578 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



Novocaine, a derivative of anaesthesine having the formula 

 NH 2 . C 6 H 4 . C0 2 . C 2 H 4 . N(C 2 H 5 ) 2 , HC1, is a powerful local 

 non-irritant anaesthetic, seven times less toxic than cocaine, but 

 somewhat transient in its effects. 



Alypine, a local anaesthetic recently put forward by the Bayer 

 Company, is the hydrochloride of tetramethyldiaminodimethyl- 

 ethylcarbinyl benzoate (XIX.). 



C.,Hs 



This drug has the useful properties of cocaine without its dis- 

 advantages, as even in large doses it does not injuriously 

 affect the heart or respiration, and moreover it does not 

 produce mydriasis. 



Stovaine is the hydrochloride of a similar base (XX.) ; it is 

 produced in the so-called Grignard reaction by the interaction of 

 magnesium ethyl bromide and dimethylamino-acetone followed 

 by benzoylation of the product. 



Hypnotics 



It has already been pointed out that the hydrocarbons them- 

 selves have slight hypnotic properties, which, however, become 

 more pronounced when hydroxyl (OH) is introduced into the 

 molecule. This increase in physiological activity is not, however, 

 due to any narcotic action of hydroxyl, which on the contrary 

 has a stimulating tendency. The opposing tendencies of the 

 hydrocarbon and hydroxyl groups are illustrated by the well- 

 known physiological action of ethyl alcohol. Morphine, again, 

 owes its therapeutic action to the presence in its molecule of 

 two hydroxyls, for when these are replaced by methoxyl or 

 ethoxyl the narcotic properties of the alkaloid disappear. 



In this connection the hydroxyl must be regarded as an 

 unsaturated group owing to the presence of bivalent oxygen, and 

 the physiological function of these unsaturated groups (hydroxyl, 

 carbonyl, CO, and the doubly and trebly linked carbon atoms 



C = C and — C = C — ) is to furnish points of attachment between 



/ \ 



the drug and the reacting compounds of the protoplasm. 



