Armodafinil is a eugeroic, or wakefulness promoting compound. It is related to the compounds Adrafinil and Modafinil, both of which were developed in the 1970s.

In 1974, scientists at the pharmaceutical company Lafon Laboratories in France developed a group of benzhydryl sulfinyl compounds. One of these compounds was Adrafinil. During tests to determine how Adrafinil works in the body, Modafinil was discovered.