Sodium diethyldithiocarbamate

Preparation

This salt is obtained by treating carbon disulfide with diethylamine in the presence of sodium hydroxide:

CS₂ + HN(C₂H₅)₂ + NaOH → NaS₂CN(C₂H₅)₂ + H₂O

Other dithiocarbamates can be prepared similarly from secondary amines and carbon disulfide. They are used as chelating agents for transition metal ions and as precursors to herbicides and vulcanization reagents.

Oxidation to thiuram disulfide

Oxidation of sodium diethyldithiocarbamate gives the disulfide, also called a thiuram disulfide (Et = ethyl):

2 NaS₂CNEt₂ + I₂ → Et₂NC(S)S-SC(S)NEt₂ + 2 NaI

This disulfide is marketed as an anti-alcoholism drug under the labels Antabuse and Disulfiram. Chlorination of the above-mentioned thiuram disulfide affords the thiocarbamoyl chloride.

Ligand bonding

The diethyldithiocarbamate ion chelates to many "softer" metals via the two sulfur atoms. Other more complicated bonding modes are known including binding as unidentate ligand and a bridging ligand using one or both sulfur atoms.

Spin trapping of nitric oxide radicals

Complexes of Dithiocarbamates with iron provide one of the very few methods to study the formation of nitric oxide (NO) radicals in biological materials. Although the lifetime of NO in tissues is too short to allow detection of this radical itself, NO readily binds to iron-dithiocarbamate complexes. The resulting mono-nitrosyl-iron complex (MNIC) is stable, and may be detected with Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) spectroscopy.

In cancer

The effect of diethyldithiocarbamate of chelating zinc inhibits metalloproteinases, which in turn prevents the degradation of extracellular matrix, which is an initial step in cancer metastasis and angiogenesis.

Antioxidant

Diethyldithiocarbamate inhibits superoxide dismutase, which can both have antioxidant and oxidant effects on cells, depending on the time of administration.