During WWII, sulfa drugs saved many wounded soldiers.
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Sulfa drugs were the first broadly effective antibiotics, derived from prontosil (1930s) and credited with saving Winston Churchill's life from pneumonia in 1943. Penicillin later eclipsed them, but they are still used for urinary infections and toxoplasmosis. 磺胺 forms compounds like 磺胺嘧啶 (sulfadiazine) and 磺胺类药物 (sulfa-class drugs).
memory
磺 (huáng) carries the 石 (stone) radical and the 黄 (yellow) phonetic — sulfur 硫 is yellow, and sulfur is what 磺 originally meant. 胺 (àn) is the chemistry character for 'amine' (-NH₂). Sulfa = sulfur + amine — 磺 + 胺. Pure chemistry-character coining.
