Barbiturates and barbiturate

Benzodiazepiaes have largely replaced barbiturates and barbiturate-like agents for use as anxiolytics and sedative—hypnotics. Because benzodiazepiaes rarely produce levels of CNS depression that require therapeutic iatervention, the need for analeptics has decreased considerably. 

Barbiturates and barbiturate-like drugs, such as chloral hydrate, although effective hypnotics, are considered far less safe than BZDs in terms of tolerance, interaction with alcohol, and lethality in overdose. Therefore, their use is not generally recommended. 

It is the parent substance of a group of compounds which includes cytosine, thymine and uracil, which are constituents of nucleic acids and barbituric acid and its derivatives, which are important medicinally. 

Barbituric acid and 2-thiobarbituric acid are readily prepared by the condensation of diethylmalonate with urea and thiourea respectively, in the presence of sodium ethoxide. The use of substituted derivatives of urea and thiourea and of diethyl malonate will clearly lead to a wide range of barbituric and thiobarbituric acids having substituents in the i, 3, or 5 positions. 

Urea derivadves are of general interest in medicinal chemistry. They may be obtained cither from urea itself (barbiturates, sec p. 306) or from amines and isocyanates. The latter are usually prepared from amines and phosgene under evolution of hydrogen chloride. Alkyl isocyanates are highly reactive in nucleophilic addidon reactions. Even amides, e.g. sulfonamides, are nucleophilic enough to produce urea derivatives. 

The nucleophilicity of the nitrogen atom survives in many different functional groups, although its basicity may be lost. Reactions of non-basic, but nucleophilic urea nitrogens provide, for example, an easy entry to sleeping-pills (barbiturates) as well as to stimulants (caffeine). The nitrogen atoms of imidazoles and indole anions are also nucleophilic and the NH protons can be easily substituted. 

Barbituric acid was first pre pared in 1864 by Adolf von Baeyer (page 112) A histori cal account of his work and the later development of barbiturates as sedative-hypnotics appeared in the October 1951 issue of the Journal of Chemical Education (pp 524-526)... 

Barbituric acid is the parent of a group of compounds known as barbiturates The bar biturates are classified as sedative-hypnotic agents meaning that they decrease the responsiveness of the central nervous system and promote sleep Thousands of deriva lives of the parent ring system of barbituric acid have been tested for sedative-hypnotic activity the most useful are the 5 5 disubstituted derivatives... 

Barbituric acids as their name implies are weakly acidic and are converted to then-sodium salts (sodium barbiturates) m aqueous sodium hydroxide Sometimes the drug is dispensed m its neutral form sometimes the sodium salt is used The salt is designated by appending the word sodium to the name of the barbituric acid—pentobarbital sodium for example... 

The various barbiturates differ m the time required for the onset of sleep and m the duration of their effects All the barbiturates must be used only m strict accordance with instructions to avoid potentially lethal overdoses Drug dependence m some mdi viduals IS also a problem... 

The analysis of clinical samples is often complicated by the complexity of the sample matrix, which may contribute a significant background absorption at the desired wavelength. The determination of serum barbiturates provides one example of how this problem is overcome. The barbiturates are extracted from a sample of serum with CHCI3, and extracted from the CHCI3 into 0.45 M NaOH (pH 13). The absorbance of the aqueous extract is measured at 260 nm and includes contributions from the barbiturates as well as other components extracted from the serum sample. The pH of the sample is then lowered to approximately 10 by adding NH4CI, and the absorbance remeasured. Since the barbiturates do not absorb at this pH, the absorbance at pH 10 is used to correct the absorbance at pH 13 thus... 

The concentration of the barbiturate barbital in a blood sample was determined by extracting 3.00 mL of the blood with 15 mL of CHCI3. The chloroform, which now contains the barbital, is then extracted with 10.0 mL of 0.045 M NaOH (pH = 13). A 3.00-mL sample of the aqueous extract is placed in a 1.00-cm cell, and an absorbance of 0.115 is measured. 

Urea and malonic acid give barbituric acid (7), a key compound in medicinal chemistry (see also Hypnotics, SEDATIVES, AND anticonvulsants) ... 

Reaction of chloroacetic acid with cyanide ion yields cyanoacetic acid [372-09-8] C2H2NO2, (8) which is used in the formation of coumarin, malonic acid and esters, and barbiturates. Reaction of chloroacetic acid with hydroxide results in the formation of glycoUc acid [79-14-1]. 

Biological Activities and Analogues. Somatostatin exerts some neurotropic actions, eg, as a tranquilizer and as a spontaneous motor activity depressor. It also lengthens barbiturate anesthesia time and induces sedation and hypothermia. These actions are consistent with the strong association between somatostatin and GABA in the primate cerebral cortex, 90—95% of somatostatin-positive ceHs also contain GABA (100). 

Similarly, the reaction with bromine yields the corresponding 5-bromo derivatives, which are suitable substrates for nucleophilic displacement or dehydrohalogenation reactions. Typical nucleophiles (Nu) are H2O, NH, RNH2, and sodium barbiturates ... 

Although most anesthetics are achiral or are adininistered as racemic mixture, the anesthetic actions are stereoselective. This property can define a specific, rather than a nonspecific, site of action. Stereoselectivity is observed for such barbiturates as thiopental, pentobarbital, and secobarbital. The (3)-enantiomer is modestly more potent (56,57). Additionally, the volatile anesthetic isoflurane also shows stereoselectivity. The (3)-enantiomer is the more active (58). Further evidence that proteins might serve as appropriate targets for general anesthetics come from observations that anesthetics inhibit the activity of the enzyme luciferase. The potencies parallel the anesthetic activities closely (59,60). 

Methohexital [18652-93-2] (Brevital), C 4H gN202, (2) is a barbiturate iv anesthetic iaduction agent that has a slightly faster onset than thiopentone and less accumulation. The recovery from anesthesia is also slightly faster and better. However, iaduction is associated with an iacreased iacidence of excitatory phenomena. Methohexital also causes respiratory and cardiovascular depression and is unstable ia solution, necessitating reconstitution before use (99). 

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