edited by
ROD O'CONNOR Texas A8M University College Station, TX 77843
Bad Booze Rod O'Connor Texas ALLM University College Station. TX 77843
Brucine, an alkaloid extracted along with strychnine from seeds of the Asian ~ l a nStrvchnos t nux-uonaica Lomniaceae. is a milder poisonthan strychnine and has also been used in "denaturing" ethyl alcohol. (a) Brucine is commonly sold commercially as the sulfate If a high salt (which has a soluhilitv ~ r o d u cof t 1.1 X school laboratory u e d i t iaru;ated aqueous solutiun d this \& as the "denaturing reagent" for the ethanol to bt: placed i n the laboratory, hy adding 1.0 ml uf the reagent per liwr ot'ethnnol, what maximum vt~lumeof the "denatured alcohol" could he consumed by a careless 120 lh student without reaching a potentially lethal dosage of hmcine? (8.0 mgkg) [The toxicity information can he related to either "free" hrucine or its cation, since formula weights are almost the same. Assume no competing equilibria in the stock solution.]
(c) Which is really more dangerous to have on a lahoratory reaeent shelf. a bottle labeled "Denatured Almhol(95'35 etha n z containing 0.1% hrucine)-POISON" or a bottle simply labeled "95% Ethyl Alcohol"? Answers (a) about 40 liters (b) about 14 ml (c) "95% Ethyl Alcohol" Mathematical problems and theoretical -. ~ ~ ~ L i relating o n s to practical applications will tingle your brains and those of your stdents in this monthly minifeature. Contributions to this feature are welcome and should be addressed to the feature editor. who will sfso send detailed solutions upon request. Rod O'Connor received his BS from SouthBast Missowi State College in 1955 and his PhD in 1958 fromthe University of California at Berkeley. Before joining the Chemistw , Deoartment at Texas A8M UniVBISIW in 1973 as Professor and Director of.
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.. 01 twelve books. the most recent belnq the second edltlon of
Fundamentals of Chemistry: A Learning Systems ~pproach."He has produced 35 instructional motion pictures distributed by Harper 8 Raw. Publishers. a seriesof slideltape programs on techniques of organic chemistry for the American Chemical SoCietv. and a comolete color television course which received the 1972 Best of W & ~ A W Win ~ instructional television. He is the recipient of aTour Speaker of
(b) The lethal concentration of ethanol is about 1.0 glkg. The density of 95%ethanol by mass is 0.78 g ml-I. What is the maximum volume of 95%ethanol that a 120 lh student could consume to reach a potentially lethal dosage of ethanol?
502
Journal of Chemical Education
i t u d ~ n t s ~ ~ i s o c i a t iofo n ex& A8M University. He received an Alumni Achievement Award in 1978 from Southeast Missouri State University.
