Chlorhexidine consists of a straight-chain hexane with聽p-chlorophenylbiguanide groups attached to both ends. It is used mostly as its salts, such as the dihydrochloride or diacetate, and not the free base. F. L. Rose and G. Swain reported its synthesis in 1956.
Chlorhexidine is a disinfectant that is added to soaps, cosmetics, toothpaste, and similar products. Veterinarians use it as a topical disinfectant for animals鈥� wounds. It is active against Gram-positive and Gram鈥搉egative bacteria, but not viruses. It is included in the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.
Recently, S. F. Bossmann and co-workers at Kansas State University found a way to聽. They 鈥渃loaked鈥� it in the bacterium聽Micrococcus luteus聽and delivered it to聽Fusobacterium necrophorum聽cultures by inserting the microbe into white blood cells. (F. necrophorum聽is a rumen bacterium that can enter bovine livers, causing inflammation, which retards growth.) The white cells tame the inflammation; they and聽M. luteus聽then degrade to release chlorhexidine, which kills the rumen bacteria.
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