A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ACTIVITY AND TOXICITY OF HEXYLCAINE (1-CYCLOHEXYLAMINO-2-PROPYLBENZOATE); A NEW LOCAL ANESTHETIC AGENT

¹ Department of Pharmacology, The Medical Research Division, Sharp and Dohme, Inc., Glenolden, Pennsylvania

Hexylcaine, 1-cyclohexylamino-2-propylbenzoate, has been compared with procaine, neothesin, cocaine, butacaine, tetracaine, and dibucaine on the basis of (a) toxicity (intravenous, subcutaneous, intraspinal and intermittent subcutaneous) and (b) activity (corneal, nerve block and spinal anesthesia) making use of mice, guinea pigs and rabbits. It appears that hexylcaine has (1) an order of toxicity comparable to that of procaine and neothesin, (2) an order of topical anesthesia comparable to cocaine and butacaine, (3) an order of nerve block anesthesia intermediate between butacaine and tetracaine, and (4) a duration of spinal anesthesia that was second to that of tetracaine at the maximal tolerated dose of the latter agent. These properties lead us to anticipate that hexylcaine may prove to be useful in the clinic.