Structural formula of Atoxyl molecules

Atoxyl^® (p-aminophenyl-. arsenic acid) is the name of a medicine which was common in the first decades of the 20th century, based on an Arsenic compound. Image File history File links Structural formula of Atoxyl molecules File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Structural formula of Atoxyl molecules File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... General Name, Symbol, Number arsenic, As, 33 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 15, 4, p Appearance metallic gray Atomic mass 74. ...

Origins and uses

Atoxyl was synthesized for the first time in the year 1859 by Antoine Béchamp in a chemical reaction involving aniline and arsenic acid. Béchamp chose the name Atoxyl referring to the smaller toxicity of the resulting compound when compared to arsenic. 1859 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... Aniline, phenylamine or aminobenzene (C6H5NH2) is an organic chemical compound which is a primary aromatic amine consisting of a benzene ring and an amino group. ...

At first, Atoxyl was only used to treat simple skin diseases. In the year 1905 the German physician and Nobel Prize winner Robert Koch discovered on an African expedition that Atoxyl could also be used to treat the dangerous sleeping sickness. The effect of the medicine was however not very pronounced, and the necessary dosage was so high that toxic side effects of the arsenic preparation far outweighed the benefits, causing blindness by damaging the optic nerve and other varied disorders. Dermatology is a branch of medicine dealing with the skin, its structure, functions, and diseases (from Greek derma, skin), as well as its appendages (nails, hair, sweat glands). ... 1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... For the American lobbyist, see Bobby Koch. ... Sleeping sickness or African trypanosomiasis is a parasitic disease in humans. ... Dosage is Collective Souls fourth studio album, released on February 9, 1999. ... For a list of biologically injurious substances, including toxins and other materials, as well as their effects, see poison. ... Blindness can be defined physiologically as the condition of lacking sight. ... The optic nerve is the nerve that transmits visual information from the retina to the brain. ...

The discovery was later nevertheless perfected by the bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich in 1906. The widely accepted formula for the compound in contemporary chemistry was believed by Ehrlich to be incorrect. This formula designated a single nitrogen-containing side chain. But because of his knowledge of the chemical reactivity of atoxyl, Ehrlich correctly guessed that the compound had two side chains, only one of which contained the nitrogen atom. Ehrlich's formula proved that the atoxyl molecule could be modified to create a much more useful medicament than atoxyl. Paul Ehrlich (March 14, 1854 – August 20, 1915) was a German scientist who won the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. ... 1906 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Reactivity refers to the rate at which a chemical substance tends to undergo a chemical reaction in time. ...

The resulting drug, finally discovered by Sahachiro Hata who worked in Ehrlich's lab, was called Salvarsan, and it was later used to treat relapsing fever and syphilis. Arsphenamine, also known under its trade name Salvarsan, is a drug that was used to treat syphilis. ... Depression-era U.S. poster advocating early syphilis treatment Syphilis (historically called lues) is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that is caused by a spirochaete bacterium, Treponema pallidum. ...

External links

• Atoxyl at Chemical Heritage More about the origins and uses of the medicine.
• Explorers of the Body Some info about sleeping sickness and atoxyl.