Phenothiazine

Phenothiazine, abbreviated PTZ, is an organic compound that has the formula S(C6H4)2NH and is related to the thiazine-class of heterocyclic compounds. Derivatives of phenothiazine are highly bioactive and have widespread use and rich history. The derivatives chlorpromazine and promethazine revolutionized the fields of psychiatry and allergy treatment, respectively. An earlier derivative, methylene blue, was one of the first antimalarial drugs, and derivatives are under investigation as possible anti-infective drugs. Phenothiazine is a prototypical pharmaceutical lead structure in medicinal chemistry. Phenothiazine itself is only of theoretical interest, but its derivatives revolutionized psychiatry, other fields of medicine, and pest management. Other derivatives have been studied for possible use in advanced batteries and fuel cells. In 1876, methylene blue, a derivative of phenothiazine, was synthesized by Heinrich Caro at BASF. The structure was deduced in 1885 by Heinrich August Bernthsen. Bernthsen synthesized phenothiazine in 1883. In the mid 1880s, Paul Ehrlich began to use methylene blue in his cell staining experiments that led to pioneering discoveries about different cell types. He was awarded a Nobel Prize based in part on that work. He became particularly interested in its use to stain bacteria and parasites such as Plasmodiidae – the genus that includes the malaria pathogen – and found that it could be stained with methylene blue. He thought methylene blue could possibly be used in the treatment of malaria, tested it clinically, and by the 1890s methylene blue was being used for that purpose. For the next several decades, research on derivatives lapsed until phenothiazine itself came to market as an insecticide and deworming drug. In the 1940s, chemists working with Paul Charpentier at Rhone-Poulenc Laboratories in Paris (a precursor company to Sanofi), began making derivatives. This work led to promethazine which had no activity against infective organisms, but did have good antihistamine activity, with a strong sedative effect.