The Antimony Preparations and their Uses

Paracelsus s works began to appear in print about 20 years after his death, and other authors soon produced iatrochemical texts. Probably the most famous such author was Basil Valentine, although it is now believed that no such person existed and that his books were probably the work of the publisher, Johann Tholde. The most famous book attributed to Valentine is the Triumphal Chariot of Antimony. This work gave clear directions for the preparation of a number of antimony salts and their use in medicine. 

By use of the bidentate ligand 81, hexacoordinate antimony anions 82 containing five Sb—C bonds and bismuth anions 83 containing four Bi—C bonds have been characterized spectroscopically (equations 292 and 293 ). Neutral compounds 84 have been prepared and their X-ray analysis has shown that they have a distorted octahedral structure (equation 294 " ). 

The most widely used chemical method is the antimony trichloride colorimetric method. The method is applicable to vitamins D2 and D3 for their analysis in pharmacopeial preparations. The reaction product of vitamin D3 with antimony trichloride is believed to be isovitamin D3 (46, See Scheme IV). Antimony trichloride reacts with vitamin A also. Vitamin A occurs along with D3 in many biological samples and is also an ingredient in many commercial products. Therefore, it is necessary to remove it and other interfering substances prior to reaction with... 

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