Butethal is a sedative and a hypnotic drug indicated for the treatment of severe intractable insomnia. It acts on receptors in the brain (GABA A receptors) causing the release of the chemical GABA. This chemical inhibits certain areas of the brain resulting in sleepiness. Common side effects are: drowsiness, sedation, unsteadiness, vertigo and inco- ordination. Also, hangover effect, paradoxical excitement, confusion, memory defects and skin rashes. Interactions may occur with the following: adrenocorticoids (cortisone-like medicine), anticoagulants (blood thinners), carbamazepine, corticotropin (barbiturates may decrease the effects of these medicines), central nervous system (CNS) depressants (using these medicines with barbiturates may result in increased CNS depressant effects), divalproex sodium, valproic acid (using these medicines with barbiturates may change the amount of either medicine that you need to take), and oral contraceptives containing estrogens (barbiturates may decrease the effectiveness of these oral contraceptives, and you may need to change to a different type of birth control).

Ethylmorphine is a derivative of morphine with analgesic and antitussive effect. It acts by activating the opioid receptors and thus has a direct influence on the CNS system. Ethylmorphine was approved in Europe for the treatment of dry cough (Codethyline, Dionine).

Mephobarbital us a barbiturate derivative used primary as an anticonvulsant, but also as a sedative and anxiolytic. Marketing of mephobarbital was discontinued in 2012.

Paraldehyde is the cyclic trimer of acetaldehyde molecules. It was introduced into clinical practice in the UK by the Italian physician Vincenzo Cervello in 1882. It is a central nervous system depressant and was soon found to be an effective anticonvulsant, hypnotic and sedative. It was included in some cough medicines as an expectorant (though there is no known mechanism for this function beyond the placebo effect). Paraldehyde also has been used in the treatment of alcoholism and in the treatment of nervous and mental conditions to calm or relax patients who are nervous or tense and to produce sleep. However, this medicine has generally been replaced by safer and more effective medicines for the treatment of alcoholism and in the treatment of nervous and mental conditions.

Sulfonmethane (also known as acetone diethylsulfone) was discovered as a hypnotic drug. Sulfonmethane was to be one of Bayer’s first profitable pharmaceutical products. It retained its popularity until the introduction of the more rapidly acting barbiturates rendered it obsolete. Now is used newer and safer sedatives.

Aprobarbital is a barbiturate derivative. Aprobarbital have been used for the short-term treatment of insomnia and for routine sedation to relieve anxiety, tension, and apprehension however, barbiturates generally have been replaced by benzodiazepines.

Barbital, the one of the series of barbiturates, has hypnotic, sedative, and anticonvulsant properties and used under the trade name Veronal. It calmed manic patients and helped melancholic patients to sleep and was an effective inducer of sleep in insomniacs, but at the same time compound could induced dependence. It was substituted by the butyl analog, butobarbital, which was three times stronger and its period of action was much shorter due to its lipophilicity. Barbital is a ligand of GABA-receptor complex and in addition, it could have another target, a creatine kinase.