Thallium (BioDeep_00000010528)

描述信息

A mercury-thallium alloy, which forms a eutectic at 8.5\\% thallium, is reported to freeze at -60 C, some 20 °C below the freezing point of mercury. This alloy is used in thermometers and low-temperature switches. In organic synthesis thallium(III) salts, as thallium trinitrate or triacetate, are useful reagents performing different transformations in aromatics, ketones, olefins, among others. Thallium is a constituent of the alloy in the anode plates in magnesium seawater batteries. Soluble thallium salts are added to gold plating baths to increase the speed of plating and to reduce grain size within the gold layer. A thallium stress test is a form of scintigraphy, where the amount of thallium in tissues correlates with tissue blood supply. Viable cardiac cells have normal Na+/K+ ion exchange pumps. The Tl+ cation binds the K+ pumps and is transported into the cells. Exercise or dipyridamole induces widening (vasodilation) of normal coronary arteries. This produces coronary steal from areas where arteries are maximally dilated. Areas of infarct or ischemic tissue will remain "cold". Pre- and post-stress thallium may indicate areas which will benefit from myocardial revascularization. Redistribution indicates the existence of coronary steal and the presence of ischemic coronary artery disease. Although thallium is a modestly abundant element in the Earths crust, with a concentration estimated to be about 0.7 mg/kg, mostly in association with potassium-based minerals in clays, soils, and granites, thallium is not generally economically recoverable from these sources. The major source of thallium for practical purposes is the trace amount that is found in copper, lead, zinc, and other heavy-metal-sulfide ores. One of the main methods of removing thallium (both radioactive and normal) from humans is to use Prussian blue, which is a material which absorbs thallium. Up to 20 g per day of Prussian blue is fed by mouth to the person, and it passes through their digestive system and comes out in the stool. Hemodialysis and hemoperfusion are also used to remove thallium from the blood serum. At later stage of the treatment additional potassium is used to mobilize thallium from the tissue. Thallium is a chemical element with the symbol Tl and atomic number 81. This soft gray poor metal resembles tin but discolors when exposed to air. Chemists William Crookes and Claude-Auguste Lamy discovered thallium independently in 1861 by the newly developed method of flame spectroscopy. Each discovered the new element in residues of sulfuric acid production. Thallium and its compounds are extremely toxic, and should be handled with great care. There are numerous recorded cases of fatal thallium poisoning. Contact with skin is dangerous, and adequate ventilation should be provided when melting this metal. Thallium(I) compounds have a high aqueous solubility and are readily absorbed through the skin. Exposure to them should not exceed 0.1 mg per m2 of skin in an 8-hour time-weighted average (40-hour work week). Thallium is a suspected human carcinogen. For a long time thallium compounds were easily available as rat poison. This fact and that it is water soluble and nearly tasteless led to frequent intoxications caused by accident or criminal intent. Thallium can also be obtained from the smelting of lead and zinc ores. Manganese nodules found on the ocean floor also contain some thallium, but the collection of these nodules has been and continues to be prohibitively expensive. There is also the potential for damaging the environment of the oceans. In addition, several other thallium minerals, containing 16\\% to 60\\% thallium, occur in nature as complexes of sulfides or selenides that primarily contain antimony, arsenic, copper, lead, and/or silver. However, these minerals are rare, and they have had no commercial importance as sources of thallium. The Allchar deposit in southern Macedonia was the only area where thallium was ever actively mined. This dep...

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