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Synfacts 2008(1): 0015-0015  
DOI: 10.1055/s-2007-991495
Synthesis of Natural Products and Potential Drugs
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Synthesis of (-)-Kainic Acid

Contributor(s): Philip Kocienski, Zofia Komsta
J. M. Chalker*, A. Yang, K. Deng, T. Cohen*
University of Pittsburgh, USA
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Publication History

Publication Date:
18 December 2007 (online)

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Significance

(-)-Kainic acid is isolated from a Japanese marine alga. It possesses neuroexcitory activity in the mammalian central nervous system and has been used for mimicry of neurological disease states like epilepsy or Alzheimer’s disease. This short and relatively high-yielding synthesis exploits a very efficient palladium-catalyzed zinc-ene cyclization (D→E).