BROMAL HYDRATE AND CHLORAL HYDRATE: A PHARMACOLOGICAL CONTRAST AND ITS CHEMICAL BASIS

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

1. When bromal hydrate is administered to dogs, neither tribromoethanol nor tribromoacetic acid can be demonstrated in the plasma.

2. Under physiological conditions in vitro bromal hydrate reacts rapidly with serum albumin and with cysteine, the latter substance being oxidized to cystine.

3. It is suggested that the "positive halogen" properties of bromal hydrate are responsible for its high toxicity.

4. The structural features responsible for the difference in reactivity of bromal hydrate and chloral hydrate are discussed.