Phenytoin prodrugs III: water-soluble prodrugs for oral and/or parenteral use.

Various bioreversible derivatives of phenytoin, a poorly water soluble and erratically absorbed drug after both oral and parenteral dosing, were synthesized. Initial evaluation of these expected prodrugs, i.e., their aqueous solubility, cleavage in the presence of various animal tissues, and anticonvulsant activity in mice, confirmed that a number of the derivatives did indeed behave as prodrugs. The more promising prodrugs were the disodium phosphate ester and various amino groups containing acyl esters of 3-(hydroxymethyl)-5,5-diphenylhydantoin.