ButacaineButacaine is a white crystalline ester used as a local anesthetic. It was first marketed in the 1920s.SynthesisThe addition of metallic sodium to a mixture of allyl alcohol and dibutylamine gives the conjugate addition product 3-dibutylamino-1-propanol. Reaction of this intermediate with p-nitrobenzoyl chloride gives the ester 5. A Béchamp reduction of the nitro group completes the synthesis of butacaine.