Patent ID: 7462361

Claim:
An N,N-dihaloamino acid of the formula (IV) Hal 2 N—C(R 1 R 2 )—(CH 2 ) n —C(YZ)-X or a derivative thereof; wherein Hal is halogen selected from the group consisting of chloro and bromo; R 1 is hydrogen, lower alkyl or the group —COOH; R 2 is lower alkyl; or R 1 and R 2 together with the carbon atom to which they attach form a (C 3 -C 6 )cycloalkyl ring; n is 0 or an integer from 1 to 3; Y is hydrogen, lower alkyl or —NH 2 ; Z is hydrogen or lower alkyl; and X is —CONH 2 , —SO 3 H or —SO 2 NH 2 ; said derivative being selected from the group consisting of pharmaceutically acceptable salts, esters with lower alkanols, and lower alkanoyl derivatives of the —NH 2 group attached to the carbon atom to which the substituent X is attached; wherein the N,N-dihaloamino acid is selected from the group consisting of N,N-dichloro-2,2-dimethyltaurine; N,N-dichloro-1,1,2,2-tetramethyltaurine; N,N-dibromo-2,2-dimethyltaurine; N,N-dibromo-1,1,2,2-tetramethyltaurine; N,N-dichloro-2-methyltaurine; and N,N-dichloro-3,3-dimethylhomotaurine.