Difluoromethoxy compounds

Isoflurane, sold under the brand name Forane among others, is a halogenated ether used as a general anesthetic. It can be used to start or maintain anesthesia; however, other medications are often used to start anesthesia, due to airway irritation with isoflurane. Isoflurane is a inhalational anesthetic given via inhalation.

Desflurane (1,2,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl difluoromethyl ether), under the brand name Suprane, is a highly fluorinated methyl ethyl ether used for induction and maintenance of general anesthesia. Desflurane was developed in the 1980s and approved by the FDA in 1992 as a faster acting and clearing inhalant anesthetic compared to previously used inhalant anesthetics. Like halothane, enflurane, and isoflurane, it is a racemic mixture of (R) and (S) optical isomers (enantiomers). It has the most rapid onset and offset of the volatile anesthetic drugs used for general anesthesia due to its low solubilit

Enflurane (2-chloro-1,1,2-trifluoroethyl difluoromethyl ether) is a halogenated ether. Developed by Ross Terrell in 1963, it was first used clinically in 1966. It was increasingly used for inhalational anesthesia during the 1970s and 1980s but is no longer in common use.