Barbituric acid is an organic compound based on a pyrimidine heterocyclic skeleton. It is an odorless powder soluble in water. Barbituric acid is the parent compound of barbiturate drugs, although barbituric acid itself is not pharmacologically active. The compound was discovered by the German chemist Adolf von Baeyer on December 4, 1864, the feast of Saint Barbara, by combining urea and malonic acid in a condensation reaction. Malonic acid has since been replaced by diethyl malonate, as using the ester avoids the problem of having to deal with the acidity of the carboxylic acid and its unreactive carboxylate. The α-carbon has a reactive hydrogen atom and is quite acidic even for a diketone species because of the additional aromatic stabilisation of the carbanion. Using the Knoevenagel condensation reaction, barbituric acid can form a large variety of barbiturate drugs that behave as central nervous system depressants.
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