Chem. Also sulf-. [ad. G. sulfonal (Berichte der chem. Gesellsch., 1886, p. 2806), f. sulfon SULPHONE.] Diethyl-sulphonedimethyl-methane, a white crystalline substance, used as a hypnotic.
1889. Pall Mall Gaz., 26 April, 2/3. Sulfonal is a ‘hypnotic,’ which is free from the incalculable dangers of the ‘narcotic’ remedies such as the opiates and chloral. It is obtained … from the combination of ethyl mercaptan and acetone by the process of oxidation.
1890. Daily News, 16 Dec., 3/5. [A doctor] deposed that he saw deceased at that place, when he said he had been taking sulphonal.
attrib. 1892. Zangwill, Bow Mystery, 175. I pocketed the razor and the empty sulfonal phial.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 454. Some.fatal cases of sulphonal poisoning.
