Dicoumarol

Dicoumarol
Clinical data
MedlinePlusa605015
ATC code
Legal status
Legal status
  • US: Withdrawn from market
Pharmacokinetic data
Protein bindingplasmatic proteins
Metabolismhepatic
Excretionfaeces, urine
Identifiers
  • 3,3'-Methylenebis(4-hydroxy-2H-chromen-2-one)
CAS Number
PubChem CID
IUPHAR/BPS
DrugBank
ChemSpider
UNII
KEGG
ChEBI
ChEMBL
NIAID ChemDB
CompTox Dashboard (EPA)
ECHA InfoCard100.000.575 Edit this at Wikidata
Chemical and physical data
FormulaC19H12O6
Molar mass336.299 g·mol−1
3D model (JSmol)
  • O=C1Oc2ccccc2C(O)=C1CC3=C(O)c4ccccc4OC3=O
  • InChI=1S/C19H12O6/c20-16-10-5-1-3-7-14(10)24-18(22)12(16)9-13-17(21)11-6-2-4-8-15(11)25-19(13)23/h1-8,20-21H,9H2 checkY
  • Key:DOBMPNYZJYQDGZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N checkY
 ☒NcheckY (what is this?)  (verify)

Dicoumarol (INN) or dicumarol (USAN) is a naturally occurring anticoagulant drug that depletes stores of vitamin K (similar to warfarin, a drug that dicoumarol inspired). It is also used in biochemical experiments as an inhibitor of reductases.

Dicoumarol is a natural chemical substance of combined plant and fungal origin. It is a derivative of coumarin, a bitter-tasting but sweet-smelling substance made by plants that does not itself affect coagulation, but which is (classically) transformed in mouldy feeds or silages by a number of species of fungi, into active dicoumarol. Dicoumarol does affect coagulation, and was discovered in mouldy wet sweet-clover hay, as the cause of a naturally occurring bleeding disease in cattle.[1] See warfarin for a more detailed discovery history.

Identified in 1940, dicoumarol became the prototype of the 4-hydroxycoumarin anticoagulant drug class. Dicoumarol itself, for a short time, was employed as a medicinal anticoagulant drug, but since the mid-1950s has been replaced by its simpler derivative warfarin, and other 4-hydroxycoumarin drugs.

It is given orally, and it acts within two days.

  1. ^ Kresge N, Simoni RD, Hill RL (February 2005). "Hemorrhagic sweet clover disease, dicumarol, and warfarin: the work of Karl Paul Link". Journal of Biological Chemistry. 280 (8): e6–e7. doi:10.1016/S0021-9258(19)62862-0.