British Anti-Lewisite (Sometimes the common name is just too cool to pass up)

Lewisite is nasty stuff, which I'll cover tomorrow. Tonight, it's an antidote, which is simply the dithio analogue of glycerine. It enjoys the more colorful name of BAL, or British Anti-Lewisite.

BAL is an antidote to Lewisite. It's one of the few compounds that enjoys the use of a longish common name in the literature because, honestly, it's just such a great name. "British Anti-Lewisite." I much prefer it to 1,2-dithioglycerol or anything like that...

Being a geometrically fortunate dithiol, BAL is an antidote to many other heavy metals. Dunno if anyone pays attention to the chiral center.