Yes I'm aware of the extreme toxicity of arsenic compounds, yes I have a fume hood and full PPE, and yes I have lab experience/hazmat disposal.
I am on a quest to synthesize Paris Green for an art project using only 19th century pigments. The final product will be encased in glass and kept in a private residence with extensive warnings about toxicity so please spare your concerns as I assure you mine are greater.
I have everything I need for the synthesis except As2O3 - a chemical that is quite hard to find (for good reason). All arsenic compounds are extremely expensive to buy/ship with the sole exception of realgar, an arsenic sulfide mineral. I have recently come into possession of a decent quantity of realgar powder and I would like to chemically convert it to As2O3 if possible. I have plenty of equipment and reagents, but I'm struggling to come up with a method on my own.
I have considered simply heating it in a crucible with a torch in the hopes that the products would be SO2 and As2O3, but I'm not certain that this would work. I'm worried that I may just end up with a mix of AsXSX compounds as opposed to truly isolating the As2O3.
Any ideas? Would the crucible probably work fine? Can I do it without heat to avoid any arsenic vapor?
I thought about trying to dissolve it in an acid and work from there, but I'm very concerned about arsine production. Fume hood helps of course, but I'm just not wild about vapor phase arsenic either way.
Do your worst!
>Background
>William Hardaker, known to locals as "Humbug Billy", sold sweets from a stall in the Greenmarket in central Bradford (now the site of Bradford's Arndale Centre).[3][4] Hardaker purchased his supplies from Joseph Neal, who made the sweets (or "lozenges") on Stone Street a few hundred yards to the north. The lozenges in question were peppermint humbugs, made of peppermint oil incorporated into a base of sugar and gum.[2] However, sugar was expensive (6½d per 1 pound (0.45 kg)) and so Neal would substitute powdered gypsum (½d per 1 pound (0.45 kg)) — known as "daff" — for some of the required sugar.[5][4][6] The adulteration of foodstuffs with cheaper substances was common at the time and the adulterators used obscure nicknames ("daff", "multum", "flash", "stuff") to hide the practice.[7][8]
>Accidental poisoning
>On the occasion in question, Neal sent James Archer, a lodger who lived at his house, to collect daff for Hardaker's humbugs from druggist Charles Hodgson. Hodgson's pharmacy was 3 miles (4.8 km) away at Baildon Bridge in Shipley.[9] Hodgson was at his pharmacy, but did not serve Archer owing to illness and so his requests were seen to by his young assistant, William Goddard.[2][10] Goddard asked Hodgson where the daff was, and was told that it was in a cask in a corner of the attic.[8] However, rather than daff, Goddard sold Archer 12 pounds (5.4 kg) of arsenic trioxide.[6]
>The mistake remained undetected even during manufacture of the sweets by James Appleton, an "experienced sweetmaker"[2] employed by Neal, though Appleton did observe that the finished product looked different from the usual humbugs. Appleton was suffering symptoms of illness during the sweet-making process and was ill for several days afterwards with vomiting and pain in his hands and arms, but did not realise it was caused by poison.[11] 40 pounds (18 kg) of lozenges were sold to Hardaker who also noticed the sweets looked unusual and used this to obtain a discount from Neal. Like Appleton, Hardaker, as one of the first to taste the sweets, also promptly became ill.
>Arsenic trioxide is a white, crystalline powder that closely resembles sugar. It has no odour or taste. Regardless, Hardaker sold 5 pounds (2.3 kg) of the sweets from his market stall that night – reportedly at a price of 1½d for 2 ounces (57 g).[2] Of those who purchased and ate the sweets, 21 people died with a further 200 or so becoming severely ill with arsenic poisoning wi
... keep reading on reddit ➡For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.
I said "hey look, an escaPEA"
No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!
Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂
It really does, I swear!
They’re on standbi
#Long Kept Secret
We, in ISRO, occasionally heard about highly suspicious death of Prof. Vikram Sarabhai in 1971. Also heard occasional doubts about sudden death of Dr. S Srinivasan, Director of VSSC in 1999. Case of Shri Nambinarayanan in 1994 is well known. But I never thought that I will be at the receiving end of such mystery.
I was poisoned with deadly Arsenic Trioxide on 23rd May 2017, during promotion interview from Sci/Eng SF to SG in ISRO HQ at Bangalore. Fatal dose was probably mixed with chutney along with Dosai, in snacks after lunch. What followed was nightmare lasting for almost two years Severe loss of blood to the tune of 30-40% through anal bleeding. I barely could come back from Bangalore and was rushed to Zydus Cadila hospital in Ahmedabad. It was followed by severe breathing difficulty, unusual skin eruptions and skin shedding, loss of nails on feet and hands, terrible neurological issues due to hypoxia, skeletal pain, unusual sensations, one suspected heart attack and Arsenic depositions and fungal infections on every inch of skin and internal organs. Treatment was received in Zydus cadilla, TMH-Mumbai and AIIMS-Delhi over a period of two years. Famed forensic specialist, Dr. Sudhir Gupta told me that in his whole career, for the first time he was seeing a live specimen of a survivor of assassination attempt with fatal dose of assassination grade molecular As2O3. Otherwise his experience was limited to cadavers.
I am thankful to one of my Director colleagues, present at the same meeting, who warned me on 5th June 2017, of possibility of poison given to me. Probably, I guess, he witnessed poison mixing in my food. On 7th June, MHA security agency personnels met me and alerted me of Arsenic poisoning. I am thankful to them, as their info helped doctors to focus on exact remedy instead of scratching their heads with unusual signatures of my ailment. Security agencies took me to different cities. I am sure, without their intervention, I would have been dead with multiple organ failure within two to three weeks.
I learnt that this poison is given in molecular level suspension (crystal level is harmless) just after heavy meal. It is a colourless, odourless, tasteless suspension and hence cannot even be suspected. It gets absorbed through stomach during food ingestion, kills RBCs immediately to such large extent that the fine blood vessels are clogged, leading to heart attacks and strokes within two to three hours and the victim can easil
... keep reading on reddit ➡
Pilot on me!!
