Sulfanilamide - based drugs kill nasty bacteria by pretending to be p-aminobenzoic acid. The silly bacteria tries to use the sulfanilamide to make folic acid, but it can't, because it needs p-aminobenzoic acid! So the bacteria can't make any folic acid, and it dies, and we all enjoy a good laugh.
Anyway, you can make these sulfanilamides yourself. Just chlorosulfonate an acetanilide, and then add ammonia. The ammonia will attack the sulfur and knock out the chlorine. Now just hydrolyze the COCH3 off of the amino group and you've got pure 100% home-grown sulfa drug.
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1 comment:
bacteria does tend to make me feel vilified.
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