Hydrazine sulfate
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IUPAC name
Hydrazinium hydrogen sulfate
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Other names
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Identifiers | |
3D model (
JSmol ) |
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ChemSpider | |
ECHA InfoCard
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100.030.088 |
EC Number |
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PubChem CID
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UNII | |
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)
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Properties | |
[N2H5]+[HSO4]− | |
Molar mass | 130.12 g·mol−1 |
Appearance | colourless crystals or white powder |
Density | 1.37 g/cm3 |
Melting point | 254°C |
Boiling point | decomposes |
30 g/L (20°C) | |
Hazards | |
GHS labelling: | |
NFPA 704 (fire diamond) | |
Safety data sheet (SDS) | External MSDS |
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
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Hydrazine sulfate, more properly hydrazinium hydrogensulfate, is a
Hydrazine sulfate has a number of uses in
Preparation
The compound can be prepared by treating an aqueous solution of hydrazine (N2H4) with sulfuric acid (H2SO4).[1]
Laboratory and industrial uses
Besides its general use as a safe source of hydrazine, the compound is used as a catalyst in making fibers out of acetate, in the analysis and synthesis of minerals, and testing for arsenic in metals.[2]
Medical uses
Hydrazine sulfate can be used as a fungicide and antiseptic.[2]
Hydrazine sulfate has been used as an alternative medical treatment for the loss of appetite (anorexia) and rapid weight loss (cachexia), which are often associated with cancer.[3][4][5]
Legal status
Although it has been marketed as a dietary supplement,[6][7] hydrazine sulfate has never been approved in the United States as safe and effective in treating any medical condition.
History
Hydrazine sulfate was first proposed as an anti-cancer agent by U.S. physician Joseph Gold in the mid-1970s.[8] Gold's arguments were based on the fact that cancer cells are often unusually dependent on glycolysis for energy (the Warburg effect). Gold proposed that the body might offset this increased glycolysis using gluconeogenesis, which is the pathway that is the reverse of glycolysis. Since this process would require a great deal of energy, Gold thought that inhibiting gluconeogenesis might reverse this energy requirement and be an effective treatment for cancer cachexia.[9] Hydrazine is a reactive chemical that in the test tube can inactivate one of the enzymes needed for gluconeogenesis, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEP-CK). It was also postulated that if tumor energy gain (glycolysis) and host-energy loss (gluconeogenesis) were functionally interrelated, inhibition of gluconeogenesis at PEP CK could result in actual tumor regression in addition to reversal or arrest of cancer cachexia.[10] In this model, hydrazine sulfate is therefore thought to act by irreversibly inhibiting the enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase.
The use of hydrazine sulfate as a cancer remedy was popularized by the magazine
Clinical evaluation
A review of the clinical research concluded that hydrazine sulfate has never been shown to act as an anticancer agent; patients do not experience remissions or regressions of their cancer, and patients do not live longer than non-treated patients.[6][17][18] Some academic reviews of alternative cancer treatments have described the compound as a "disproved and ineffective treatment for cancer".[19][20]
Joseph Gold's claims[8] have been questioned by the American Cancer Society, and other investigators have been unable to repeat or confirm these results.[17][21] Gold is reported not to trust the motives or results of other investigators, with CNN quoting him as stating that "they've been out to get hydrazine sulfate, and I don't know why".[22]
In response to these results, an uncontrolled clinical trial was carried out at the Petrov Research Institute of Oncology in St. Petersburg over a period of 17 years,
Later randomized controlled trials failed to find any improvement in survival,[27][28] For example, in a trial of the treatment of advanced lung cancer, with either cisplatin and vinblastine or these drugs plus hydrazine sulfate, saw complete tumor regression in 4% of the hydrazine group, versus 3% in the control group, and tumor progression in 36% of the hydrazine group, versus 30% of the control group; however, none of these differences were statistically significant.[29] Some trials even found both significantly decreased survival and significantly poorer quality of life in those patients receiving hydrazine sulfate.[30] These consistently negative results have resulted in hydrazine sulfate being described as a "disproven cancer therapy" in a recent medical review.[20] Similarly, other reviews have concluded that there is "strong evidence" against the use of hydrazine sulfate to treat anorexia or weight loss in cancer patients.[31][32]
Side effects
Hydrazine sulfate is toxic and potentially carcinogenic.[33][34] Nevertheless, the short-term side effects reported in various clinical trials are relatively mild:[7] minor nausea and vomiting, dizziness and excitement, polyneuritis (inflammation of the nerves) and difficulties in fine muscle control (such as writing). However, more serious, even fatal side effects have been reported in rare cases: one patient developed fatal liver and kidney failure,[35] and another developed serious symptoms of neurotoxicity.[36] These side effects and other reports of hydrazine toxicity[25][26] are consistent with the hypothesis that hydrazine may play a role in the toxicity of the antibiotic isoniazid, which is thought to be metabolized to hydrazine in the body.[7]
Hydrazine sulfate is also a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI),[37] and is incompatible with alcohol, tranquilizers and sleeping pills (benzodiazepines and barbiturates), and other psycho-active drugs, with pethidine (meperidine, Demerol), and with foods containing significant amounts of the amino acid breakdown product tyramine, such as aged cheeses, raisins, avocados, processed and cured fish and meats, fermented products, and others.
References
- ^ Adams, Roger; Brown, B. K. (1922). "Hydrazine Sulfate". Organic Syntheses. 2: 37; Collected Volumes, vol. 1, p. 309.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-471-73518-2.
- PMID 3791153.
- PMID 1688616, archived from the originalon 2014-09-28, retrieved 2009-05-31.
- ^ Gold, J. (1999), "Long term complete response in patient with advanced, localized NSCLC with hydrazine sulfate, radiation and Carboplatin, refractory to combination chemotherapy", Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research (40): 642. Abstract. Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Questions and answers about hydrazine sulfate, National Cancer Institute, March 12, 2009
- ^ S2CID 41415415.
- ^ PMID 3104888
- PMID 5688432.
- S2CID 8572475.
- ^ London, William M. (July 23, 2006), Penthouse's promotion of hydrazine sulfate
- ^ Null's articles on alternative cancer therapies in Penthouse include:
- Null, Gary; Robert Houston (1979). "The Great Cancer Fraud". Penthouse: 76–78, 82, 268, 270, 272, 274, 276–278.
- Null, Gary; A. Pitrone (1980). "Suppression of new cancer therapies: Dr. Joseph Gold and hydrazine sulfate". Penthouse: 97–98, 160, 162–163.
- Null, Gary; L. Steinman (1980). "The politics of cancer. Part five. Suppression of new cancer therapies: Dr. Lawrence Burton". Penthouse: 75–76, 188–194, 196–197.
- ^ Goldberg, Burton (June 12, 2000), Holding the National Cancer Institute Accountable for Cancer Deaths, archived from the original on May 15, 2009, retrieved May 30, 2009
- ISBN 978-1-58761-141-4.
- PMID 8455198, archived from the originalon 2012-07-11.
- General Accounting Office, Document No. HEHS-95-141[permanent dead link].
- ^ PMID 9614826.
- ^ Green, Saul (1997), "Hydrazine sulfate: is it an anticancer agent?", Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, 1: 19–21
- ^ Hydrazine sulfate / Hydrazine sulphate Archived 2009-09-19 at the Wayback Machine from the British Columbia Cancer Agency
- ^ S2CID 35124492
- S2CID 221547391
- ^ Elizabeth Cohen Regulators warn about online cancer 'cures' Archived 2007-01-08 at the Wayback Machine CNN December 5, 2000
- ^ S2CID 24465375.
- ^ Hydrazine sulfate:Human/Clinical Studies National Cancer Institute
- ^ PMID 1688616
- ^ PMID 2295901, retrieved 2009-06-03
- PMID 8201374
- PMID 8201372
- PMID 9257067
- PMID 8201373
- PMID 16293879
- S2CID 22180434
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, January 2000.
- ^ Section 9.2.1, Environmental Health Criteria for Hydrazine, International Programme on Chemical Safety, 1987.
- S2CID 25672540.
- S2CID 12935478.
- ^ National Cancer Institute (October 1999), "Hydrazine Sulfate", PDQ Complementary/Alternative Medicine
External links
- Proponents
- Syracuse Cancer Research Institute Archived 2009-07-24 at the Wayback Machine
- The Truth About Hydrazine Sulfate - Dr. Gold Speaks Archived 2009-07-03 at the Wayback Machine
- Critics
- Hydrazine Sulfate: Is It an Anticancer Agent? Quackwatch
- The Penthouse Politics of Cancer: The Promotion of Hydrazine Sulfate and a Medical Conspiracy Theory American Council on Science and Health
- Governmental and medical
- Hydrazine sulfate / Hydrazine sulphate British Columbia Cancer Agency
- What is rocket fuel treatment? Cancer Research UK
- Hydrazine Sulfate Archived 2009-04-14 at the Wayback Machine American Cancer Society
- Hydrazine Sulfate University of Minnesota, Cancer Information
- Hydrazine Sulfate, Detailed Scientific Review The University of Texas, M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
- Physical and chemical hazards
- Hydrazine sulfate Material safety data sheet