Ferrocene-carbamate as prophylaxis against soman poisoning.

The effect of a carbamate derivative of ferrocene as a prophylactic agent toward soman poisoning was studied in mice. A sixfold decrease of the acute toxicity (24-hr LD50) of soman was obtained when the carbamate (5.5 mg/kg = 1/30 X LD50) was given intraperitoneally 30 min before soman. In this experiment atropine (20 mg/kg ip) was given 10 min before soman as support. The protection was lower when atropine or atropine plus toxogonin were given as therapy (1 min after soman). At these protective doses of the ferrocene -carbamate, a 30% inhibition of blood acetylcholinesterase activity was seen. Like physostigmine, the ferrocene -carbamate inhibited the brain acetylcholinesterase, suggesting that the compound entered the brain tissue.