Paul Ehrlich

Jewish-German physician and scientist (1854-1915)

thumb|right|300px|The structure of arsphenamine has been proposed to be akin to azobenzene (A). Salvarsan is now assumed to be a mixture of the trimer (B) and the pentamer (C).

Neosalvarsan (also known as neoarsphenamine) is a synthetic chemotherapeutic that is an organoarsenic compound. It became available in 1912 and superseded the more toxic and less water-soluble Salvarsan as an effective treatment for syphilis. Because both of these arsenicals carried considerable risk of side effects, they were replaced for this indication by penicillin in the 1940s.

lunar crater

1940 film by William Dieterle

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a substance or therapy capable of destroying pathogens (such as bacteria or cancer cells) or providing an effective remedy for a disease or condition without deleterious side effects