Barbiturates are drugs that act as depressants on the central nervous system. They have a wide effect range, which means, the drugs can cause mild to total anesthesia effects. If the effectiveness of a barbiturate as a sedative depends on its ability to penetrate the non polar membrane of the cell, then based on this fact, hexethal will be more effective. This is because, it is more non polar than barbital; hexetal has a helxyl gruoup instead of the ethyl group present in the barbital.