Pharm. [f. TRI- 5 + ending of SULPH)ONAL, because it contains three ethyl groups.] Trade-name of the synthetic narcotic drug diethylsulphonemethylethylmethane, CH3(C2H5)C(SO2C2H5)2, resembling sulphonal.
1889. Jrnl. Chem. Soc., LVI. 1233. Trional … crystallises in lustrous tables, melts at 76°, and dissolves in 320 parts of cold water.
1895. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 225. By the substitution in Sulphonal of a molecule of ethyl (C2H5) for a molecule of methyl, trional is formed.
1913. Thorpe, Dict. App. Chem. (ed. 2), V. 530. Trional … is employed in medicine for the same purpose as sulphonal and tetronal.
