Mechanistic investigations coupled with epidemiology, case-control, cohort and observational studies have increasingly linked isocyanate exposure (both chronic and acute) with pulmonary morbidity and mortality. Though ascribed for impairment in endothelial cell function, molecular mechanisms of these significant adverse pulmonary outcomes remains poorly understood. As preliminary studies conduc...

Pulmonary function was assessed in male, F344 rats 1,2,4,7, and 13 weeks after a single 2-hr exposure to 0, 3, 10, or 30 ppm methyl isocyanate. No significant changes were observed in the rats exposed to 3 ppm through 13 weeks. Diffusing capacity (DLco), quasistatic lung compliance, and homogeneity of ventilation, as determined by multibreath nitrogen washout, were depressed in the rats exposed...

Polyurethanes are widely used in car paint formulations. During thermal degradation, such polymeric systems can generate powerful asthmatic sensitizing agents named isocyanates. In body repair shops, the thermal degradation of car paint can occur during abrasive processes that generate enough heat to involve release of isocyanates in air. An environmental monitoring study was performed in two b...

December 3, 1984 marks one of the deadliest chemical disasters of the world took place in Bhopal. The disaster took a toll of 3600 human lives and scores of pets almost instantly. Additional 200 000 people were exposed to the killer gas—methyl isocyanate and its intermediates—to varying degrees.1 Almost 27 years have gone by since occurrence of this tragic event, the health status of the affect...

The vibration spectra of hydrazoic acid, methyl azide, and methyl isocyanate have been investigated in the spectral region between 2 and 20~. Correlation of the spectra of these structurally similar molecules has made possible the determination of all the fundamental frequencies of hydrazoic acid and all but the methyl torsion frequency in the methyl compounds. From these fundamental frequencie...

In addition to their use in the polyurethane and pesticide industries, isocyanates have proven to be useful probes for the exploration of protein structure. This paper focuses on three aspects of isocyanates: their broad reactivity, their reversible interaction with cholinesterases, and the relative hydrolysis rates of alkyl and aryl isocyanates. The broad reactivity of isocyanates as well as t...

We investigated the nitrogen-hyperfine structure (hfs) and Stark effect in the rotational spectra of methyl isocyanate, CH 3NCO, and methyl isothio­ cyanate, CH 3NCS, by microwave Fourier transform (MWFT) spectroscopy. The rotational spectrum of methyl isocyanate was first measured and analyzed by Curl et al. [1] and Lett and Flygare [2]. More recently Koput [3] improved the analysis by the mod...