The ingestion of lead from food, water, or other environmental sources can cause
lead poisoning, a serious condition that affects the central nervous system, causing symptoms
such as distractibility, lethargy, and loss of motor function. Lead poisoning is treated with
chelating agents, substances that bind to lead and allow it to be eliminated in the urine. A modern
chelating agent used for this purpose is succimer (C4H6O4S2). Suppose you are trying to
determine the appropriate dose for succimer treatment of lead poisoning. What minimum mass of
succimer in milligrams is needed to bind all of the lead in a patient’s bloodstream? Assume that
patient blood lead levels are 0.550 mg/L, that total blood volume is 5.0 L, and that 1 mol of
succimer binds 1 mol of lead.
