Arsenic and Old Mustard: Chemical Problems in the Destruction of Old Arsenical and `Mustard' Munitions

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

   PDF

2. Lectures

   1. The Problem of Old Chemical Weapons Which Contain “Mustard Gas” or Organoarsenic Compounds: An Overview

      • Ron G. Manley

      Pages 1-16

   2. Destruction of Old Chemical Munitions

      • Daniel Froment

      Pages 17-32

   3. Recovered Old Arsenical and ‘Mustard’ Munitions in Germany

      • Hermann Martens

      Pages 33-78

   4. Practical Actions of Russia on Preparations for Destruction of Stockpiled Lewisite and ‘Mustard’

      • General-Colonel S. V. Petrov, General-Major V. I. Kholstov, Colonel V. P. Zoubrilin, N. V. Zavialova

      Pages 79-90

   5. Recovered Old Arsenical and ‘Mustard’ Munitions in Poland

      • Zbigniew Wertejuk, Mieczyslaw Koch, Wlodzimierz Marciniak

      Pages 91-104

   6. Composition and Remediation of Tarry ‘Mustard’

      • P. R. Norman

      Pages 105-114

   7. Kinetic and Toxicological Parameters of ‘Mustard’ (HD) Hydrolysis and Biodegradation

      • Steven P. Harvey, Timothy A. Blades, Linda L. Szafraniec, William T. Beaudry, Mark V. Haley, Thomas Rosso et al.

      Pages 115-122

   8. Arsenic in the Environment

      • W. R. Cullen

      Pages 123-134

   9. Biotransformation of Arsenic in Freshwater Organisms

      • Shigeru Maeda

      Pages 135-148

3. Poster Abstracts

   1. Investigations in Organoarsenic Chemistry

      • Ionel Haiduc, Luminitsa Silaghi-Dumitrescu

      Pages 149-150

   2. HPLC-ICP-MS Methods for the Determination of Inorganic and Organic Arsenic Compound

      • W. Goessler, D. Kuehnelt, K. J. Irgolic

      Pages 151-154

   3. A Method for Mutual Disposal of Old Chemical Weapons

      • Alexander L. Chimishkyan

      Pages 155-156

   4. Destruction of Adamsite by Sodium

      • M. Sokolowski, E. Bilger

      Pages 157-158

   5. Electrochemical and Biological Approach to the Destruction of Lewisite and ‘Mustard’

      • Alexander M. Boronin, Valentin G. Sakharovski, Ivan I. Starovoitov, Konstantin I. Kashparov, Valery N. Shvetsov, Ksenija M. Morozova et al.

      Pages 159-162

   6. Reductive Decomposition of Deposits in Old ‘Mustard’ Munitions

      • Joseph F. Bunnett

      Pages 163-164

   7. Use of ‘Mustard’ Aminolysis Products as Catalysts for Polyurethane Foam Production

      • A. L. Chimishkyan, S. I. Orlov, T. S. Serebryakova

      Pages 165-168

   8. Breakdown of Sulfur ‘Mustard’ by Phase Transfer Catalysed HCl Elimination

      • Ernst-Christian Koch

      Pages 169-174

4. Group Discussion Reports

   1. Old ‘Mustard’ or Yperite Munitions: Methods for Destruction and Container Detoxification

      • Joseph F. Bunnett, Marian Mikołajczyk

      Pages 175-176

   2. Old Arsenical Munitions: Methods for Destruction and Site Cleanup

      • Joseph F. Bunnett, Marian Mikołajczyk

      Pages 177-183

More than ten million `poison gas' shells, mortar bombs, etc., lie hidden in Europe, many of them relics from World War I. Some were fired and failed to detonate, others were abandoned in old ammunition dumps. Most retain their load of chemical warfare (CW) agents. They are turned up daily in the course of farming and construction. Many European nations have permanent departments concerned with their collection and destruction.
Old munitions, when discovered, are usually heavily corroded and difficult to identify. Is it a CW munition? Or an explosive? If CW, what agent does it contain? Once identified, one has to select a destruction method. Some of the methods that have been proposed are less than perfect, and are often complicated by the presence of extraneous chemicals, either mixed with the CW agents during manufacture or formed over decades in the ground.
Of particular interest are the insiders' reports on the German CW programmes of both World Wars, and the current status of Russian chemical armaments.

• Chemical Weapons
• Nation
• Transformation
• environment
• production
• weapons

• University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

  Joseph F. Bunnett

• Centre of Molecular and Macromolecular Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Łódź, Poland

  Marian Mikołajczyk

Policies and ethics