Chelation Therapy for Methylmercury(II) Poisoning. Synthesis and Determination of Solubility Properties of MeHg(II) Complexes of Thiol and Dithiol Antidotes

Methylmercury complexes of the most widely studied antidotes for mercury poisoning have been prepared, and both the water solubility and l-octanol/water partition coefficients determined for these complexes and the L-cysteine complex. New complexes of N-acetyl-D,L-penicillamine, 2-mercaptosuccinic acid, meso-dimercaptosuccinic acid, and Unithiol have been synthesized and characterized, and are found to have the formulations MeHgSCMe2CH(NHCOMe)CO2H, MeHgSCH(CO2H)CH2CO2H, MeHgSCH(CO2H)CH(CO2H)SHgMe, and Na[MeHgSCH2CH(SHgMe)CH2SO3)], respectively. Trends in octanol/water partition coefficients are consistent with reported studies of the effectiveness of antidotes for methylmercury poisoning and redistribution of methylmercury) on administration of antidotes, particularly for British anti-Lewisite, Unithiol, and meso-dimercaptosuccinic acid.