Physical and chemical properties of anaesthetic agents (with an appendix on the manufacture of isoflurane).

The physical and chemical requirements of today's modern inhalation anaesthetic agents have resulted in the production of compounds that closely approach those of the ideal agent. As medical science develops and defines the need for better drug characteristics, the complexity of the research problems for the organic chemist is intensified. Many of the inhalation anaesthetic agents in use 30 yr ago would not pass a clinical investigator screen today, and would be rejected as inhalation anaesthetic agents. An outline of the manufacture of isoflurane is given as an Appendix to this paper.