s***@gmail.com
2016-02-01 06:51:54 UTC
Is breathing anti-freeze fumes dangerous?
My car has a leak in the heater core, thus the hot air smells like
anti-freeze. Can it stay like this for long with no ill effects?
How much do you drink??My car has a leak in the heater core, thus the hot air smells like
anti-freeze. Can it stay like this for long with no ill effects?
The major anti-freeze component is ethylene glycol HOCH2-CH2OH. When introduced
into the human body, it is a substrate analog of ethanol and will be acted on
by the alchohol dehydrogenase (ADH) enzyme, which will convert it to HO2C-CO2H
(oxalic adic) over a few steps. Oxalic acid is poisonous.
But, if you drink lots of alcohol, a competitive inhibition "race" is started
between the ethylene glycol --> oxalic acid and the ethanol --> acetaldehyde
reactions, giving your body more time to purge the oxalic acid.
This is simular to the mechanism for methanol poinsoning (but the end product
is formaldehyde).
Note: I am an organic chemist -- any biochem types out there feel free to
add to/correct the above statements.
Oh, I would doubt that you are getting enough ethylene glycol to be dangerous,
but if you are getting hangovers after driving for a while, I would become
concerned. (Not to mention that anti-freeze hasn't been cheap since the
ethylene glycol plant blew up, but that is another story).