| The serendipitous discovery and pharmaceutical use of bismuth compounds, along with fundamental interests, has prompted a century of chemical and clinical studies of bismuth complexes and preparations. The characteristic hydrolytic instability and polymeric nature of these materials has deterred comprehensive chemical studies. As a result, the chemistry of bismuth, as for many elements of the periodic table, remains in its infancy. This work establishes the utility of bifunctional ligands: as a method to overcoming these obstacles, and represents significant developments in the thiolate and carboxylate chemistry of bismuth, the latter of which encompasses pharmaceutical implications. The synthetic guidelines outlined are likely to be generally applicable to other metals and various bifunctional ligand combinations. |
