COMPETITION BETWEEN 2 METABOLIC PATHWAYS - OXIDATION AND DESULFURATION IN THE THIOBARBITURATE SERIES

In order to study the competition between hepatic hydroxylation and de sulfuration in the thiobarbiturate series, two compounds bearing a bra nched side chain with a tertiary carbon atom in position omega-1 were administered to rats over about one week, Urine and faeces were collec ted and extracted. The metabolites isolated were identified. It was sh own that desulfuration was not the major metabolic pathway, and that, when it took place, it remained a minor process and was accompanied by gamma-hydroxylation into a tertiary alcohol.