Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Antidotes and New Main-Group Bonding Motifs: Medicinal and Fundamental Inorganic Chemistry from the Johnstone Group

The first half of the talk will describe progress from the Johnstone Laboratory towards the development of a small-molecule iron-porphyrin-based antidote for CO poisoning. The unique suitability of an inorganic solution to this problem will be explained and data will be presented that demonstrate the ability of a proof-of-principle antidote candidate to bind CO, sequester CO from poisoned proteins, rescue CO-poisoned cells, and increase the survival of mice receiving an otherwise lethal exposure to CO. The second half of the talk will describe how our investigations into the bioinorganic chemistry of antimony-based antiparasitic drugs led to the discovery that no molecule featuring an unperturbed stiboryl (“R₃Sb=O”) group had ever been isolated. The synthesis and isolation of the first example of a monomeric stibine oxide will be presented along with an initial survey of the reactivity of this newly accessible functional group. The origin of its unique reactivity (e.g., Si–F bond activation), as compared to lighter congeners, will be discussed.