A QUÍMICA E A SÍFILIS: UM PERCURSO HISTÓRICO

Abstract

CHEMISTRY AND SYPHILIS: A HISTORICAL JOURNEY. The relationship between syphilis and chemistry is remarkable due to its being the first example in western history of a comprehensive attempt by researchers from many countries and cultures to direct their efforts to tackle a serious health problem by means of chemical science. This effort started to take place at the time when the science of chemistry was already beginning to emerge, apart from alchemy. Thus, the fight against syphilis was closely linked to the emergence of iatrochemistry, or medicinal chemistry, which eventually gave rise, centuries later, to chemotherapy. Many of the early iatrochemical compounds in the XVIth century were of mineral origin, and often also synthetic. One of the pioneers of this trend was Paracelsus, who occupies a prominent place in the process. Along the centuries a number of different chemical approaches were attempted to cure syphilis until the advent of antibiotics in the mid-twentieth century, after so much time in which syphilis remained a physical and moral scourge of humankind, challenging all those that endeavoured to find its cure. In this article we recount many fascinating aspects of the application of chemistry in this quest, showing its development in the world as well as in Brazil, throughout its entire history.