On Tue, 24 Dec 2002, James A. Donald wrote: > On 24 Dec 2002 at 19:42, Anonymous wrote: > > Not all that far-fetched, really. It would be fairly simple > > to create a dioxin bomb by heating a 55gal drum of > > polychlorinated phenols (2,4D or 2,45T) or polychlorinated > > biphenols (PCBs from a powerline transformer say) until it > > exploded. Put it upwind of the Whitehouse.
You're missing the catalyst (I would act copper powder offhand, and reflux in a high-b.p. solvent; or no solvent as you suggested). Also, some dioxins work much better than others, so not every PCB will do for educt. Look it up in CAS. But why doing it in the first place? To contaminate an area, causing high costs for decontamination? Doesn't compute. Unless you just want to annoy. If you want to kill people, stick to nerve agents. Maximum impact (relatively volatile, excellent LD50), short half life. > The toxicity of dioxins is much overhyped. Any large power > transformer that overheats is the equivalent of your dioxin > bomb, and so far no one has noticed the supposedly devastating > destruction created by such events. That's because it's not a dioxin bomb. But I agree, it's best reserved for practical jokes like smearing dioxine dissolved in DMSO on people's doorknobs.
