toxicity, but is more conveniently handled because it is a liquid, whereas phosgene is a gas.
A blister agent, or vesicant, is a chemical compound that causes severe skin, eye and mucosal pain and irritation. They are named for their ability to cause severe chemical burns, resulting in painful water blisters on the bodies of those affected. Although the term is often used in connection with large-scale burns caused by chemical spills or chemical warfare agents, some naturally occurring substances such as cantharidin are also blister-producing agents (vesicants). Furanocoumarin, another naturally occurring substance, causes vesicant-like effects indirectly, for example, by increasing skin photosensitivity greatly. Vesicants have medical uses including wart removal but can be fatal if even small amounts are ingested.
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 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 Cl2CNOH. It is a potent chemical weapon, specifically a nettle agent. The compound itself is a colorless solid, but impure samples are often yellowish liquids. It has a strong, disagreeable odor and a violently irritating vapor. It is seldom used but is a precursor of compounds with fungicidal, biocidal and pesticide activity.
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.
Sesquimustard is a vesicant chemical weapon, a type of mustard gas. In its pure form it is more toxic and has up to five times the potency as a vesicant compared to standard mustard gas, though it is a solid at room temperature and so was only ever deployed as mixtures with the original mustard, with phosgene, or as a solution. Since 1997, it has been listed under Schedule I of the Chemical Weapons Convention, as a substance with few uses outside of chemical warfare.
Operation Top Hat was a "local field exercise" conducted by the United States Army Chemical Corps in 1953. The exercise involved the use of Chemical Corps personnel to test biological and chemical warfare decontamination methods. These personnel were deliberately exposed to these contaminants, so as to test decontamination.
Ethyldichloroarsine, sometimes abbreviated "ED" and also known as ethyl Dick, is an organoarsenic compound with the formula CH3CH2AsCl2. This colourless volatile liquid is a highly toxic obsolete vesicant or blister agent that was used during World War I in chemical warfare. The molecule is pyramidal with the Cl-As-Cl and C-As-Cl angles approaching 90° (see image). Ethyldichloroarsine has high chronic toxicity, similar to lewisite.
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.
C01-A035 is a Novichok agent. It is the methyl phosphorofluoridate ester of phosgene oxime.
C01-A039 is a Novichok agent. It is the ethyl phosphorofluoridate ester of phosgene oxime.
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.
References
- ↑ Smith, Kathleen J.; Skelton, Henry (July–August 2003). "Chemical Warfare Agents: Their Past and Continuing Threat and Evolving Therapies Part I of II". SKINmed: Dermatology for the Clinician. 2 (4): 215–222. doi:10.1111/j.1540-9740.2003.02509.x. PMID 14673274.
- ↑ Patočka, Jiří; Kamil Kuča (2011). "Phosgene Oxime – Forgotten Chemical Weapon" (PDF). Military Medical Science Letters (Vojenské Zdravotnické Listy). 80: 38–41. doi:10.31482/mmsl.2011.005 . Retrieved 14 October 2013.
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