Coloured complexes of all-trans-retinal with benzocaine and other local anaesthetics

Coloured Schiff base complexes with lambda max values of 500 nm or above were formed between the visual pigment all-trans-retinal and the local anesthetics procaine (lambda max = 533 nm), benzocaine (4-amino-benzoic acid ethyl ester, lambda max = 535 nm), 3-amino-benzoic acid ethyl ester (lambda max = 500 nm) and 2-amino-benzoic acid ethyl ester (lambda max = 509 nm) in methanol acidified with HCl. The anaesthetics lidocaine and urethane failed to form coloured compounds with lambda max values greater than 500 nm under the same conditions. The relevance of these observations to the effect of anaesthetics on the visual pigments is discussed.