TCE     
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The Chemical Educator
ISSN: 1430-4171 (electronic version)
Abstract Volume 7
Issue 2 (2002) pp 51-60
Arsenic Curiosa and Humanity
Ronald Bentley* and Thomas G. Chasteen
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh,
PA 15260; rbentley@pitt.edu; and Department of Chemistry, Sam Houston
State University, Huntsville, TX 77341-2117
Received October 15, 2001. Accepted November 27, 2001
Published online: 1 March 2002
Abstract. Despite its undoubted toxicity, arsenic is a much-used element, finding applications in agriculture, industry, and medicine. Arsenic as a poison has a prominent role in plays and novels as well as in real life. In medicine, arsenic was so widely used in the 19th century as a cure-all that it has been termed a “therapeutic mule.” Some arsenic compounds are still used in the treatment of parasitic disease. Moreover, in a striking development for a material regarded as a carcinogen, arsenous trioxide (brand name, Trisenox) was recently approved for treatment of leukemia. Arsenic has had a profound overall impact on human lives.
Key Words: In the Classroom; general chemistry, inorganic chemistry, history, toxicity
(*) Corresponding author. (E-mail: rbentley@pitt.edu)
Article in PDF format (304KB) HTML format
Issue date: April 5, 2002
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