Conveniently accessible 4‐[(2‐(3,4‐dimethoxyphenyl)ethyl]‐3‐thiosemicarbazide (2) was converted to new 1‐substituted benzylidene/furfurylidene‐4‐[2‐(3,4‐dimethoxyphenyl)ethyl]‐3‐thiosemicarbazides (3) which furnished 2‐(substituted benzylidene/furfurylidene)hydrazono‐3‐[2‐(3,4‐dimethoxyphenyl)ethyl]thiaz‐olidin‐4‐ones (4) and 1‐(substituted benzylidene/furfurylidene)‐amino‐3‐[2‐(3,4‐dimethoxyphenyl)ethyl]‐2‐thioxo‐4,5‐imidazol‐idinediones (5) on reaction with chloroacetic acid and oxalyl chloride, respectively. The structure of 5 was confirmed by X‐ray diffraction studies performed on 5a. 4 and 5 were evaluated for their potentiating effects on pentobarbital induced hypnosis. Most of the compounds caused remarkable increases in pentobarbital sleeping time.