Following our discovery of the intravenous (iv) anesthetic activity of 2, 6-diethylphenol in mice, a series of alkylphenols was examined in this species and the most active analogues were further evaluated in rabbits. The synthesis of compounds which were not commercially available was accomplished by adaptations of standard ortho-alkylation procedures for phenols. Structure-activity relationships were found to be complex, but, in general, ...