AntibioticMech

phosphonoformic acid

CHEBI:127780 ·resolve ·ANTIVIRAL ·EXACT SEEDED

Phosphoric acid in which one of the hydroxy groups is replaced by a carboxylic acid group. It is used as the trisodium salt as an antiviral agent in the treatment of cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMV retinitis, an inflamation of the retina that can lead to blindness) and as an alternative to ganciclovir for AIDS patients who require concurrent antiretroviral therapy but are unable to tolerate ganciclovir due to haematological toxicity. — ChEBI

Classification

Strictly broader compounds or drug classes this molecule belongs to.

• CHEBI:26069 CHEBI:26069
• CHEBI:33575 CHEBI:33575
• CHEBI:64708 CHEBI:64708

Chemical structure

Computed structure properties

Molecular formula	CH3O5P
Charge	0
Average mass	126.004 Da
Monoisotopic mass	125.97181 Da
Source	ChEBI
InChIKey	ZJAOAACCNHFJAH-UHFFFAOYSA-N

SMILES

O=C(O)P(=O)(O)O

InChI

InChI=1S/CH3O5P/c2-1(3)7(4,5)6/h(H,2,3)(H2,4,5,6)

Also called

• dihydroxyphosphanecarboxylic acid oxide (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
• FOSCARNET (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
• Foscarmet (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
• Foscarnet (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
• PHOSPHONOFORMIC ACID (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
• carboxyphosphonic acid (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
• foscarnet (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi
• phosphonomethanoic acid (EXACT_SYNONYM)— chebi

Cross-references

Equivalent identifiers for this same structure in other resources.

• cas:4428-95-9
• drugbank:DB00529
• drugcentral:1241
• hmdb:HMDB0014670
• kegg.compound:C06456
• knapsack:C00000800
• pdb-ccd:PPF
• reaxys:1756501
• wikipedia.en:Foscarnet

Activity roles

Every antimicrobial role a source asserts for this compound — the unreduced evidence behind its antimicrobial_class.

• CHEBI:36044 CHEBI:36044
• CHEBI:53756 CHEBI:53756

Source concepts

Every upstream concept that resolved to this record. The merge is the product: this is what shows ChEBI and CARD are describing the same structure.

Upstream concepts merged into this record

Source	Native ID	Label	Minted CURIE	Version
CHEBI	CHEBI:127780	phosphonoformic acid	antibioticmech:chebi-5600b9acae	2026-08-30

Mechanism summary

Mode of action

VIRAL_POLYMERASE_INHIBITION microbial target — Assigned from ChEBI role CHEBI:53756 (HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitor). ChEBI asserts the role on the compound. The role names a target specific to the microbe or virus — see mode_of_action_target_scope. Not a curator's mechanistic review.

Curation history

1. SEEDED_FROM_SOURCES 2026-08-30 · seed_from_sources

   Seeded from data/raw/ inventories (CHEBI)

2. RESEEDED_FROM_SOURCES 2026-08-30 · seed_from_sources

   Re-seeded from updated data/raw/ inventories

3. RESEEDED_FROM_SOURCES 2026-08-30 · seed_from_sources

   Re-seeded from updated data/raw/ inventories

Provenance

Seeded by scripts/seed_from_sources.py from the committed inventories in data/raw/. View the record.