Tribromoethanol

Tribromoethanol is a sedative. It is used to anesthetize laboratory animals, particularly rodents, before surgery. As a solution in tert-amyl alcohol, it has the brand name Avertin. Tribromoethanol causes rapid and deep anesthesia followed by rapid and full postoperative recovery. Tribromoethanol is a sedative. It is used to anesthetize laboratory animals, particularly rodents, before surgery. As a solution in tert-amyl alcohol, it has the brand name Avertin. Tribromoethanol causes rapid and deep anesthesia followed by rapid and full postoperative recovery. Tribromoethanol was widely used as a general anesthetic in humans in the first half of the twentieth century. Electrophysiology studies showed that tribromoethanol acts as a positive allosteric modulator of the inhibitory GABAA and glycine receptors, a mechanism similar to that seen with the related compound 2,2,2-trichloroethanol. Bromal hydrate (2,2,2-tribromoethanol-1,1-diol), a compound also recognized to produce general anesthesia in animals, is metabolized to tribromoethanol.