British anti-Lewisite and organomercury poisoning

2,3-Dimercaptopropanol, CH2(OH)CH(SH)CH2SH, also known as British anti-Lewisite, is generally used in the treatment of mercury poisoning to help remove mercury from the body. An understanding of the chemistry involved in the interaction of British anti-Lewisite with mercury compounds, and of the properties of any complexes formed, is necessary to understand the biological processes that occur on administration of the antidote, and its efficacy. We report here the characterisation of complexes formed with mercuric ion and with phenylmercury, the reactivity of the phenylmercury complex to form diphenylmercury, and the implications of these observations for the behaviour of British anti-Lewisite as an antidote for mercury poisoning.