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Published on: September 24, 2020
Anesthetic properties of some fluorinated oxolanes and oxetanes
Edmond I Eger1, David Lemal, Michael J Laster
1Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0464, USA. egere@anesthesia.ucsf.edu
Background:
The search for new potent inhaled anesthetics has slowed, in large part because of the excellence of the two most recent additions, desflurane and sevoflurane. Nonetheless, neither desflurane nor sevoflurane are ideal anesthetics, desflurane causing cardiorespiratory stimulation, and sevoflurane having a slower (albeit rapid) recovery from anesthesia. Sevoflurane also can produce convulsions and postoperative agitation.
Methods And Results:
In the present report, we describe the physical and anesthetic properties of 31 cyclic ethers halogenated solely with fluorine. Although several produced anesthesia, none had solubilities that would make them better than sevoflurane. The remaining ethers were unstable or produced obvious central nervous system irritation, including convulsions.
Conclusions:
We find that none of these cyclic ethers appear to provide advantages over desflurane or sevoflurane.
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