Pharmaceutical Use
Acetanilide was the first aniline derivative serendipitously found to possess analgesic as well as antipyretic properties, and was quickly introduced into medical practice under the name of Antifebrin by A. Cahn and P. Hepp in 1886. But its (apparent) unacceptable toxic effects, the most alarming being cyanosis due to methemoglobinemia, prompted the search for supposedly less toxic aniline derivatives such as phenacetin. After several conflicting results over the ensuing fifty years, it was established in 1948 that acetanilide was mostly metabolized to paracetamol (USAN: acetaminophen) in the human body, and that it was the paracetamol that was responsible for the analgesic and antipyretic properties. The observed methemoglobinemia after acetanilide administration was ascribed to the small proportion of acetanilide that is hydrolyzed to aniline in the body. Acetanilide is no longer used as a drug in its own right, although the success of its metabolite – paracetamol (acetaminophen) – is well known.
Read more about this topic: Acetanilide, Applications