10 Chemicals You Really SHOULD Be Scared Of
4. Dimethylcadmium
Let's turn to metals. There's no doubt that some of those are poisonous. Lead, in pipes, petrol, paint and soil has caused all sorts of trouble. Mercury, it's silvery liquidity once a common sight in thermometers and even toys, has now almost entirely disappeared thanks to more widespread understanding of its toxicity.
But they're nothing compared to the really, properly nasty cadmium.
Cadmium, Cd, sits in the periodic table directly above mercury and below zinc. As a lump of bluish-silvery metal cadmium is relatively safe. It's not well-absorbed from the gut, so even if you did eat it (but don't, no really, don't) it probably wouldn't kill you. Cadmium dust, on the other hand, is another matter. Inhale that, and you're facing something called metal fume fever which can progress to lung inflammation, fluid on the lungs, and death.
But it all gets much, much worse once you start dealing with cadmium compounds, which are universally nasty. Dimethylcadmium has to be up there as a contender for 'nastiest of the nastiest'.
Methyl compounds of metals are often bad news. All the 'good' stuff is there. Dimethylzinc (catches fire in contact with air, causes severe burns), tetramethyl lead (nausea, delirium, convulsions, coma), methyl mercury (hearing impairment, blindness, death) - you get the idea. Dimethylcadmium is no exception. Firstly, it can spontaneously catch fire, producing cadmium oxide smoke (exposure to which can be fatal). Even if it doesn't catch fire, it'll probably form dimethyl cadmium peroxide, which is a friction-sensitive explosive. Of course, if you set that off, you'll then have a fine mist of (poisonous) cadmium oxides and dimethylcadmium.
. So, yeah. Good luck clearing that up.
Even without the fun and games of spontaneous combustion and explosion, liquid dimethylcadmium quickly produces a vapour, which is easily absorbed by inhalation. It causes lung damage but then it's also absorbed into the bloodstream where it can go on to attack the liver, kidneys, brain and nervous system.
Oh, and cadmium compounds are carcinogenic? Just in case you survive all the other stuff.