You can’t expect more from this small molecule of Diethylene glycol (DEG). Having a humbling origins of an ether of an antifreeze (CH2OH)2 , the DEG is one of the dozens interim substances in the process of manufacturing of polyester raisins.
If only not a single blunder and a corporate greed that put it in the spotlight of as “Elixir Sulfanilamide”, DEG would be one million other molecules used in organic polymer synthesis.
Elixir Sulfanilamide
A year 1938, sulfa drugs, that miraculously cured a bad pneumonia of Winston Churchill in few days are now available for everyone who can swallow a pill. Prominent scientists of this era are struggling with a challenge of getting a potion for those who still cannot gulp a whole tablet.
One of those griddling with the task is Harold Cole Watkins. Working as a chief chemist at Messengil, he decided to use Diethylene glycol as a dissolvent, which on paper and in vitro was a brilliant idea.
Flavored with a raspberry it was ready to hit the market as “Sulfanilamide elixir”, which by mid 1938 started selling countrywide – an extreme case for a new drug today, it was absolute reality of that time – you don’t need to prove neither efficacy no safety of the remedies you producing. By the Food and Drug Act of 1906 your medication needs to be “original”, period.
Diethylene Glycol. Remedy for disaster
It was of the most tragic launches in history. One third, more than 100 kids died of renal failure, caused by the dissolvent writher than antibacterials itself.
Once consumed, DEG quickly enters the bloodstream and turns to liver. Having not one but two OH groups it provides an excellent substrate for liver to practice oxydation – the process of adding more oxygen. The result is 2-hydroxyethoxyacetic acid or HEAA, which accountable for the kidney and nervous system toxicity of Diethylene Glycol poisoning.
The reaction from public and lawmakers was almost immediate – in late 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was born and enacted by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
US became first among developed nations to enact drug approval regulations, that helped the country to avoid infamous thalidomide tragedy.
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