Historical aspects and applications of barbituric acid derivatives. A review

This review considers the pharmacological and other applications of barbituric and 2-thiobarbituric acid derivatives. A chronological description about the discovery, structural studies and first clinical assays are given. Therapeutic expectations as anticonvulsant, antimicrobial, spasmolytic, antiinflammatory, antitumoral and some other effects of 5,5-disubstituted barbituric acids and alkylidene- or arylidenebarbituric acids are overviewed. A considerable amount of these types of compounds have been proposed as industrial dyes and pigments, photosensitizers and thermosensitive materials.