Halonal, an original benzoylated phenobarbital derivative anticonvulsant: in vivo evaluation, chemometric and molecular docking studies of enantiomers

An original phenobarbital anticonvulsant Halonal, 5-ethyl-1-(2-fluorobenzoyl)-5-phenylpyrimidine-2,4,6(1H,3H,5H)-trione, stimulated the cellular immune and the humoral response in long-term alcoholized male (CBAxC57Bl/6) F1 mice to the level of healthy animals. Voltammetry was found to be suitable for determination of Halonal R/S-enantiomeric ratio, which was exemplified on the authentic sample with the R/S-composition of 40:60. Molecular docking (Schrödinger program, Glide) showed that Halonal behaved as a benzonal derivative interacting with GABA_AR via the BARB binding site, with S-Halonal having higher similarity score than its R-enantiomer because of a different orientation of the 2-fluorobenzoyl substituent.