930 



7. MERCURIALS 



Table 7-19 



Concentration of Mercury in Tissues of the Dog After Intravenous 



Administration of Mercurials " 



" At 2 mg Hg/kg and sacrifice of the animals at 160 niin. (From Kessler et nl., 

 1957 a; p-MB data from Kessler et ah, 1957 b.) 



'' Only outermost sections of medulla considered here. 



Active Form of the Mercurials and Relation of Action to Structure 



The concept that the organic mercurials in order to be active diuretics 

 must dissociate into inorganic mercury is an old one and has been revived 

 recently to explain some of the differences between mercurials and the ef- 

 fects of pH on the activity. Most diuretic mercurials have the structure: 



OCH3 



I 

 R— C H2— CH— CH2— Hg+ 



The methoxy group arises because these mercurials are synthesized by the 

 oxymercuration of alkenes in methanol; the nature of this group is not par- 

 ticularly important for the activity. It is possible that the reverse of this 

 reaction 



OCH3 



1 

 R— CH2— CH— CH2— Hg+ + H+ -► R— CH2— CH = CHj + CH3OH + Hg++ 



might occur under physiological conditions, as suggested by Hughes (1957). 



