Phosphine appears as a colorless gas with an unpleasant fish or garlic odor. The boiling point is minus 88 degrees, and the freezing point is minus 134 degrees. Very toxic if inhaled at very low concentrations. Prolonged heating can cause violent rupture and explosion of containers. It is used in the manufacture of pesticides, flame retardants and incendiaries.
Phosphine is used in the semiconductor industry to introduce phosphorus into silicon crystals. It is also used as a fumigant, a polymerization initiator, and an intermediate in the preparation of various flame retardants. Phosphine has an odor of garlic or rotting fish, but is odorless when pure. The level at which humans perceive the odor of phosphine (i.e. the odor threshold) does not provide sufficient warning of dangerous concentrations. Phosphine is shipped as liquefied compressed gas.
Phosphine can be released as a gas into indoor or outdoor air. It decomposes in water and cannot be used to pollute water supplies. It cannot contaminate food. If phosphine is released as a gas, it is unlikely to contaminate agricultural products. Phosphine can be absorbed into the body by inhalation. Direct contact with phosphine fluid can cause frostbite.
Phosphine decomposes when heated or burned, producing toxic fumes. Phosphine reacts with acids, air, copper, moisture and oxidizers. Phosphine is extremely explosive. May form explosive mixtures with air. Flow may present an explosion hazard.
Phosphine is used as an insecticide for the fumigation of grains, animal feed, and foliar tobacco. Short-term inhalation exposure to phosphine may cause headache, dizziness, fatigue, drowsiness, nausea, vomiting, cough, difficulty breathing, chest tightness and tremors in humans. Long-term occupational exposure to phosphine by workers can cause inflammation of the nasal cavity and throat, fatigue, dizziness, nausea and central nervous system symptoms, jaundice, liver effects, and increased bone density.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (EPA) has classified phosphine as Group D, which cannot be classified based on human carcinogenicity.
On Earth, this gas is produced only industrially or by microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments.
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