Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The nitrites oxidize hemoglobin to methemoglobin, which competes with cytochrome oxidase for the cyanide ion. Cyanmethemoglobin is formed and the cytochrome oxidase enzyme is restored. The major mechanism to remove the cyanide from the body is by enzymatic conversion to thiocyanate by the mitochondrial enzyme rhodanese. Thiocyanate is a ...
Cyanide ions interfere with cellular respiration, resulting in the body's tissues being unable to use oxygen. [2] Diagnosis is often difficult. [2] It may be suspected in a person following a house fire who has a decreased level of consciousness, low blood pressure, or high lactic acid. [2] Blood levels of cyanide can be measured but take time. [2]
The expected LD100 dose (human) for potassium cyanide is 200–300 mg while the median lethal dose LD50 is estimated at 140 mg. [16] People who killed themselves, were killed, or killed someone else using potassium cyanide include: Viktor Meyer, 19th-century German chemist, died by suicide in 1897 after taking cyanide [17]
Cyanide is naturally present in human tissues in very small quantities. It is metabolized by rhodanese , a live enzyme at a rate of approximately 17 μg/kg·min. Rhodanese catalyzes the irreversible reaction forming thiocyanate from cyanide and sulfane which is non-toxic and can be excreted through the urine.
A minor exception is cyanide, which can be metabolized by the liver. The enzyme rhodanese converts the cyanide into the much less toxic thiocyanate. [11] This process allows humans to ingest small amounts of cyanide in food like apple seeds and survive small amounts of cyanide gas from fires and cigarettes.
Parts-per-million cube of relative abundance by mass of elements in an average adult human body down to 1 ppm. About 99% of the mass of the human body is made up of six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. Only about 0.85% is composed of another five elements: potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium ...
The nature of the poison used is also contested, with the book suggesting that a non-lethal chemical may have been used instead of cyanide. Cillian Murphy in ‘Oppenheimer' (Melinda Sue Gordon ...
Cyanogen is typically generated from cyanide compounds. One laboratory method entails thermal decomposition of mercuric cyanide: . 2 Hg(CN) 2 → (CN) 2 + Hg 2 (CN) 2 Or, one can combine solutions of copper(II) salts (such as copper(II) sulfate) with cyanides; an unstable copper(II) cyanide is formed which rapidly decomposes into copper(I) cyanide and cyanogen.