From: Uncle Al <UncleAl0@hate.spam.net>
Newsgroups: sci.chem
Subject: Re: IsoPropylAlcohol, not toxic ?
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 16:06:39 GMT

Shgall wrote:
>
> Reminds me of a story.  Here in Norway alcohol is highly controlled,
> taxed and hard to buy (stores close at 5pm).  Anyways, due to these
> problems in obtaining alcohol, a large amount is smuggled in every
> year.  Recently at smuggled batch was found to contain a large
> proportion of methanol.  So the local authorities notified the public
> about it and told them to go to the hospital for treatment.  The
> treatment basically is to get the person drunk on ethanol to stop the
> damages of methanol.  Amazingly from only a few bottles of alcohol (20
> or less) over 200 people showed up for their medication.

N-4-benzyloxybenzyl-N-methylformamide is an exceptionally powerful
inhibitor of alcohol dehydrogenase, Ki=15 nanomolar.  It is trivially
synthesized from 4-benzyloxybenzaldehyde (Aldrich), methylamine,
NaBH3CN, and ethyl formate.  Intravenous EtOH to saturate alcohol
dehydrogenase in cases of methanol or ethylene glycol poisoning is
really obsolete.

OTOH, addition of small amounts to potable alcohol of commerce would
absolutely knock the stuffings out of tax revenues - one sixpack, one
week blotto.  How would the War on Drugs prosecute somebody cooking up
Stay Drunk? (Like Waco, TX of course).  Save our Children!

--
Uncle Al
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