The present invention relates to the treatment of wounds. More particularly, it relates to compounds according to Formula 1 for use in methods of promoting wound healing, to formulations which incorporate these compounds and to a method of treating wounds using such compounds and formulations:wherein R1 and R2 may be the same or different and are selected from the group consisting of hydrogen (H) and a physiologically hydrolyzable chemical group consisting of alkylcarbonyl, alkenylcarbonyl arylcarbonyl, heteroarylcarbonyl, alkoxycarbonyl, aryloxycarbonyl, heteroaryloxycarbonyl, alkylether, alkenylether, arylether, and heteroarylether groups wherein the alkyl moiety consists of unsubstituted or substituted, straight-chain or branched-chain and cyclic alkyl groups having 2-22 carbon atoms, wherein the alkenyl moiety consists of unsubstituted and substituted, straight-chain or branched-chain and cyclic alkenyl groups having 2-22 carbon atoms, wherein the aryl moiety consists of unsubstituted and substituted phenyl, and phenalkyl groups wherein the alkyl moiety contains 1-3 carbon atoms and the phenyl moiety is unsubstituted or substituted, and the heteroaryl moiety is an aromatic 5- or 6-membered heterocyclic ring containing one or two heteroatoms selected from the group consisting of nitrogen, oxygen, and sulphur.