Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
October,  1919.  -* 
Chloretone. 
643 
CHLORETONE :  TRI  CHLOR  TERTIARY  BUTYL 
ALCOHOL.    A  DESCRIPTION  OF  SOME 
OF  ITS  PROPERTIES. 
By  Herbert  C.  Hamilton, 
DETROIT,  MICH. 
This  is  a  compound  formed  by  the  direct  union  of  chloroform 
and  acetone,  a  reaction  which  is  initiated  by  a  caustic  alkali.  Will- 
gerodt1  discovered  the  reaction  in  1881  and  produced  the  compound 
which  he  called  acetone-chloroform.  When  purified  by  steam  dis- 
tillation, or  when  recrystallized  from  water,  it  melts  at  8o°-8i°  C, 
somewhat  higher  when  freed  from  water  by  distillation. 
Chemical  Properties. — The  empiric  formula  for  chloretone 
shows  it  to  be  apparently  a  direct  combination  of  chloroform  and 
acetone.  Its  structural  formula,  however,  indicates  that  the  com- 
pound takes  on  the  formation  of  an  alcohol  and  thus  accounts  for 
the  chemical  designation  of  tri  chlor  tertiary  butyl  alcohol.  It  is 
soluble  in  most  organic  solvents  and  oils  and  is  soluble  in  water — 
about  0.8  per  cent. — from  which  it  crystallizes  in  slender,  white 
needles. 
Physiological  Studies. — The  physiological  actions  of  this  com- 
pound have  been  studied  by  Abel  and  Aldrich,2  Kossa,3  Vamoosy,4' 5 
Houghton  and  Aldrich6' 7  demonstrating  its  action  as  a  local  and 
general  anesthetic  and  as  a  hypnotic  and  sedative. 
As  a  General  Anesthetic. — It  has  become  the  general  anesthetic 
of  choice  for  wrork  on  laboratory  animals,  its  exceptional  value  de- 
pending upon  the  fact  that  it  is  safe  and  relatively  non-toxic,  and 
that  one  dose  is  sufficient  to  maintain  complete  anesthesia  for  sev- 
eral hours  uncomplicated  by  any  serious  effects  on  the  heart  and 
circulatory  system.  This  applies  only  to  such  experimental  work  as 
involves  an  examination  of  the  pharmacologic  properties  of  drug  or 
gland  extracts,  for  example,  the  standardization  of  extracts  of  the 
suprarenal  and  pituitary  glands  where  the  effect  is  to  raise  the  blood 
pressure,  study  of  the  digitalis  series  of  heart  tonics  which  affect 
primarily  the  circulatory  system,  of  aconite  and  veratrum  which  are 
circulatory  depressants,  of  blood  coagulants  which  act  to  decrease 
the  time  of  blood  clotting. 
For  operations  in  which  the  recovery  of  the  patient  is  of  first 
importance,  chloretone  can  be  used  in  conjunction  with  morphine  by 
which  complete  anesthesia  can  be  accomplished  using  a  sublethal 
