Study On The Synthesis Of Gabapentin

Epilepsy, a chronic disorder of the nervous system, severely endangers human health by affecting 3.5-4.8%o of the population, and has already become a focus health problem in China. Gabapentin is a new antiepilepsy drug that has been proved safe and effective. Approved in 1993, gabapentin became a new choice for the treatment of intractable epilepsy, and ranked among the world's best prescription drugs. Besides, it is also effective for neuropathic pain.In this paper, gabapentin is synthesized from cyclohexanone by improved method. The method consists of cycloaddition, hydrolysis, condensation, ammonolysis and Hofmann degradation and ion-exchange. The total yield of gabapentin is 41.2%. Chemical structure of the product was confirmed by ~1H-NMR, IR, MS and elemental analysis. The optimized technique was simple, reasonable and feasible.