Anti-thyroid drug methimazole: X-ray characterization of two novel ionic disulfides obtained from its chemical oxidation by I(2).

Interaction of methimazole (MMI, 1-methyl-imidazole-2-thione) with I2 in solvents having different polarity gives two new stable compounds containing a dication disulfide and a monocation disulfide arranged in dimers, respectively. These two species could represent effective intermediates in the reaction of MMI with an active iodine species in the thyroid gland and therefore shed more light on the mechanism of action of MMI as an antithyroid drug.