The antiseptic properties of the amino derivatives of styryl and anil quinoline

Abstract

Previous communications have dealt with the antiseptic properties of compounds of the pyridine, quinoline, acridine and phenazine series, and also of the apocyanine, carbocyanine, and isocyanine groups, the object being to investigate relationships between chemical constitution and antiseptic properties. The following work comprises the preparation and examination of a large number of styryl and anil quinoline compounds, considerable variations in chemical structure being involved. The authors have previously drawn attention* to the possible influence of a particular chemical grouping consisting of a chain of alternate double linkages joining two nitrogen atoms, one being basic and trivalent, and the other the pentavalent nitrogen of a quaternary ammonium group. This arrangement is present in acriflavine (2.7 diamino acridine methochloride), and also in the cyanines, in all of which the antiseptic action is not diminished by the presence of serum. As shown by the graphic formulæ, the styryl compounds also include a similar system, whereas in the anils an additional nitrogen atom is interposed in the connecting chain in place of a —CH= group. This system will be subsequently described as the “ alternate linkage system.”