Sarin by Dale Braithwait 2nd Year Internet Searching Project, Chemistry Department, Imperial College

Follow the links below to navigate through my project on Sarin. I aimed to provide:

• chemical information of the sarin molecule
• give a summary of its reactions
• discuss the history of its discovery and uses
• give a summary of the references I used, and more importantly how I acquired them from internet searching.

Introduction

Sarin is a potent nerve gas developed in 1938 by a German chemist. Both Sarin and Tabun, its sister compound, were developed as insecticides, but were soon stockpiled by the German authorities when their devistating effect on the human nervous system was discovered. More recentely, the nerve gas has been used by Iraq and by terrorists in Japan. The action of the gas is took inhibit acetylcholinesterase, which causes the nerves of the victim to continue firing when they should have stoppped. This results in muscle paralysis, including the diaphram, which soon leads to suffocation.

		History of Sarin
		Production and Effects of Sarin
		Preventative and Reactionate Medicines
		Physical and Chemical Properties (requires frames)
		Searching the Net and Sarin Resource Guide
		Latest Information as of 28/02/1997