Prontosil

Prontosil

Clinical data
Other names	Sulfamidochrysoïdine, Rubiazol, Prontosil rubrum, Aseptil rojo, Streptocide, Sulfamidochrysoïdine hydrochloride
Routes of administration	Oral
Identifiers
IUPAC name 4-[(2,4-Diaminophenyl)azo]benzenesulfonamide
CAS Number	103-12-8 N
PubChem CID	66895
ChemSpider	16736190 Y
UNII	Q64Q9N6Q6O
ChEMBL	ChEMBL488279 N
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)	DTXSID60145608
ECHA InfoCard	100.002.802
Chemical and physical data
Formula	C12H13N5O2S
Molar mass	291.33 g·mol−1
3D model (JSmol)	Interactive image
SMILES NS(=O)(=O)c2ccc(/N=N/c1ccc(N)cc1N)cc2
InChI InChI=1S/C12H13N5O2S/c13-8-1-6-12(11(14)7-8)17-16-9-2-4-10(5-3-9)20(15,18)19/h1-7H,13-14H2,(H2,15,18,19) Y Key:ABBQGOCHXSPKHJ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Y
NY (what is this?)  (verify)

Prontosil is an antibacterial drug of the sulfonamide group. It has a relatively broad effect against gram-positive cocci but not against enterobacteria. One of the earliest antimicrobial drugs, it was widely used in the mid-20th century but is little used today because better options now exist. The discovery and development of this first sulfonamide drug opened a new era in medicine,^[1] because it greatly widened the success of antimicrobial chemotherapy in an era when many physicians doubted its still largely untapped potential. At the time, disinfectant cleaners and topical antiseptic wound care were widely used but there were very few antimicrobial drugs to use safely inside living bodies. Antibiotic drugs derived from microbes, which we rely on heavily today, did not yet exist. Prontosil was discovered in 1932^[2] by a research team at the Bayer Laboratories of the IG Farben conglomerate in Germany led by Gerhard Domagk. Domagk received the 1939 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for that discovery.^[3]