Being interested in the electron theory to say that sulfoxide radicals (-SO-) possess stronger single bond character than sulfone radicals (-SO2) and the SO-radical of DDSO is the most labile one among diphenylsulfoxides15)-24), and at the same time in the bacteriological studies that some aliphatic sulfoxides such as Dimethylsulfoxide are reduced to those of sulfides by some strains of Enterobacte-riaceae11), 12), the author investigated the oxidation of DDSO to DDS or its reduction to 4, 4'-Diaminodi-phenylsulfide (DDSD) in the living body.
The results showed that the confirmation or presumption of usual N-conjugate such as mono-Acetyl-DDSO was possible, but neither oxidized nor reduced metabolite was detectable. (Labile N-conjugate of DDSO will be reported in the following paper.) Furthermore, no oxidized or reduced metabolite was detected from the urine of rabbits to which DDS or DDSD was administered. In the living body, accordingly, DDSO seems to exist as sulfoxide compounds.
So far as the fundamental diphenylsulfoxides are concerned, moreover, their antituberculous activity in vitro is inferior to that of sulfone series. Thus, it is not feasible to make the comparison of the specificity of DDSO and DDS at present.
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