Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] liquid breathing

[Nathanael Henderson <jude@pconline.com>]

On Mon, 27 Nov 2000 VBra676539@aol.com wrote:

> Sorry to dispute your last--the US Navy has been experimenting with it since 
> the mid-60s--with limited success. The problem is not with breathing, which 
> these guinea pigs did not do--they were filled with a highly oxygenated 
> liquid that was pumped (I think).

    Not sure about early experiments, but the current 'stuff' is
perflubron, a relative of Freon.   Molecularly, it's a chain of 8 carbons
with single bonds between them and all other bonding sites occupied by
flourine, with the exception of one end of the molecule, which has a
bromine atom instead of flourine.  

  F F F F F F F F
F-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-C-Br
  F F F F F F F F

    It has an almost ridiculous capacity for various gasses, absorbing
more than half it's volume of oxygen and more than it's volume of carbon
dioxide.   It's available as a medical product from http://www.allp.com/
which has developed it for use as a blood substitute and for 'semi wet'
respirator systems (the lungs are only partially filled with the chemical,
then the oxygen/whatever can be circulated in and out of the remaining
lung space by fairly conventional means.)   The primary value is to
prevent the fine structures of lungs from collapsing.

   Now if I could just find a gallon or two for cheap... :-)