Pentobarbital

Summary

Pentobarbital (CHEMBL448) is an approved small-molecule GABAA receptor agonist (ATC N05CA01); indicated across 5 conditions including insomnia and brain injury.

At a glance

• Status: Approved (max clinical phase 4)
• Modality: Small molecule
• ATC class: N05CA01
• Indications: 5 conditions
• Clinical trials: 5
• Chemistry: 226.27 Da · C11H18N2O3

Identifiers

Drug identity and classification

Field	Value
ChEMBL ID	CHEMBL448
Name	Pentobarbital
Type	Small molecule
Max phase	4
FDA approved	yes
PubChem CID	4737
ChEBI	CHEBI:7983
ATC	N05CA01
Molecular formula	C11H18N2O3
Molecular weight	226.27
InChIKey	WEXRUCMBJFQVBZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N

SMILES: CCCC(C)C1(C(=O)NC(=O)NC1=O)CC

IUPAC name: 5-ethyl-5-pentan-2-yl-1,3-diazinane-2,4,6-trione

ChEBI definition: A member of the class of barbiturates, the structure of which is that of barbituric acid substituted at C-5 by ethyl and sec-pentyl groups.

Pharmacological roles (ChEBI): GABAA receptor agonist.

Also known as: Nembutal, NSC-28708, Pentobarbital, Pentobarbital cii, Pentobarbitone, SID26750091, PENTOBARBITAL, pentobarbital, SID144205108

Parent form; salt/anhydrous children: CHEMBL971

Patent coverage: 15,772 distinct patent families (49,933 SureChEMBL compound mentions), from 2 matched compound structure(s). One matched structure accounts for 49,909 (100%) of the total. Mentions count patents naming the compound (not distinct inventions), so promiscuous / reference molecules inflate the mention figure — families are the dedup metric.

Targets

Targets

Broader ChEMBL bioactivity targets: 7 (assay-derived). Sample: Lysine-specific demethylase 4E, Gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor subunit beta-3, GABA-A receptor; anion channel, GABA A receptor alpha-2/beta-2/gamma-2, Delta-type opioid receptor, Cytochrome P450 3A4, Aldehyde dehydrogenase 1A1.

Bioactivity

ChEMBL activities: 1 potent at pChembl ≥ 5 of 9 total. Top 100 by potency (10 = 0.1 nM, 6 = 1 µM):

Target	pChembl	Type	Value	Unit	Activity ID
O09028	5.77	IC50	1700	nM	CHEMBL_ACT_1171636

Target pathways

No target-pathway data for this drug (no mapped target genes).

Indications & clinical

Indications

1 approved indication. FDA phase 4, plus an anticancer drug’s labelled cancer uses (which ChEMBL often logs at phase 3).

Indication	Phase	MONDO	EFO
insomnia	4	MONDO:0013600	EFO:0004698

3 diseases in clinical trials (phase 1–3, investigational — not approved indications). Highest ChEMBL trial phase per disease; a non-cancer approved use is occasionally logged at phase 3 here.

Disease (in trials)	Phase	MONDO	EFO
brain injury	3	MONDO:0043510	MONDO:0043510
heart disorder	1	MONDO:0005267	EFO:0003777
drug dependence	1	MONDO:0005303	EFO:0003890

1 further indication record had no mapped disease name (EFO/MeSH-only) or were duplicates, and are omitted.

Clinical trials

Total trials: 5.

Phase distribution

Phase	Trials
PHASE3	2
PHASE1	2
PHASE1/PHASE2	1

Top trials by phase / activity

NCT	Phase	Status	Title
NCT00265616	PHASE3	TERMINATED	Treatment of Refractory Status Epilepticus
NCT00622570	PHASE3	TERMINATED	Comparison of Effectiveness of Pentobarbital and Thiopental in Patients With Refractory Intracranial Hypertension
NCT00123578	PHASE1/PHASE2	WITHDRAWN	GHB Withdrawal Symptoms and Effectiveness of Treatment With Lorazepam Versus Pentobarbital - 1
NCT00058955	PHASE1	COMPLETED	Physiological, Behavioral and Subjective Effects of Drugs (GHB)
NCT02250820	PHASE1	COMPLETED	A Comparison of Two Sedation Techniques in Children Undergoing Transthoracic Echocardiography (TTE)

Clinical evidence (CIViC)

No CIViC predictive evidence (expected for non-precision-medicine drugs).

Pharmacology

Pharmacogenomics

No CPIC/DPWG dosing guideline or drug-level clinical/variant annotations in PharmGKB for this molecule.

Related molecules

Related molecules

No competitor molecules sharing a primary target (ChEMBL phase ≥2 or PubChem drug-class).