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 Professor of Chemistry
Ph.D., University of Kansas, 1952
mark.m.jones@vanderbilt.edu
The goal of our research is the design and synthesis of chelating agents for specific biological purposes. These include the development of new antidotes for toxic metals and chelating agents which are active against pathogenic protozoa, fungi, and bacteria.
Our major efforts have been directed towards the development of new chelating agents to enhance the elimination of cadmium in chronic cadmium intoxication. For this purpose we have developed a large number of compounds. Among those recently prepared have been mono esters of meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid such as the mono ester with isoamyl alcohol (Mi-ADMS), a bis dithiocarbamate containing two dithiocarbamate groups which may coordinate to the same cadmium ion (Bis-DTC) and monoamides of meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid. These compounds are capable of removing intracellular cadmium from its deposits in the liver and the kidney. A recent development is the use of chelating agents (which we have made for other purposes) as potential drugs for use against pathogenic protozoa. Some of our chelating agents have been shown to be active against a culture form (epimastigotes) of Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent responsible for Chagas' disease, which is fairly common in Central and South America. We also have chelating agents which have recently been shown to be active against a culture form (promastigotes) of drug-resistant Leishmania major which causes leishmaniasis, a disease of some importance from the Mediterrean area across the Near East to India.
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