nitrofurazone
Sign in to saveAlso known as Furazone, Furacilin, 5-Nitro-2-furaldehyde semicarbazone, Furacin, Actin-N, Nitrofural, 5-nitrofuran-2-carbaldehyde semicarbazone, 5-nitrofurfural semicarbazone
Nitrofurazone (INN, trade name Furacin) is an antimicrobial organic compound belonging to the nitrofuran class. It is most commonly used as a topical antibiotic ointment. It is effective against gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, and can be used in the treatment of trypanosomiasis. Its use in medicine has become less frequent, as safer and more effective products have become available. Nitrofurazone is listed under California Prop 65, and has demonstrated clear evidence to be mutagenic and carcinogenic during animal studies, and has been discontinued for human use in the USA. The
Key facts
- Drug.Verifiedfields
- changed
- Drug.Watchedfields
- changed
- Drug.verifiedrevid
- 462261893
- Drug.IUPAC_name
- (2E)-2-[(5-Nitro-2-furyl)methylene]hydrazinecarboxamide
- Drug.image
- Nitrofural.svg
- Drug.image_class
- skin-invert-image
- Drug.alt
- Skeletal formula of nitrofural
- Drug.width
- 250
- Drug.image2
- Nitrofural 3D spacefill.png
- Drug.image_class2
- bg-transparent
- Drug.alt2
- Space-filling model of the nitrofural molecule
- Drug.width2
- 215
- Drug.tradename
- Aldomycin, Amifur, Chemfuran, Coxistat, Furacin, Furan-2, Furacinetten, Furaplast, Furazol W, Furesol Furracoccid, Mammex, Nefco, Nifuzon, Nitrofural, Vabrocid
- Drug.pregnancy_US
- C
- Drug.legal_status
- US: Discontinued
- Drug.elimination_half life
- 5 hours
- Drug.CAS_number
- 59-87-0
- Drug.ATC_prefix
- B05
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
1,392 papers- Nitrofural (nitrofurazone).IARC monographs on the evaluation of carcinogenic risks to humans · 1990
- Nitrofurazone toxicity.Veterinary medicine, small animal clinician : VM, SAC · 1981
- Facile synthesis of (14) C-nitrofurazone from (14) C-urea.Journal of labelled compounds & radiopharmaceuticals · 2023
- Progress in Electrode Materials for the Detection of Nitrofurazone and Nitrofurantoin.Biosensors · 2025
- Nitrofurazone in scabies.Lancet (London, England) · 1977
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- heterocyclic compound
- Has part
- oxygen
- Mass
- 198.039
- Has use
- medication
Show 6 more facts
- chemical formula
- C₆H₆N₄O₄
- World Health Organisation international non-proprietary name
- nitrofural
- Commons category
- Nitrofural
- canonical SMILES
- C1=C(OC(=C1)[N+](=O)[O-])C=NNC(=O)N
- NCI Thesaurus ID
- C73150
- has characteristic
- bitterness
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
9 sectionsContents
- Medical uses
- Human use
- Animal use
- Pharmacokinetics
- Mechanism of action
- Adverse effects
- Contraindications
- Toxicities
- References
Nitrofurazone (INN, trade name Furacin) is an antimicrobial organic compound belonging to the nitrofuran class. It is most commonly used as a topical antibiotic ointment. It is effective against gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative bacteria, and can be used in the treatment of trypanosomiasis. Its use in medicine has become less frequent, as safer and more effective products have become available. Nitrofurazone is listed under California Prop 65, and has demonstrated clear evidence to be mutagenic and carcinogenic during animal studies, and has been discontinued for human use in the USA. The substance is pale yellow and crystalline. It was once widely used as an antibiotic for livestock.
== Medical uses == thumb|left|Drugstore-made ~400 mL aqueous solution of Furacilin (, nitrofural), 1 : 5000 (0.2 mg/mL or 0.02%), ready for topical use.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “nitrofurazone” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.