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Clinical data | |
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Trade names | Doriden, Elrodorm, Noxyron, others |
Pregnancy category |
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Dependence liability | Moderate - high |
Routes of administration | By mouth |
ATC code | |
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Pharmacokinetic data | |
Bioavailability | Variable (Tmax = 1–6 hours) [2] |
Protein binding | ~50% |
Metabolism | Extensive hepatic |
Elimination half-life | 8–12 hours |
Excretion | Renal |
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CompTox Dashboard (EPA) | |
ECHA InfoCard | 100.000.921 |
Chemical and physical data | |
Formula | C13H15NO2 |
Molar mass | 217.268 g·mol−1 |
3D model (JSmol) | |
Melting point | 84 °C (183 °F) |
Solubility in water | 999 mg/L (30 °C/86 °F) mg/mL (20 °C) |
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Glutethimide is a sedative-hypnotic medication introduced in 1954 by Ciba Specialty Chemicals, and marketed as Doriden in the United States beginning in the late 1950s. [3] Initially thought a safer alternative to barbiturates in the treatment of insomnia, glutethimide was found to have a similar liability for addiction, abuse, and dependency as barbiturates and similar non--barbiturate depressants, including the sedatives methaqualone, ethinamate, ethchlorvynol, and methyprylon. Abrupt cessation of glutethimide use results in rebound effects similar those found in barbiturate withdrawal.
Doriden was manufactured as a scored, white tablet containing 500 mg of glutethimide, and was available in the United States until 1993, after which commercial production was discontinued, and in Hungary in 2006. Since 2013, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has limited annual production to three grams, equivalent to six Doriden tablets, suggesting current use is limited to small-scale research.[ citation needed ]
Glutethimide is a CYP2D6 enzyme inducer, enabling the body to convert higher amounts of codeine to morphine, frequently leading to s users ingesting the substance with Tylenol 4 (codeine/acetaminophen), often overdosing on the resulting morphine. colloquially, this combination was referred to as "Cibas and codeine", "hits," "pancakes and syrup," or "Dors and 4s," and was known to be a highly potent and often lethal, resulting in fatal respiratory depression. [4] [5]
The drug became increasingly harder to access in the 1970s, increasing demand for glutethimide in such urban centers as Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York City, Baltimore, and Newark, New Jersey, leading to small-scale clandestine synthesis of glutethimide beginning in 1984, when methaqualone was fully withdrawan from the U.S. market and nearly impossible to access. [6] : 203
Doriden was commonly prescribed as a sleeping pull until the 1970s, when prescriptions gradually began to decline. Following long-term use, abrupt withdrawal of glutethimide was found to produce rebound effects resembling those of barbiturate withdrawal; anecdotally, patients consistently taking stable doses of the drug long-term have reported symptoms including delirium, hallucinosis, convulsions, and fever. [7]
Glutethimide's effect on quickening the conversion of codeine to morphine was studied clinically, including some research in the 1970s in various countries of using it under carefully monitored circumstances as a form of oral opioid agonist substitution therapy, particularly as a Substitutionmittel that may be a useful alternative to methadone. [8] [9]
Commercial production of glutethimide was discontinued in the U.S. in 1993, followed by several Eastern European countries in 2006, notably Hungary. Analysis of confiscated glutethimide seems to invariably show the drug or the results of attempted synthesis, as opposed to being "laced" with similar depressants. [6]
Glutethimide is a Schedule II drug under the Convention on Psychotropic Substances. [10] It was originally a Schedule III drug in the United States under the Controlled Substances Act, but in 1991 it was upgraded to Schedule II, [11] several years after it was discovered that misuse combined with codeine increased the effect of the codeine and deaths had resulted from the combination. [12] [13] It has a DEA ACSCN of 2550 and a 2013 production quota of 3 g.
The (R) isomer has a faster onset and more potent anticonvulsant activity in animal models than the (S) isomer. [14]
The base catalyzed conjugate addition of 2-phenylbutyronitrile [769-68-6] (1) to ethyl acrylate (2) gives ethyl 4-cyano-4-phenylhexanoate, CID:139890735 (3). Alkaline hydrolysis of the nitrile group into an amide group, and subsequent acidic cyclization of the product affords the desired glutethimide (4).