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Soman

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Soman
Identifiers
PubChem 7305
ChemSpider 7032 YesY
ChEMBL CHEMBL15910 YesY
Jmol-3D images Image 1
Properties
Molecular formula C7H16FO2P
Molar mass 182.17 g mol−1
Appearance When pure, colorless liquid with fruity odor. With impurities, amber or dark brown, with oil of camphor odor
Density 1.022 g/cm³
Melting point

-42 °C, 231 K, -44 °F

Boiling point

198 °C, 471 K, 388 °F

Solubility in water Moderate
Vapor pressure 0.40 mmHg (53 Pa)
Hazards
Main hazards Highly Toxic
NFPA 704
NFPA 704.svg
1
4
1
 YesY (verify) (what is: YesY/N?)
Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa)
Infobox references

Soman, or GD (systematic name: O-Pinacolyl methylphosphonofluoridate), is an extremely toxic chemical substance. It is a nerve agent, interfering with normal functioning of the mammalian nervous system by inhibiting the cholinesterase enzyme. As a chemical weapon, it is classified as a weapon of mass destruction by the United Nations according to UN Resolution 687. Its production is strictly controlled, and stockpiling is outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 where it is classified as a Schedule 1 substance. Soman was the third of the so-called G-series nerve agents to be discovered along with GA (tabun), GB (sarin), and GF (cyclosarin).

It is a volatile, corrosive, and colorless liquid with a faint odor when pure. More commonly, it is a yellow to brown color and has a strong odor described as similar to camphor. The LCt50 for soman is 70 mg·min/m3 in humans. It is both more lethal and more persistent than sarin or tabun, but less so than cyclosarin.

GD can be thickened for use as a chemical spray using an acryloid copolymer. It can also be deployed as a binary chemical weapon; its precursor chemicals are methylphosphonyl difluoride and a mixture of pinacolyl alcohol and an amine.

Contents

[edit] History

Soman was discovered by Richard Kuhn in Germany in 1944, and represented the last wartime nerve agent discovery (GF was not found until 1949). Soman was given the identifier GD post-war (GC was already in medical use) when the information relating to soman was recovered by the Soviet Union from its hiding place in a mine. The crystal structure of soman complexed with acetylcholinesterase was determined by Millard et al. (1999) by X-ray crystallography (PDB codes: 2wfz, 2wg0, 2wg1, and 1som).

[edit] Synthesis

The manufacture of Soman is very similar to the manufacture of Sarin. The difference is that the isopropanol from the Sarin processes is replaced with pinacolyl alcohol:

MeP(O)Cl2 + MeP(O)F2 + (CH3)3 CCH(CH3)OH → MePO(F)OCH(CH3)C(CH3)3 + HCl

Another methode for producing soman is using of chlorosoman which then will be react with NaF resulting GD. Both methods lead to the formation of a mixture of four stereoisomers of soman.

Soman, a mixture of four stereoisomers.

[edit] Protective Measures

Langston and Myers tested the influence of diet on soman toxicity in rats. For this purpose, rats were fed four different diets: standard (SD), choline-enriched (CH), glucose-enriched (GL) and a ketogenic diet (KD). The doses used in this study were 0.4-0.5 of the acute 24-h LD50.

30% of the GL group died after the third administration of soman (0.4 LD50) and the remaining 70% died after the fourth administration of 0.5 LD50. At this cumulative dose (352ug/kg), only 10% of the SD group died, while all of the rats fed a KD and CH survived. When the cumulative dose was greater than 400ug/kg, both SD and CH groups had an approximate terminal survival value of 55%. In contrast, only one animal in the KD group died after the final soman administration (cumulative dose of 627ug/kg). 90% of KD-fed rats survived.

"Specifically, all KD animals survived a cumulative 5.0 LD50 dose of soman, whereas all glucose animals died following a cumulative 3.2 LD50 dose of soman. Not only was survival enhanced in KD animals, but there were also minimal differences in body weights compared to dietary controls injected with saline. Furthermore, KD animals exposed to soman exhibited few performance decrements on an avoidance task, and there were fewer instances of behavioral incapacitation in KD animals compared to the other diet groups."

[edit] References

[edit] See also

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