SPECIFIC GRAVITIES OF DESFLURANE, ENFLURANE, HALOTHANE, ISOFLURANE, AND SEVOFLURANE

We determined the specific gravities of presently available volatile anesthetics in order to supply a consistent quantitative basis for calibration standards. Using four 50-mL volumetric flasks, we obtained the following values at 20 degrees C: desflurane 1.4651 +/- 0.0004 g/mL (mean +/- SD); enflurane 1.5230 +/- 0.0003 g/mL; halothane 1.8680 +/- 0.0007 g/mL; isoflurane 1.5019 +/- 0.0006 g/mL; and sevoflurane 1.5203 +/- 0.0008 g/mL. Measurements made at 0 degrees C, 10 degrees C, 20 degrees C, and 25 degrees C (not for desflurance at 25 degrees C) revealed a decrease in specific gravity of 0.00250 +/- 0.00014 g/mL for each degree of increase in temperature. These data bear on the issue of cost for anesthetics that are stored as liquids, but used as gases.