Decontamination of metals from firefighter turnout gear and solubility determination of auranofin.

Heavy metals are one of the types of contaminants that firefighters are potentially repeatedly exposed to from prior fires when doffing gear if the gear is not effectively decontaminated. Some heavy metals can be acutely toxic, such as arsenic. Decontamination of gear is essential to reduce and stop continued exposure. Laundering methods can remove heavy metals from firefighter gear and minimize re-exposure. A nitric acid digest was used to extract heavy metals of samples of gear sections before and after laundering with a standard detergent and the Decon7 cleaning solution. Concentrations of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), and antimony (Sb) in the acid digests were measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP MS). Chapter TWO presents the findings from multiplicate gear samples that showed that, on average, the standard detergent was less effective than Decon7 in removal of the studied metals. Metal-based drugs are increasingly developed for use in cancer treatment regimens. New compounds are typically characterized using mass spectrometry, x-ray crystallography, and nuclear magnetic resonance. A shake flask method uses partitioning to determine the polarity and estimate the solubility in water. However, this estimation is not a measurement of solubility and does not report the solubility of the compound in solutions that efficacy testing is done in, such as cell medium. Thus, dosages may be assigned above the solubility limit. The known metal to drug stoichiometry and concentrations of metal in solutions saturated with the compound can be used to determine the drug solubility in complex solutions, such as cell medium. Chapter THREE reports the solubility of auranofin, a well characterized drug, in water and cell medium. Chapter FIVE reports the solubility of synthesized gold(I) complexes in cell medium.