Cited by 153Atmospheric Ozone and ClimateAtmospheric chemistry and aerosolsAtmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics

Volatile anaesthetics and the atmosphere: atmospheric lifetimes and atmospheric effects of halothane, enflurane, isoflurane, desflurane and sevoflurane

Open access
Langbein, T, Sonntag, H, Trapp, D, Hoffmann, A, Malms, W, Röth, E P, Mörs, V, Zellner, R·1999·British Journal of Anaesthesia

Abstract

The atmospheric lifetimes of the halogenated anaesthetics halothane, enflurane, isoflurane, desflurane and sevoflurane with respect to reaction with the hydroxyl radical (OH.) and UV photolysis have been determined from observations of OH. reaction kinetics and UV absorption spectra. Rate coefficients for the reaction with OH radicals for all halogenated anaesthetics investigated ranged from 0.44 to 2.7 x 10(-14) cm3 molec-1 s-1. Halothane, enflurane and isoflurane showed distinct UV absorption in the range 200-350 nm. In contrast, no absorption in this wavelength range was detected for desflurane or sevoflurane. The total atmospheric lifetimes, as derived from both OH. reactivity and photolysis, were 4.0-21.4 yr. It has been calculated that up to 20% of anaesthetics enter the stratosphere. As a result of chlorine and bromine content, the ozone depletion potential (ODP) relative to chlorofluorocarbon CFC-11 varies between 0 and 1.56, leading to a contribution to the total ozone depletion in the stratosphere of approximately 1% for halothane and 0.02% for enflurane and isoflurane. Estimates of the greenhouse warming potential (GWP) relative to CFC-12 yield values of 0.02-0.14, resulting in a relative contribution to global warming of all volatile anaesthetics of approximately 0.03%. The stratospheric impact of halothane, isoflurane and enflurane and their influence on ozone depletion is of increasing importance because of decreasing chlorofluorocarbons globally. However, the influence of volatile anaesthetics on greenhouse warming is small.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1093/bja/82.1.66

Cites

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

We couldn’t retrieve this paper’s full text, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Cites

Still being checked.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Langbein, T., Sonntag, H., Trapp, D., Hoffmann, A., Malms, W., Röth, E. P., Mörs, V, & Zellner, R.
Affiliations
University of Göttingen (DE)
Venue
British Journal of Anaesthesia
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
1999-01
Volume
82
Issue
1
Pages
66-73
ISSN
0007-0912 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2127792082
Cited by
153
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 9
FWCI
1.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • British Journal of Anaesthesia (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • GRO (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Atmospheric Ozone and Climate
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
Keywords
volatile anesthetics, atmospheric lifetime, halothane, enflurane, isoflurane, desflurane, sevoflurane, UV photolysis, stratospheric transport, ozone depletion potential, chlorofluorocarbons, halogenated compounds
MeSH terms
Air Pollutants, Atmosphere, Humans, Models, Chemical, Ozone, Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet, Hydroxyl Radical, Greenhouse Effect, Anesthetics, Inhalation

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review