Nicotinyl alcohol (pyridylcarbinol) is a niacin derivative used as a hypolipidemic agent and as a vasodilator. It causes flushing and may decrease blood pressure.[2]
It appears as a crystal that dissolves in water and alcohol with ease, also soluble in ether; melting range 147–148 °C.[citation needed]
Nicotinic acid is a brief peripheral vasodilator; this compound was made to make its action longer and effective. It provokes cutaneous flushing in head and upper thorax with heat, but with no major effects in blood pressure. It is used in peripheral vascular diseases, like arteriosclerosis obliterans,[3]Raynaud's disease,[4] thromboangiitis obliterans (Buerger's disease),[5] arterial embolism, chilblains or migraine associated with vascular spasm.
Fischer and Tebrock worked with this drug in more than two hundred patients for more than three years, achieving effective improvements, mainly in symptoms related to intermittent claudication,[6] ulcer healing and others.[7]
Derivatives
At least a couple of uses for this agent were discovered over the years:
^"Ronicol Retard". Medical Dictionary Online. 2012. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved July 27, 2012.
^Richter IH, Fogel M, Fabricant H (1951). "An evaluation of roniacol tartrate in arteriosclerosis obliterans". New York State Journal of Medicine. 51 (10): 1303–4. PMID14843421.
^Fisher MM, Tebrock HW (1953). "Nicotinic alcohol (roniacol) in peripheral vascular diseases and allied conditions: its use and limitations". New York State Journal of Medicine. 53 (1): 65–8. PMID13025721.
