An antimony phosphide and arsenide are known, as is also a thiophosphate, SbPS4, which is prepared by heating together antimony trichloride and phosphorus pentasulphide.
Many organic compounds containing antimony are known. By distilling an alloy of antimony and sodium with mythyl iodide, mixed with sand, trimethyl stibine, Sb(CH3)3, is obtained; this combines with excess of methyl iodide to form tetramethyl stibonium iodide, Sb(CH3)4I. From this iodide the trimethyl stibine may be obtained by distillation with an alloy of potassium and antimony in a current of carbon dioxide. It is a colourless liquid, slightly soluble in water, and is spontaneously inflammable. The stibonium iodide on treatment with moist silver oxide gives the corresponding tetramethyl stibonium hydroxide, Sb(CH3)4OH, which forms deliquescent crystals, of alkaline reaction, and absorbs carbon dioxide readily. On distilling trimethyl stibine with zinc methyl, antimony tetra-methyl and penta-methyl are formed. Corresponding antimony compounds containing the ethyl group are known, as is also a tri-phenyl stibine, Sb(C6H5)3, which is prepared from antimony trichloride, sodium and monochlorbenzene. See Chung Yu Wang, _Antimony_ (1909).
_Antimony in Medicine._--So far back as Basil Valentine and Paracelsus, antimonial preparations were in great vogue as medicinal agents, and came to be so much abused that a prohibition was placed upon their employment by the Paris parlement in 1566. Metallic antimony was utilized to make goblets in which wine was allowed to stand so as to acquire emetic properties, and "everlasting" pills of the metal, supposed to act by contact merely, were administered and recovered for future use after they had fulfilled their purpose. Antimony compounds act as irritants both externally and internally. Tartar emetic (antimony tartrate) when swallowed, acts directly on the wall of the stomach, producing vomiting, and after absorption continues this effect by its action on the medulla. It is a powerful cardiac depressant, diminishing both the force and frequency of the heart's beat. It depresses respiration, and in large doses lowers temperature. It depresses the nervous system, especially the spinal cord. It is excreted by all the secretions and excretions of the body. Thus as it passes out by the bronchial mucous membrane it increases the amount of secretion and so acts as an expectorant. On the skin its action is that of a diaphoretic, and being also excreted by the bile it acts slightly as a cholagogue. Summed up, its action is that of an irritant, and a cardiac and nervous depressant. But on account of this depressant action it is to be avoided for women and children and rarely used for men.