Ethylmercury (sometimes ethyl mercury) is a cation composed of an ethyl group and a mercury atom; its chemical formula is C₂H₅Hg⁺. Ethylmercury is sometimes used as a generic term to describe organomercury compounds which include ethylmercury such as ethylmercury chloride and ethylmercury urea.

Ethylmercury is one of the metabolites of thiomersal, which is used as a preservative in some vaccines. For this application, the ethylmercury salt sodium ethylmercuric thiosalicylate is used. Thiomersal (C₉H₉HgNaO₂S) is made from the combination of ethyl mercuric chloride, thiosalicylic acid, sodium hydroxide and ethanol.

Unlike methylmercury, ethylmercury has not been found to bioaccumulate. The toxicity of ethylmercury is not well studied, but exposure standards based on methylmercury (such as those currently recommended by the EPA) are not demonstrated to be equivalent for ethylmercury.

References

External links

• ATSDR - ToxFAQs: Mercury
• ATSDR - Public Health Statement: Mercury
• ATSDR - ALERT! Patterns of Metallic Mercury Exposure, 6/26/97
• ATSDR - MMG: Mercury
• ATSDR - Toxicological Profile: Mercury
• National Pollutant Inventory - Mercury and compounds Fact Sheet
• Pediatrics article on thiomersal Full text of peer reviewed medical journal. Sarah K. Parker, MD, Benjamin Schwartz, MD{ddagger}, James Todd, MD and Larry K. Pickering, MD. Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Autistic Spectrum Disorder: A Critical Review of Published Original Data. PEDIATRICS Vol. 114 No. 3 September 2004, pp. 793–804
• Anapsid.org - 'Common Sources of Ethylmercury: Products containing ethyl mercury thiosalicylic acid as a preservative', compiled by Melissa Kaplan