Lead(II) acetate

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Lead(II) acetate

Lead(II) acetate is a chemical compound

Chemical compound

A chemical compound is a Chemical substance consisting of two or more different chemical element Chemical bond together in a fixed mass ratio that can be split into simpler substances....
, a white crystalline substance with a sweetish taste. It is made by treating litharge

Litharge

Litharge is one of the natural mineral forms of lead oxide, PbO. Litharge is a secondary mineral which forms from the oxidation of galena ores. It forms as coatings and encrustations with internal tetragonal crystal system....
(lead(II) oxide

Lead(II) oxide

Lead oxide is the chemical compound with the chemical formula leadoxide. Lead oxide occurs in two forms: red, having a tetragonal crystal system and yellow, having an orthorhombic crystal system....
, PbO) with acetic acid

Acetic acid

Acetic acid, CH3COOH, also known as ethanoic acid, is an organic acid which gives vinegar its sour taste and pungent smell. Pure, water-free acetic acid is a colourless liquid that absorbs water from the environment , and freezes at 16.7 Celsius to a colourless crystalline solid....
. Like other lead compounds, it is very toxic. Lead acetate is soluble in water and glycerin. With water it forms the trihydrate, Pb(CH₃COO)₂·3H₂O, a colorless or white efflorescent monoclinic crystalline substance. Lead(II) acetate is also known as lead acetate, lead diacetate, plumbous acetate, sugar of lead, lead sugar, salt of Saturn, and Goulard's powder (after Thomas Goulard

Thomas Goulard

Thomas Goulard was a France surgeon famous for Goulard's Extract, a solution of lead acetate and lead oxide which was formerly used as an astringent....
).

The substance is used as a reagent to make other lead compounds and as a fixative for some dyes.

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Encyclopedia

Lead(II) acetate is a chemical compound

Chemical compound

Litharge

Lead(II) oxide

Acetic acid

Thomas Goulard

Hair coloring

Hair coloring is used for a variety of purposes; most commonly to return gray hair to its previous color, to change hair color to a shade regarded as more desirable, or to return hair to its original color after chemicals have discolored it....
dyes. Lead(II) acetate is also used as a mordant

Mordant

A mordant is a substance used to set dyes on fabrics by forming an insoluble compound with the dye. It may be used for dyeing fabrics, or for intensifying stains in cell or tissue preparations....
in textile printing and dyeing

Dyeing

Dyeing is the process of imparting colours to a textile material in loose fibre, yarn, cloth or garment form by treatment with a dye....
, as a drier

Desiccant

A desiccant is a hygroscopic substance that induces or sustains a state of dryness in its local vicinity in a moderately-well sealed container.Commonly encountered pre-packaged desiccants are solids, and work through absorption or adsorption of water, or a combination of the two....
in paints and varnishes, and in preparing other lead compounds.

Historical use

Lead acetate has a sweet taste, which has led to its use as a sugar substitute

Sugar substitute

A sugar substitute is a food additive that duplicates the effect of sugar in taste, but usually has less food energy. Some sugar substitutes are natural and some are synthetic....
throughout history. The ancient Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
, who had few sweeteners besides honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet fluid produced by honey bees , and derived from the nectar of flowers. According to the United States National Honey Board and various international food regulations, "honey stipulates a pure product that does not allow for the addition of any other substance?this includes, but is not limited to, water or other sweeteners...
, would boil must

Must

Must is freshly pressed fruit juice that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace; it typically makes up 7%?23% of the total weight of the must....
(grape juice) in lead pots to produce a reduced sugar syrup called defrutum
Defrutum

Defrutum, carenum, and sapa were reductions of must used in Roman cuisine. They were made by boiling down grape juice or must in large kettles until it had been reduced to two-thirds the original volume, carenum;...
, concentrated again into sapa. This syrup was used to sweeten wine, and to sweeten and preserve fruit. It is possible that lead acetate or other lead compounds leaching

Leaching

In general, leaching is the extraction of certain materials from a carrier into a liquid . Specifically, it may refer to:*Leaching *Leaching ...
into the syrup might have caused lead poisoning

Lead poisoning

Lead poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the metal lead in the blood. Lead may cause irreversible neurological damage as well as renal disease, cardiovascular effects, and human reproduction toxicity....
in anyone consuming it.

Pope Clement II

Pope Clement II

Clement II, born Suidger of Morsleben and Hornburg , was Pope from December 25, 1046 to his death. He was the first in a series of reform-minded Popes from Germany....
died in October 1047. A recent toxicologic examination of his remains confirmed centuries old rumors that the Pope had been poisoned with lead sugar. It is, however, not clear whether he was assassinated or not, as lead sugar in those times was often used as a cure for venereal diseases.

In 1787 the painter Albert Christoph Dies

Albert Christoph Dies

Albert Christoph Dies was a German painter, composer, and biographer....
swallowed, by accident, three-quarters of an ounce (21 g) of lead acetate. His recovery from this poison was slow and incomplete. He lived with illnesses until his death in 1822.

Mary Seacole

Mary Seacole

Mary Jane Seacole , sometimes known as Mother Seacole or Mary Grant, was a Jamaican-born multiracial British nurse best known for her involvement in the Crimean War....
applied it among other remedies against an epidemic of cholera

Cholera

Cholera, sometimes known as Asiatic or epidemic cholera, is an infectious gastroenteritis caused by enterotoxin-producing strains of the bacterium Vibrio cholerae....
in Panama.

Sugar of lead has also been used to treat poison ivy

Poison ivy

Toxicodendron radicans is a plant in the family Anacardiaceae. The name is sometimes spelled "Poison-ivy" in an attempt to indicate that the plant is not a true Ivy ....
.

Lead acetate is no longer used as a sweetener in most of the world because of its recognized toxicity.

Other uses

Lead acetate, as well as white lead

White lead

White lead is the chemical compound 2?Pb2. It was formerly used as an ingredient for lead paint and a cosmetic called Venetian Ceruse, because its Opacity quality made it a good pigment....
, have been used in cosmetics throughout history, though this practice has ceased in Western countries. It is still used in men's hair coloring

Hair coloring

Grecian formula

Grecian Formula is a popular men's hair coloring product in the United States. It is made by Combe Incorporated in White Plains, New York New York, and is also known as Grecian Formula 16....
.

Lead acetate paper is used to detect the poisonous gas hydrogen sulfide

Hydrogen sulfide

Hydrogen sulfide is the chemical compound with the chemical formula Hydrogen2Sulfur. This colorless, toxic and flammable gas is partially responsible for the foul odor of egg and flatulence....
. The gas reacts with lead(II) acetate on the moistened test paper to form a grey precipitate of lead(II) sulfide.

Lead acetate solution was a commonly used folk remedy for sore nipples.

An aqueous solution of lead acetate is the byproduct of the 50/50 mixture of hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide

Hydrogen peroxide is a very pale blue liquid which appears colorless in a dilute solution, slightly more viscous than water. It is a weak acid....
and white vinegar

Vinegar

Vinegar is an acidic liquid processed from the fermentation of ethanol in a process that yields its key ingredient, acetic acid . It also may come in a diluted form....
used in the cleaning and maintenance of stainless steel firearm

Firearm

A firearm is a tool that projects either single or multiple projectiles at high velocity through a controlled explosion. The firing is achieved by the gases produced through rapid, confined combustion of a propellant....
suppressor

Suppressor

A suppressor, sound suppressor, sound moderator, or silencer is a device either attached to or part of the Gun barrel of a firearm to reduce the amount of noise and muzzle flash generated by firing the weapon....
s (silencers). The solution is agitated by the bubbling action of the hydrogen peroxide, and the main reaction is the dissolution of lead deposits within the suppressor by the acetic acid, which forms lead acetate. Because of its high toxicity, this chemical solution must be appropriately disposed by a chemical processing facility or hazmat center. Alternately, the solution may be reacted with salt water or sulfuric acid to precipitate insoluble lead chloride or lead sulfate, respectively. The solids may then be removed by mechanical filtration and are safer to dispose of than aqueous lead acetate.

Biological hazards

Lead(II) acetate, among other lead salts, has been reported to cross the placenta

Placenta

The placenta or afterbirth is a highly vascularized ephemeral organ present in Placentalia vertebrates that connects the developing fetal tissues to the uterine wall....
and to the embryo

Embryo

An embryo is a multicellular organism ploidy eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, Egg , or germination....
leading to fetal mortality. Lead salts also have teratogenic effect in some animal species.

Lead(II) acetate

Historical use

Other uses

Biological hazards

External links