Ethyl thiocyanate was tested as a fumigant in 1951.

Ethyl protocatechuate (ethyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate) is a lipophilic compound that acts as a pharmacological hypoxic mimetic and prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor. It might serves as a potential anti-fibrotic agent - the synthesis of 4-hydroxyproline in scleroderma cell cultures was reduced by ethyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate. Pharmacological activation of the PHD/HIF-1 alpha pathway by a cell-permeable ethyl-3,4 dihydroxybenzoate prevents mitochondrial dysfunction after warm ischemia-reperfusion in vivo. ethyl 3,4-dihydroxybenzoate might prove useful clinically to decrease or eliminate IR injury associated with liver surgery and transplantation. Ethyl protocatechuate supplementation effectively scaled down hypobaric hypoxia induced cerebral edema with concomitant downregulation of brain NF-κB expression – it might serves as effective hypoxic preconditioning agent in ameliorating hypobaric hypoxia mediated injury in brain.