Antimony potassium tartrate

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Antimony potassium tartrate trihydrate

Ball-and-stick model of the bis(μ2-tartrato)-di-antimony anion,[1][2] [Sb2(C4H2O6)2]2−

Carbon Hydrogen

Oxygen Antimony
Names
Other names
potassium antimonyl tartrate
emetic tartar
tartar emetic
Identifiers
3D model (
JSmol
)
ChEBI
ChemSpider
ECHA InfoCard
100.116.333 Edit this at Wikidata
EC Number
  • 234-293-3
1332600
KEGG
UNII
  • InChI=1S/2C4H4O6.2K.3H2O.2Sb/c2*5-1(3(7)8)2(6)4(9)10;;;;;;;/h2*1-2H,(H,7,8)(H,9,10);;;3*1H2;;/q2*-2;2*+1;;;;2*+3/p-4
    Key: WBTCZEPSIIFINA-UHFFFAOYSA-J
  • [K+].[K+].O.O.O.O=C1O[Sb-]23OC1C1O[Sb-]4(OC(C(O2)C(=O)O3)C(=O)O4)OC1=O
Properties
K2Sb2(C4H2O6)2 · 3 H2O
Molar mass 667.87 g/mol
Appearance white crystalline powder
Density 2.6 g/cm3
8.3 g/100 mL (0 °C)
35.9 g/100 mL (100 °C)
Hazards
GHS labelling:
GHS07: Exclamation markGHS09: Environmental hazard
Warning
Lethal dose or concentration (LD, LC):
110 mg/kg
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).

Antimony potassium tartrate, also known as potassium antimonyl tartrate, potassium antimontarterate, or tartar emetic,

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

stibogluconate and meglumine antimoniate, the use of antimony potassium tartrate was phased out.[4][5] After British physician John 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]

Tartar emetic was used in the late 19th and early 20th century in patent medicine as a remedy for alcohol intoxication, and was first ruled ineffective in the United States in 1941, in United States v. 11 1/4 Dozen Packages of Articles Labeled in Part Mrs. Moffat's Shoo-Fly Powders for Drunkenness.[12][13]

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

500 mg tartar 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]

The compound is still used to induce vomiting in captured animals in order to study their diets.[18][19][20]

Preparation, structure, reactions

Antimony potassium tartrate is prepared by treating a solution of potassium hydrogen tartrate and antimony trioxide:

2 KOH + Sb2O3 + (HOCHCO2H)2 → K2Sb2(C4H2O6)2 + 3 H2O

With an excess of tartaric acid, the monoanionic monoantimony salt is produced:[2]

2 KOH + Sb2O3 + 4 (HOCHCO2H)2 → 2 KSb(C4H2O6)2 + 2 H2O

Antimony potassium tartrate has been the subject of several X-ray crystallography studies.[21][22][23][24][25][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 D2 molecular 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.[26]

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Further reading

Of historic interest:

  • Frederick, George Mann (1952). Practical organic chemistry. England: Longmans, Green & Co. p. 115. .
  • Knapp, Fr. (1839). "Zur Bildungsgeschichte des Brechweinsteins". Annalen der Pharmacie. 32: 76–85. .

References

Further reading