Page 57 - Encyclopedia of Chemical Compounds 3 Vols

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2,2 DICHLORODIETHYL SULFIDE

Belgium. An estimated 20,000 troops were killed in the
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2,2 Dichlorodiethyl Sulfide. attack. By the end of World War I, an estimated 120,000
White atoms are hydrogen;
British troops had died as a result of mustard gas attacks.
black atoms are carbon; green
atoms are chlorine; and yellow
The damage caused by mustard gas was due at least in
atom is sulfur. PU BL I S HERS
part because troops had no means of protecting themselves
RESOURCE GRO U P
against the compound. It was able to penetrate virtually any
type of protective clothing then available. The damage
caused by mustard gas is so horrible that most nations
have agreed not to use it in wars. One exception may have
occurred during the Iraq-Iran war of 1980–1988, when
the Iraqis sprayed Iranian troops with a gas very much like
mustard gas in 1984. Later, in 1987 and 1988, Iraq’s ruler
Saddam Hussein also used mustard gas against Kurdish peo-
ple living in northern Iraq.

HOW IT IS MADE
The usual method for making mustard gas in the United
States is called the Levenstein process. In this process, ethy-
lene gas (CH 2 =CH 2 ) is bubbled through sulfur chloride (S 2 Cl 2 ),
a yellowish-red oil with a very strong odor. In Germany and
other nations, the compound is made by treating the organic
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compound 2,2 -dihydroxyethyl sulfide with hydrochloric acid.

COMMON USES AND POTENTIAL HAZARDS
Virtually the only use for mustard gas is as a chemical
agent in warfare. But, interestingly enough, the compound

6 CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS