Barbiturates
(Wiki)
Please note:
Dosage equivalents are provided for certain drugs below and
are denoted as unit equivalents, i.e. one unit of drug x is
roughly the equivalent as one unit of drug y, where the
dosage equal to one unit varies.
Barbiturates are drugs that act as central nervous system (CNS) depressants, and by virtue of this they produce a
wide spectrum of effects, from mild sedation to anesthesia. Some are also used as
anticonvulsants.
Barbiturates are believed to be GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) agonists,
acting on the GABA-A receptor. GABA is the principal inhibitory
neurotransmitter in the mammalian CNS.
Barbiturates are derivatives of barbituric acid.
Currently barbiturates are used both in their traditional
roles and as lethal substances in the cases of assisted suicide, euthanasia and capital punishment by lethal injection, usually when administered alongside
a muscle relaxant.
Sometimes two or more barbiturates are combined in a single
tablet or capsule; perhaps the most well-known of these
combinations is Tuinal, which consists of amobarbital and secobarbital in equal proportions.
These drugs have now fallen out of favour as they
are both highly addictive and potentially toxic to the point of being
fatal in many cases. They were discovered on
the fourth of December, 1863 by one Adolf von Baeyer, who named the family after the day
of St. Barbara after the day on which he made the
discovery; however, it is possible that he could have
named the drugs after his girlfriend Barbara - no-one
truly knows. They started to fall out of favour in the
1950s and 1960s when their side effects were truly picked up on.
Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe and Jimi Hendrix were among the many who died
from barbiturate overdoses, as did George Sanders and Kenneth Williams.
Allobarbital
(Wiki)
Brand
names: Asmac®, Cibalgine®, Dial®, Somnocodal®
Formula: C10H12F2O3
Half life: Unknown
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
I know very
little about this drug; all I can say for sure is that it
can be used as a sedative and/or as a hypnotic and that
it has a medium to long lasting half life.
Amobarbital
(Amylobarbitone) (Wiki)
Brand
names: Anytal®
Formula: C11H18N2O3
Half life: ~ 34 to 42 hours (vague figure)
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: 65mg per day
[Not
Verified]
Maximum outpatient dose: 200mg per day
[Not
Verified]
Née
amylobarbitone. The drug is a sedative hypnotic and analgesic but exhibits no anxiolytic properties. It is approved for the
treatment of anxiety, insomnia, epilepsy and catatonic mutism; combined with caffeine, the drug can also treat somnolence. It also works as a
truth serum, making the patient more pliable to
questioning.
Aprobarbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Aluratec®, Amobarbital, Amylbarbitone, Amytal®,
Aprobarbital, Brevital®, Busodium®, Butabarbital, Butisol®,
Mebaral®, Mephobarbital, Metharbital, Methohexital,
Nembutal®, Pentobarbital, Pentothal, Pentothal®,
Phenobarbitone®, Quinalbarbitone, Secobarbital, Seconal®,
Sodium Pentothal, Talbutal, Thiamylal, Thiopental
Formula: C10H14N2O3
Half life: ~ 14 to 34 hours (vague figure)
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: 100mg per day
[Verified]
Maximum outpatient dose: 200mg per day
[Verified]
No current data.
Barbexaclone
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Maliasin®
Formula: C12H12N2O3•C10H21N
Half life: Unknown
Single unit dose: 100mg per day
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
Introduced in 1983, this drug is currently unavailable both in the
UK and in the USA. Essentially, it is a
salt compound of phenobarbital and propylhexedrine (a sympathomimetic amine); it is, seemingly, just as effective
as phenobarbital yet far better tolerated. 10mg of
this drug is roughly equal to 6mg of
phenobarbital.
Barbital (Barbitone)
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Barbital®, Calmine®, Neurinase®, Peralga®, Plexonal®,
Veramon®, Veronal®
Formula: C8H12N2O3
Half life: ~ 15 to 50 hours (vague figure)
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
Née barbitone. Barbital was the first heavily marketed
barbiturate, created in 1902 and introduced to
the market a year later. The primary use was as a
hypnotic to tackle nervous insomnia and the drug was considered to be a great
advancement over current drugs, namely bromides, exhibiting a massive improvement in
palatability, fewer side effects and a therapeutic dose that was far bellow toxicity. However, fatal overdoses were all too often.
Butabarbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Butisol®
Formula: C10H16N2O3
Half life: ~ 24 to 140 hours (vague figure)
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: 100mg per day
[Verified]
Maximum outpatient dose: 200mg per day
[Verified]
Prescribed
primarily as a hypnotic and unfortunately was highly hazardous
to the point of fatal when mixed with alcohol. It was also used as a
tranquilliser to combat panic attacks and as a pre-surgery sedation.
Butalbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Unknown
Formula: C11H16N2O3
Half life: ~ 35 hours
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
Interestingly, this drug has the same chemical formula as talbutal and yet has a different structure. It
exhibits a moderate duration of effectiveness and can be
easily mixed with other drugs to treat localised pains, such as headaches. As with other barbiturates, the drug is extremely dangerous when combined
with alcohol and is highly addictive.
Butobarbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Soneryl
Formula: C10H16N2O3
Half life: Unknown
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
Prescribed to treat extreme insomnia.
Cyclobarbital
(Cyclobarbitol; Cyclobarbitone) (Wiki)
Brand names:
Unknown
Formula: C12H16N2O3
Half life: ~ 11.6 hours
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
Née cyclobarbitol, cyclobarbitone.
Ethallobarbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Unknown
Formula: C9H12N2O3
Half life: Unknown
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
No current data.
Heptabarbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Unknown
Formula: C13H18N2O3
Half life: ~ 7.6 hours
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
No current
data.
Hexobarbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Unknown
Formula: C12H16N2O3
Half life: ~ 2.79 hours
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
No current data.
Metharbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Gemonil®
Formula: C9H14N2O3
Half life: Unknown
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: 65mg per day
[Not
Verified]
Maximum outpatient dose: 300mg per day
[Not
Verified]
Introduced
in 1952, metharbital is used for the management of
epilepsy (being an anticonvulsant). It exhibits similar properties
to phenobarbital.
Methohexital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Brevital®
Formula: C14H18N2O3
Half life: ~ 5.6 minutes
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Not for outpatients
Maximum outpatient dose: Not for outpatients
Marketed
under the brand of Brevital, this drug was primarily used as a powerful but
short acting anaesthetic and exhibited similarities to
the drug thiopentone. It is only ever used in emergencies
under strict supervision either within a hospital or an
ambulance. It's half life is, ±2.7m, 5.6m.
Methylphenobarbital
(Mephobarbital) (Wiki)
Brand names:
Mebaral®, Prominal®
Formula: C13H14N2O3
Half life: ~ 7.52 hours
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
Née
mephobarbital, this drug was marketed under the name of
Mebaral. This drug exhibits sedative, anxiolytic and anticonvulsant effects. It was introduced in 1935 and
is the N-methylated analogue of phenobarbital; it subsequently has similar
characteristics to phenobarbital in terms of side effects, effectiveness and so on. The
drug was discontinued in the UK in 2001.
Pentobarbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Nembutal®
Formula: C11H17N2O3
Half life: ~ 35 to 50 hours (vague figure)
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: 100mg per day
[Not
Verified]
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
Introduced
in 1930, pentobarbital is a short acting drug with a half life of 35 to 50 hours and was, among
others, marketed as Nembutal. It is primarily used to treat
seizures and sedation; it can also be used as a short
term hypnotic. It can also be applied to
relieve intracranial pressure in Reye's syndrome, to induce a coma in patients with
cerebral ischemia and to help patients with
traumatic brain injury. In veterinary medicine, the drug can be used as an anaesthetic and is dubbed Sagatal; it can also be
used in veterinary euthanasia, usually when mixed with other
drugs in injectable solutions, branded as Euthasol,
Euthatal, Beuthanasia-D and Fatal Plus to name but a
few.
Phenobarbital
(Phenobarbitone) (Wiki)
Brand names:
Luminal®
Formula: C12H12N2O3
Half life: ~ 53 to 118 hours
Single unit dose: 60mg per day
Recommended outpatient dose: 30mg per day
[Not
Verified]
Maximum outpatient dose: 320mg per day
[Not
Verified]
Slightly acidic, phenobarbital is also known generically as
phenobarbitone and commercially as Luminal. It is
used as a hypnotic, sedative and anticonvulsant medicine. It was widely used from the 1930s
until the 1960s when more modern hypnotics (such as benzodiazepines) were introduced. Although it is
still used commonly by veterinarians, phenobarbital is more tightly controlled in both the
UK and the USA.
Proxibarbal
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Unknown
Formula: C10H14N2O4
Half life: Unknown
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
No current
data.
Reposal
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Unknown
Formula: Unknown
Half life: Unknown
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
No current
data.
Secobarbital
(Quinalbarbitone) (Wiki)
Brand names:
Seconal®, Tuinal®
Formula: C12H18N2O3
Half life: ~ 29 to 34 hours
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: 100mg per day
[Verified]
Maximum outpatient dose: 300mg per day
[Highly
Questionable]
Née
quinalbarbitone, brand names include Seconal and
Tuinal. It exhibits anaesthetic, anticonvulsant, sedative and hypnotic properties and is used to
combat epilepsy, insomnia (on a short term basis only and then
only to patients habituated to the drug family) and in addition to this,
the drug acts as a strong anaesthetic and anxiolytic drug. Recreationally, it was nicknamed as
"reds", "seccies" and "dolls", amongst others.
The drug was commonly used in cases of
assisted suicide, euthanasia and capital punishment by lethal injection until it was discontinued in May 2001,
whereupon the drug pentobarbital was adopted for the same purposes.
Production of secobarbital resumed in 2006.
(Sodium) Thiopental
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Sodium Pentothal™
Formula: C11H17N2NaO3S
Half life: ~ 26 hours (not a reliable
figure)
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Not for outpatients
Maximum outpatient dose: Not for outpatients
Marketed
under the brand Sodium Pentothal and discovered in the early 1930s,
this medicine is also widely known as
thiopental, thiopentone sodium and trapanal. It
is a short acting but very powerful and takes hold very
rapidly; it is used as a general anaesthetic. Upon intravenous injection, it only takes between 30 to 45
seconds to render a patient unconscious. The concentration within the
brain peaks after approximately one minute
[after the injection] at approximately 60% of the
dose; thereafter it diffuses into the
body, leaving the patient able to regain consciousness after between 5 and 10 minutes. It has
a half life of about 11.5 to 26 hours and as such
large doses to keep a patient unconscious would lead to a very gradual return
to consciousness. Anaesthesia is instead maintained with an
inhaled anaesthetic agent. Additionally, this
drug can be used to induce
comas, despite the fact that it's effects
are extremely short lived in moderate doses. When administered in high
doses, the patient enters a medical coma, which depresses activity and
combats intracranial pressure and inflammation. It has been found that for this
purpose, this drug has been shown to be superior
to pentobarbital. On top of this, it also functions at
extremely high doses as a fatal medicine in the interests of assisted suicide, euthanasia and capital punishment by lethal injection and is also useful as a
truth serum.
Talbutal
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Lotusate®
Formula: C11H16N2O3
Half life: Unknown
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
Also known
as 5-allyl-5-sec-butylbarbituric acid (try remembering that
one!) and marketed as Lotusate and had a short to medium
duration of effect.
Thiobarbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Unknown
Formula: C8H12N2O2S
Half life: ~ 4 to 6 days ??
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown, presumed not for
outpatients
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown, presumed not for
outpatients
No current
data.
Vinbarbital
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Sonuctane®
Formula: C11H16N2O3
Half life: Unknown
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
No current
data.
Vinylbital (Butylvinyl)
(Wiki)
Brand names:
Unknown
Formula: C11H16N2O3
Half life: ~ 23.5 hours
Single unit dose: Unknown
Recommended outpatient dose: Unknown
Maximum outpatient dose: Unknown
Primarily
used as a sedative, Vinylbital is also known as Butylvinyl.