ey have all of the negativetraits of this class of drugs. Ethyl ether is potent and fairlysafe, but it is also flammable and explosive. It forms peroxidesand it produces a very unpleasant induction phase. Also, it isirritating and causes nausea and vomiting during recovery. Chloroform is just as potent and relaxes the skeletal musclefairly effectively, but has a narrow margin of safety, producesliver and kidney toxicity, and has been known to fairlyfrequently cause cardiac arrest. In addition, it can also causesevere hypertension.Another type of general anesthetic agent is non halogenatedhydrocarbons. All of these work well and the longer the chain,the higher the potency. However, these have a tendency toproduce cardiovascular toxicity. Cyclopropane is the only onestill in use and is explosive.Ethyl ether was the first anesthetic, but is not usedanymore because of its negative effects, but other ethers camealong throughout the past century and a half as well. Likehydrocarbons, the longer the chain, the more potent theanesthetic. However, the longer the chain, the higher thetoxicity. Also having a longer chain reduces induction time. Ethyl ether is very rarely used and divinyl ether is explosiveand produces deep anesthesia too quickly.Another type of general anesthetic is halogenatedhydrocarbons. When a halogen is added to an anesthesia,flammability is greatly reduced, and in some cases, eliminated. In addition, the halogen can also add potency. Depending on thehalogen, some of these compounds can cause arrhythmia and/orrenal or hepatic toxicity. Compounds containing only bromine areusually not useful and compounds containing only chlorine arelimited in use, are toxic, and can cause arrhythmia. The best ofthe chlorinated agents are ethyl chloride and trichloroethylene.Fluorinated hydrocarbons are the most useful generalanesthetics, and were first discovered as offshoots of thenuclear weapons program. Adding a fluorine to a...
