Wasteland: A view of the devastated landscape of the Chinese port city of Tianjin, where huge, fiery blasts at a warehouse for hazardous materials killed at least 50 people, raising questions about what potentially lethal chemicals may have been released into the air
Photo Credit: DailyMail/Reuters

When I was 13 years old I began, on my own, to study chemistry to find out how to make explosives which I sold to kids my age in the neighborhood. Some of the details I have previously narrated in my article I could have been Leonardo DiCaprio.

During my explorations in chemistry I learned that Hydrogen cyanide gas is explosive at low concentrations but extremely deadly at even smaller concentrations so my curiosity turned to wondering what it smelled like; however fear of death, even at an age when youth feels immortal, kept me from attempting it.

Then, when I was 17 (1962) while working as a Urethane Polymer chemical technician for the Baker Castor Oil company, I learned how to isolate very low volumes of gases and was finally able to take a minuscule but safe mini-whiff (a hundredth of a snort) of Sodium cyanide. I found it to be a fragrance both unpleasant yet oddly enjoyable and still remember it to this day.

Years later, when studying at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, I learned that most people cannot detect the odor of Sodium cyanide due to their genetic makeup.

Fortunately for me, I do not have that genetic defect. I say fortunately because I have been in the Jewelry business since 1977 and even though cyanides have found use in the refining of gold and in gold-plating of jewelry, both of which I have been involved with, it is unlikely for me to unknowingly inhale a lethal dose from an accidental exposure; sadly there are jewelers who died because of a failure to detect the odor of cyanide.

The Explosions at Tianjin

The reason for this post on detecting cyanide was prompted by the explosions a few days ago in China.

One problem that Chinese firefighters had in battling the recent fires from the explosions in the port city of Tianjin is that most probably could not genetically smell cyanide at the site and even if they could detect the odor, it is unlikely they were trained to identify it with cyanide. So far 34 firefighters died. I'm waiting to see if the Chinese government releases data as to the cause of death.

As well, it has been reported that a chemical called toluene diisocyanate (TDI) was also being stored at the plant. For a number of years I worked with TDI which is used in the manufacture of urethane plastics and which has an odor completely different than cyanide. I should mention that TDI is related to methyl isocyanate, which was the main chemical involved in the Bhopal Disaster, considered the world's worst industrial disaster.

As for the reason for the title, I wanted to point out that the Japanese word for goodbye, Sayonara, is not exactly like the German auf wiedersehen, or the French au revoir, both of which are more like the English See You Soon. Rather, Sayonara is more like a final "Goodbye - we'll not see each other in a long time, if ever." I believe that Sayonara is most appropriate when saying goodbye to kamikaze pilots.