Antimony potassium tartrate, also known as potassium antimonyl tartrate, potassium antimontarterate, or tartar emetic,[3] has the formula K2Sb2(C4H2O6)2. The compound has long been known as a powerful emetic, and was used in the treatment of schistosomiasis and leishmaniasis. It is used as a resolving agent. It typically is obtained as a hydrate.
Medical
The first treatment application against trypanosomiasis was tested in 1906, and the compound's use to treat other tropical diseases was researched.[4] The treatment of leishmania with antimony potassium tartrate started in 1913. After the introduction of antimony(V) containing complexes like sodium stibogluconate and meglumine antimoniate, the use of antimony potassium tartrate was phased out.[4][5] After BritishphysicianJohn Brian Christopherson's discovery in 1918 that antimony potassium tartrate could cure schistosomiasis, the antimonial drugs became widely used.[6][7][8] However, the injection of antimony potassium tartrate had severe side effects such as Adams–Stokes syndrome[9] and therefore alternative substances were under investigation. With the introduction and subsequent larger use of praziquantel in the 1970s, antimony-based treatments fell out of use.[10][11]
The New England Journal of Medicine reported[14] a case study of a patient whose wife secretly gave him a dose of a product called "tartaro emetico" which contained trivalent antimony (antimony potassium tartrate) and is sold in Central America as an aversive treatment for alcohol use disorder. The patient, who had been out drinking the night before, developed persistent vomiting shortly after being given orange juice with the drug. When admitted to the hospital, and later in the intensive care unit, he experienced severe chest pains, cardiac abnormalities, renal and hepatic toxicity, and nearly died. The Journal reports that "Two years later, he [the patient] reports complete abstinence from alcohol."
Emetic
Antimony potassium tartrate's potential as an emetic has been known since the Middle Ages. The compound itself was considered toxic and therefore a different way to administer it was found. Cups made from pure antimony were used to store wine for 24 hours and then the resulting solution of antimony potassium tartrate in wine was consumed in small portions until the wanted emetic effect was reached.[15][16][17]
Poisoning by "tartarised antimony" or "emetic tartar" is a plot device in the first modern detective novel, The Notting Hill Mystery (1862). The emetic tartar was kept by a character in the novel because he was "addicted to the pleasures of the table, and was in the habit of taking an occasional emetic."[18]
The compound is still used to induce vomiting in captured animals in order to study their diets.[19][20][21]
Antimony potassium tartrate has been the subject of several X-ray crystallography studies.[24][25][26][27][28][2]
The core complex is an anionic dimer of antimony tartrate (Sb2(C4H2O6)22-) which is arranged in a large ring with the carbonyl groups pointing outwards. The complex has D2molecular symmetry with two Sb(III) centers bonded in distorted square pyramids. Water and potassium ions are held within the unit cell but are not tightly bound to the dimer. The anion is a well-used resolving agent.[29]
^ abLow, George C. (1916). "The history of the use of intravenous injections of tartar emetic (Antimonium tartaratum) in tropical medicine". Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. 10 (2): 37–42. doi:10.1016/S0035-9203(16)90068-3.
^Navarro, Maribel; Gabbiani, Chiara; Messori, Luigi; Gambino, Dinorah (2010). "Metal-based drugs for malaria, trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis: Recent achievements and perspectives". Drug Discovery Today. 15 (23–24): 1070–8. doi:10.1016/j.drudis.2010.10.005. PMID20974285.
^Sabah, A.A.; Fletcher, Cathy; Webbe, G.; Doenhoff, M.J. (1986). "Schistosoma mansoni: Chemotherapy of infections of different ages". Experimental Parasitology. 61 (3): 294–303. doi:10.1016/0014-4894(86)90184-0. PMID3086114.
^t'Ao, S. C. (1957). "Cardiac manifestations of the toxic action of potassium antimony tartrate in schistosomiasis patients: Paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation". Chinese Medical Journal. 75 (5): 365–378. PMID13447130.
^Macías Konstantopoulos, Wendy; Burns Ewald, Michele; Pratt, Daniel S. (2012). "Case 22-2012: A 34-Year-Old Man with Intractable Vomiting after Ingestion of an Unknown Substance". New England Journal of Medicine. 367 (3): 259–68. doi:10.1056/NEJMcpc1111580. PMID22808962.
^Poulin, B.; Lefebvre, G. t.; McNeil, R. (1994). "Effect and Efficiency of Tartar Emetic in Determining the Diet of Tropical Land Birds". The Condor. 96 (1): 98–104. doi:10.2307/1369067. JSTOR1369067.
^Carlisle, J. D.; Holberton, R. L. (2006). "Relative Efficiency of Fecal versus Regurgitated Samples for Assessing Diet and the Deleterious Effects of a Tartar Emetic on Migratory Birds". Journal of Field Ornithology. 77 (2): 126–135. doi:10.1111/j.1557-9263.2006.00032.x. JSTOR27639314.
^Grdenić, D.; Kamenar, B. (1 August 1965). "Structures involving unshared electron pairs: coordination of antimony in racemic potassium antimonyl tartrate". Acta Crystallographica. 19 (2): 197–199. Bibcode:1965AcCry..19..197G. doi:10.1107/S0365110X65003080.
^Banerjee, A.K.; Chari, K.V.R. (September 1969). "Structure of potassium antimony tartrate". Journal of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry. 31 (9): 2958–2962. doi:10.1016/0022-1902(69)80218-6.
^Iyer, R.Krishna; Deshpande, S.G.; Rao, G.S. (November 1972). "Studies on complexes of tartaric acid—I". Journal of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry. 34 (11): 3351–3356. doi:10.1016/0022-1902(72)80229-X.
^Kamenar, B.; Grdnić, D.; Prout, C. K. (31 March 1970). "The crystal and molecular structure of racemic potassium di-μ-tartrato-diantimonate(III) trihydrate (racemic 'tartar emetic')". Acta Crystallographica Section B: Structural Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry. 26 (3): 181–188. doi:10.1107/S0567740870002133. PMID5467310.
^Gress, Mary E.; Jacobson, Robert A. (January 1974). "X-ray and white radiation neutron diffraction studies of optically active potassium antimony tartrate, K2Sb2(d-C4H2O6)2·3H2O (tarter emetic)". Inorganica Chimica Acta. 8: 209–217. doi:10.1016/S0020-1693(00)92617-3.
^F. P. Dwyer; F. L. Garvan (1960). "Resolution of cis -Dinitrobis(ethylenediamine)cobalt Ion". Resolution of cis-Dinitrobis(ethylenediamine)cobalt Ion. Inorganic Syntheses. Vol. 6. pp. 195–197. doi:10.1002/9780470132371.ch62. ISBN978-0-470-13237-1.
Further reading
Priesner, Claus (1997). "Basilius Valentinus und die Labortechnik um 1600". Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte. 20 (2–3): 159–172. doi:10.1002/bewi.19970200205. S2CID170226309.
Geoffroy, M.; Stack, T. (1751). "Observations on the Effects of the Vitrum Antimonii Ceratum, by Mons. Geoffroy, of the Royal Academy of Sciences, and F. R. S. Translated from the French by Tho. Stack, M. D. F. R. S". Philosophical Transactions. 47: 273–278. doi:10.1098/rstl.1751.0042. JSTOR105054. S2CID186212284.
Gress, Mary E.; Jacobson, Robert A. (1974). "X-ray and white radiation neutron diffraction studies of optically active potassium antimony tartrate, K2Sb2(d-C4H2O6)2·3H2O (tarter emetic)". Inorganica Chimica Acta. 8: 209–217. doi:10.1016/S0020-1693(00)92617-3.