Overview of the synthetic approaches to lysergic acid as a precursor to the psychedelic LSD
Michael J. Nutt A * , Nick Woolf B and Scott G. Stewart
A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia (M310), 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia.
B Woke Pharmaceuticals, Suite 301, 10 Bridge Street, Sydney, NSW 2000 Australia.
Australian Journal of Chemistry 76(5) 279-287 https://doi.org/10.1071/CH23055
Submitted: 13 March 2023 Accepted: 24 May 2023 Published: 7 July 2023
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY)
Abstract
In this short primer we will discuss the total synthesis of lysergic acid, an important precursor to both lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and its derivatives. Lysergic acid is also noted as a precursor for many drugs targeting the serotonin receptor family of GPCRs, including multiple known hallucinogens. More recently, reinvigorated interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics from academic and commercial sectors has placed a renewed importance on practical, scalable means of accessing this complex alkaloid scaffold.
Keywords: amination, cross‐coupling, ergoline, ergot fungus, organic chemical synthesis, total synthesis, lysergic acid, lysergic acid diethylamide, psychedelic.
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