Prontosil
Prontosil is an antibacterial drug discovered in the 1932 by a research team at the Bayer Laboratories of the IG Farben conglomerate in Germany. It has a relatively broad effect against Gram-positive cocci but not against enterobacteria. The discovery and development of this first sulfonamide drug opened a new era in medicine.
Other names for this substance include sulfamidochrysoïdine, rubiazol, prontosil rubrum, aseptil rojo, streptocide, and sulfamidochrysoïdine hydrochloride.
History
Sulfonamidochrysoïdine was first synthesized by Bayer chemists Josef Klarer and Fritz Mietzsch as part of a research program designed to find dyes that might act as antibacterial drugs in the body. The molecule was tested and in the late autumn of 1932 was found effective against some important bacterial infections in mice by Gerhard Domagk, who subsequently received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Medicine. Prontosil was the result of five years of testing involving thousands of compounds related to azo dyes.
