Lewisite and organoarsenic compounds
date: label: date made
content: 1924
name: label: inventor of lewisite
content: Lewis, Winford Lee
label: maker
content: Stiegler, H. W.
label: inventor
content: Lewis, Winford Lee
notes: label: Description
content: Wooden presentation box containing 23 ampules of organoarsenic compounds that were prepared by H.W. Stiegler at Northwestern University and presented to Col. Prof. Winford Lee Lewis in 1924 for use in his lectures on chemical warfare. Lewis began his research in poison gases in 1917, the same year as the U.S. entry into World War I, while serving in the Gas Service, and later, the Chemical Warfare Service.
label: Description
content: While looking for agents containing arsenic, Lewis followed a suggestion to research a compound that Father Julius Arthur Nieuwland synthesized and described in his doctoral dissertation at Catholic University of America in 1904. The products of the reaction, which combined acetylene with arsenic trichloride in the presence of a catalyst, were purified and studied by Lewis, and they would subsequently be named after him: lewisite 1, 2, and 3.
label: Description
content: Tests on animals and humans showed lewisite to be a powerful vesicant (blister) agent, and it was anticipated to be an even more powerful weapon than the mustard gas being deployed on the front. Production at a large scale was undertaken, but the war ended before it was used in battle. After the war, Lewis continued his study of lewisite and its derivatives, as is evidenced by the contents of this box. Many of these compounds are discussed in a paper he co-authored with H.W. Stiegler in 1925 for the Journal of the American Chemical Society, which funded in part by a grant from the Research Board of the Public Health Institute of Chicago.
label: Description
content: Ampule contents are as follows:
label: Description
content: 1) 2-Chlorovinyldichloroarsine {Lewisite (L-1)}
label: Description
content: 2) 2-Chlorovinyldibromoarsine
label: Description
content: 3) 2-Bromovinyldibromoarsine
label: Description
content: 4) 2-Chlorovinyldiiodoarsine
label: Description
content: 5) 2-Chlorovinyloxoarsine {Lewisite oxide}
label: Description
content: 6) (2-Chlorovinyl)arsonic acid
label: Description
content: 7) 2-Chlorovinyl-silver-arsonate
label: Description
content: 8) (2-bromovinyl)arsonic acid
label: Description
content: 9) 2-Chlorovinylthioarsine
label: Description
content: 10) Diphenylaminechloroarsine {Adamsite}
label: Description
content: 11) 10-chloro-5,10-dihydro-3,4-benzophenarsazine
label: Description
content: 12) Bis(2-Chlorovinyl)chloroarsine {Lewisite 2 ( L-2)}
label: Description
content: 13) Bis(2-Chlorovinyl)cyanoarsine
label: Description
content: 14) Bis[bis(2-Chlorovinyl)arsyl]sulfide
label: Description
content: 15) Bis(2-Chlorovinyl)ethylarsine
label: Description
content: 16) Bis(2-Chlorovinyl)methylarsine
label: Description
content: 17) Bis[bis(2-Chlorovinyl)arsyl]oxide
label: Description
content: 18) Bis(2-chlorovinyl)ethylmethyl arsonium iodide
label: Description
content: 19) Bis(2-chlorovinyl)dimethyl arsonium iodide
label: Description
content: 20) Tris(2-chlorovinyl)arsine {Lewisite 3 (L-3)}
label: Description
content: 21) Tris(2-chlorovinyl)methyl arsonium iodide
label: Description
content: 22) Double Salt of tris(2-Chlorovinyl)methyl arsonium Iodide and Mercuric Iodide
label: Description
content: 23) Double Salts of tris(2-Chlorovinyl)arsine and Silver Nitrate
label: Description
content: References:
label: Description
content: W. L. Lewis and H.W. Stiegler, "The Beta-Chlorovinyl-Arsines and Their Derivatives," <i>J. Am. Chem. Soc.</i>, 1925, 47 (10), pp. 2546-2556.
label: Description
content: Vilensky, J. A, <i>Dew of Death: The Story of Lewisite, America's World War 1 Weapon of Mass Destruction. .</i> Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
label: Associated Place
content: United States: Illinois, Chicago
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Mrs. W. Lee Lewis
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CH.318500
label: catalog number
content: 318500
label: accession number
content: 170140
objectType: label: Object Name
content: box of organoarsenic compounds
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: box: 2 1/2 in x 14 in x 7 1/2 in; 6.35 cm x 35.56 cm x 19.05 cm