Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. One of the most (in)famous poisons is cyanide. It has been used in the attempted poisoning of Rasputin, in the Nazi gas chambers, as well as in the suicides of many of Hitler's closest followers. Both the gaseous hydrogen cyanide and the salt potassium cyanide are fast-acting poisons. What is the chemical formula of the latter - a well-soluble colourless solid?
2. Another well-known killer is strychnine. Sometimes used as a pesticide for extermination of small vertebrates, it has also been responsible throughout the centuries for many suicides and murders. Strychnine belongs to a large class of substances known as alkaloids. Which of the following statements regarding these chemicals is TRUE?
3. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Europe, a poison became so popular as a means of committing murder, it got nicknamed "poudre de succession" (French for "inheritance powder"). It was a favourite due to the fact that, being odorless, it could easily be hidden in food. Since the symptoms of the poisoning mimic those of cholera, it was difficult to prove the victim had been poisoned. This changed in the early 19th century, when a method for its detection, the Marsh test, was developed. From a chemical perspective, the substance is the oxide of a metalloid. Which poison is this?
4. While to some "heavy metal" is merely a music genre, the phrase also denotes a number of poisonous elements. One important example is mercury, also known as quicksilver - the only liquid metal under room temperature. Both the element itself and most of its compounds are highly toxic. However, the level of toxicity depends on what is known as the bioavailability, i.e. how easily a substance can reach cells. Which of the following is the least toxic, being non-volatile and virtually insoluble in water?
5. An incident involving a heavy metal was the contamination of groundwater in the town of Hinkley, California with chromium(VI), made famous by its dramatisation in the film "Erin Brockovich". The pollution resulted in an increased number of cancer cases in the community. The company responsible for the release of the chemical was subsequently sued, which resulted in a record settlement of $333 million.
What does the Roman numeral VI in chromium(VI) denote?
6. A well-known class of poisonous substances are dioxins, or, more accurately, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs). They are best known for their damaging effects during the Vietnam War, as pollutants in the herbicide Agent Orange; as well as for the poisoning of former Ukraine president Viktor Yushchenko in 2004.
The name dioxin stems from the fact that each molecule contains a 1,4-dioxin ring in its structure. This is named according to the nomenclature for heterocycles (cycles containing atoms other than carbon): the root "-in" stands for an unsaturated ring consisting of six atoms; the numbers denote the position of the heteroatoms; the prefix "ox-" shows these to be oxygen atoms, and the prefix "di-" gives their number. How many are they?
7. The name curare encompasses several alkaloids used by indigenous peoples of South and Central America to poison arrowheads or darts. They act as muscle relaxants by disrupting the action of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh). The cause of death in a curare poisoning is asphyxiation due to paralysis of the respiratory muscles.
The neurotransmitter ACh consists of an acetate rest bound to the amino alcohol choline. What type of functional group, produced by the reaction of an acid with an alcohol, does ACh contain?
8. Throughout history, poisonous chemicals have been employed in warfare as weapons on multiple occasions. The first large-scale application of a lethal gas occurred during World War I. In 1915 the Germans launched an attack on enemy lines using a gas that is yellowish-green in colour, contains two chlorine atoms in its molecule and reacts with water to produce a mixture of two acids. Which substance is this?
9. Another staple in World War I chemical warfare was mustard gas. A liquid with a characteristic odor, it was used to incapacitate the enemy and pollute the battlefield, as it causes extremely painful blisters and sometimes death of the affected soldiers. It is rapidly absorbed through the skin, due to the fact that it is poorly soluble in water, but well soluble in fat. What is this property called?
10. In a "fighting fire with fire" approach, the treatment for nerve agents, such as sarin, soman and tabun, includes administering another well-known poison, atropine.
11. While many of the chemicals described previously were used to kill humans during times of war, some countries (most notedly the USA) apply poisons during times of peace to put people to death as punishment for serious crimes. This type of death penalty, known as a lethal injection, is supposedly considered more humane than other procedures, as the person is initially put to sleep, before their breathing and heart are stopped.
A substance typically used in the initial step of such a procedure is sodium thiopental, a fast-acting barbiturate. The presence of which chemical element in its structure is indicated by the prefix "thio-" in the name?
12. A well-known historic instance of capital punishment is the execution of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates in 339 BC. He was put on trial for impiety and corrupting the youth and sentenced to death by drinking an infusion of poison hemlock.
The main poisonous substance in hemlock is the alkaloid coniine (2-propylpiperidine). It exists in two forms, (S)-(+)-coniine and (R)-(-)-coniine. The two structures are non-superimposable mirror images of each other and rotate plane-polarised light in opposite directions. What are substances which exhibit these properties known as?
13. Unfortunately, sometimes poisons are used by people attempting to kill themselves. This is often achieved by overdosing on drugs - sleeping pills being a common choice. Another well-known and, sadly, easy to achieve option is suicide via carbon monoxide poisoning. For this method, the person uses a tube - often a garden hose - to transfer fumes from a car's exhaust pipe to the car's inside. In time, the air gets saturated with the poisonous gas, suffocating the person. The effect of the gas is based on the fact that it binds to the protein in red blood cells which is responsible for oxygen transport in the body. What is this molecule called?
14. Quite counter-intuitively, sometimes poisons can be used to do good, instead of harm. This is the case with chemotherapy - the treatment of cancer with drugs. The idea the method is based on is to poison the cancerous cells, while leaving the body's healthy cells (mostly) unharmed. A well-established cancer-fighting drug is cisplatin - a platinum-based metal complex. Which of the following statements regarding its structure is NOT true?
15. Poisons don't have to be necessarily exotic, complicated to synthesise or difficult to obtain. Indeed, sometimes they can come from places we wouldn't initially expect. Which of these common household chemicals can be toxic to a human?
Source: Author
mchem
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rossian before going online.
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