[6][7][8] However, the injection of antimony potassium tartrate had severe side effects such as Adams–Stokes syndrome[9] and therefore alternative substances were under investigation.

[12][13] The New England Journal of Medicine reported[14] a case study of a patient whose wife secretly gave him a dose of a product called "tartaro emetico" which contained trivalent antimony (antimony potassium tartrate) and is sold in Central America as an aversive treatment for alcohol use disorder.

When admitted to the hospital, and later in the intensive care unit, he experienced severe chest pains, cardiac abnormalities, renal and hepatic toxicity, and nearly died.

[15][16][17] Poisoning by "tartarised antimony" or "emetic tartar" is a plot device in the first modern detective novel, The Notting Hill Mystery (1862).

[24][25][26][27][28][2] The core complex is an anionic dimer of antimony tartrate (Sb2(C4H2O6)22-) which is arranged in a large ring with the carbonyl groups pointing outwards.