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Adamsite or DM is an organic compound
Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of compounds such as carbonates, simple oxides of carbon and cyanides, as well as the allotropes of carbon, are considered Inorganic compound....
; technically, an arsenic
Arsenic

Arsenic is a well-known chemical element that has the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250....
al diphenylaminechlorarsine, that can be used as a riot control agent
Riot control agent

Riot control agents are less-lethal lachrymatory agents used for riot control. Most commonly used riot control agents are pepper spray and various kinds of tear gas....
. DM belongs to the group of chemical warfare agents known as vomiting agents or sneeze gases. First synthesized in Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 by Heinrich Otto Wieland
Heinrich Otto Wieland

Heinrich Otto Wieland was a Germany chemist. He won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the bile acids. In 1901 Wieland received his doctorate at the University of Munich while studying under Johannes Thiele ....
 in 1915, it was independently developed by the US chemist Roger Adams
Roger Adams

Roger Adams was an United States organic chemistry. He is best-known for the eponymous Adams' catalyst, but also greatly influenced graduate school in America, taught over 250 Doctor of Philosophy students and postgraduate students, and served the U.S....
 (for whom it is named) at the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a public university research university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Illinois system....
 in 1918. DM was produced and stockpiled by the Americans at the end of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, but never deployed on the battlefield
Battlefield

A battlefield refers to the location of a battle.Battlefield may also refer to:...
.






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Adamsite or DM is an organic compound
Organic compound

An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon. For historical reasons discussed below, a few types of compounds such as carbonates, simple oxides of carbon and cyanides, as well as the allotropes of carbon, are considered Inorganic compound....
; technically, an arsenic
Arsenic

Arsenic is a well-known chemical element that has the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250....
al diphenylaminechlorarsine, that can be used as a riot control agent
Riot control agent

Riot control agents are less-lethal lachrymatory agents used for riot control. Most commonly used riot control agents are pepper spray and various kinds of tear gas....
. DM belongs to the group of chemical warfare agents known as vomiting agents or sneeze gases. First synthesized in Germany
Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands....
 by Heinrich Otto Wieland
Heinrich Otto Wieland

Heinrich Otto Wieland was a Germany chemist. He won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research into the bile acids. In 1901 Wieland received his doctorate at the University of Munich while studying under Johannes Thiele ....
 in 1915, it was independently developed by the US chemist Roger Adams
Roger Adams

Roger Adams was an United States organic chemistry. He is best-known for the eponymous Adams' catalyst, but also greatly influenced graduate school in America, taught over 250 Doctor of Philosophy students and postgraduate students, and served the U.S....
 (for whom it is named) at the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a public university research university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the oldest and largest campus in the University of Illinois system....
 in 1918. DM was produced and stockpiled by the Americans at the end of World War I
World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
, but never deployed on the battlefield
Battlefield

A battlefield refers to the location of a battle.Battlefield may also refer to:...
. It was, however, used against the Bonus Army
Bonus Army

The self-named Bonus Expeditionary Force was an assemblage of some 43,000 marchers ? 17,000 World War I veterans, their families, and affiliated groups, who protested in Washington, D.C., in spring and summer of 1932....
 who demonstrated in Washington, DC, during the spring and summer of 1932, reportedly causing the death and serious injury of several children who had accompanied their parents on the protests.

DM is an odourless crystal
Crystal

A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions....
line compound with a very low vapour pressure. The colour of the crystals ranges from bright yellow to dark green depending on the purity. It is readily soluble in some organic solvents (e.g., acetone
Acetone

Acetone is the organic compound with the chemical formula OC2. This colorless, mobile, flammable liquid is the simplest example of the ketones....
, dichloromethane
Dichloromethane

Dichloromethane or methylene chloride is the chemical compound with the chemical formula CarbonHydrogen2Chlorine2....
), but nearly insoluble in water. In vaporous form it appears as a canary yellow smoke.

Adamsite is usually dispersed as an aerosol
Particulate

Particulates, alternatively referred to as particulate matter or fine particles, are tiny particles of solid or liquid suspended in a gas or liquid....
, making the upper respiratory tract the primary site of action. Although the effects are similar to those caused by typical riot control agents (e.g. CS
CS gas

CS gas is the common name for 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile , a "tear gas" that is used as a riot control agent. It is generally accepted as being Non-lethal force....
), they are slower in onset and longer in duration, often lasting several hours. After a latency period of 5-10 minutes irritation of the eyes, lungs and mucous membranes develops followed by headache
Headache

In medicine a headache or wiktionary:cephalalgia is a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and sometimes neck. Some of the causes are benign while others are medical emergencies....
, nausea
Nausea

Nausea is the sensation of unease and discomfort in the stomach with an urge to vomit....
 and persistent vomiting
Vomiting

Vomiting is the forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose. Undesired vomiting may result from many causes, ranging from gastritis or poisoning to brain tumors, or elevated intracranial pressure....
.

Early battlefield use was intended to be via "Adamsite candles". These were large metal tubes containing a smoke composition
Smoke composition

A smoke composition is a pyrotechnic composition designed primarily to generate smoke. Smoke compositions are used as obscurants or for generation of signalling smokes....
 made of Adamsite plus a slow burning pyrotechnic composition
Pyrotechnic composition

A pyrotechnic composition is a substance or mixture of substances designed to produce an effect by heat, light, sound, gas or smoke or a combination of these, as a result of non-detonative self-sustaining exothermic reaction chemical reactions....
. A series of candles were lit and the Adamsite-laden smoke allowed to drift towards the enemy.

DM is now regarded as obsolete. It has been widely replaced by riot control agents such as CS
CS gas

CS gas is the common name for 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile , a "tear gas" that is used as a riot control agent. It is generally accepted as being Non-lethal force....
 which are less toxic and more rapid in onset of symptoms. Even so, DM could still be tactically deployed in combination with an attack of nerve agent
Nerve agent

Nerve agents, also referred to as nerve gases though these chemicals are liquid at room temperature, are a class of phosphorus-containing organic chemistry that disrupt the mechanism by which nerves transfer messages to organs....
s: While vomiting the victim is forced to unmask, thereby exposing him to the lethal nerve agent.

North Korea
North Korea

North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , is a state in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula....
 has been accused of producing Adamsite at its Aoji-ri Chemical Complex for stockpiling, although adamsite is weaker than many modern nerve agent
Nerve agent

Nerve agents, also referred to as nerve gases though these chemicals are liquid at room temperature, are a class of phosphorus-containing organic chemistry that disrupt the mechanism by which nerves transfer messages to organs....
s, so the reason for this supposed stockpiling is unknown.

External links

  • (from the U.S. CDC)