A BRIEF STUDY OF THE ANESTHETIC ACTION OF A SERIES OF NAPHTHALENE DERIVATIVES

¹ From the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

A pharmacological study of the anesthetic properties of a series of naphthalene derivatives has been made. All of the members of this series possess the power of producing anesthesia when applied to frog's skin, to the rabbit's cornea or directly to nerve trunks. On the whole, they are readily absorbed and act rapidly, but they are markedly irritant and are further unfitted for clinical use by their instability in solution. However, one member of the series, no. 133 (2-ethoxy-3-diethylaminopropylnaphthoate), is superior to the others, being rapidly absorbed, only slightly irritant, stable in solution, and of good anesthetic power.