Fly agaric, also known as Amanita Muscaria, is a mushroom that contains a deliriant known as Muscimol. It acts on the GABA-A receptor, and as little as 8-15mg can be enough for a good trip.
Generally, muscimol is prepared from an extraction from the mushroom as said above. However, it is not native to most places, and is generally found in northern template and boreal forests
around the world. Along with this, there are tons of mushrooms that look identical, some of which are toxic.
Thus, the chemist considers the chemical synthesis. Today I will present a method for the synthesis, with references.
McCarry's Procedure
This procedure is a 3-step, starting with (3-chloroprop-1-yn-1-yl)lithium (3).
(3) is dissolved in ether, cooled to -40C/-40F, and treated with excess ethyl chloroformate, which yields ethyl 4-chlorotetrolate (4). (4) is added to a solution of water, hydroxylamine and methanol at -35C/-31F.
At a pH of 8.5-9, the isoxazole (5) was recovered in 41% yield. Finally, (5) is dissolved in a saturated solution of methanol and anhydrous ammonia, and heated from 0C to 50C. Total yield is 18.7%.
Resources:
this
McCarry BE, Savard M (January 1981). "A facile synthesis of muscimol". Tetrahedron Letters. 22 (51): 5153–5156. doi:10.1016/S0040-4039(01)92445-1
Generally, muscimol is prepared from an extraction from the mushroom as said above. However, it is not native to most places, and is generally found in northern template and boreal forests
around the world. Along with this, there are tons of mushrooms that look identical, some of which are toxic.
Thus, the chemist considers the chemical synthesis. Today I will present a method for the synthesis, with references.
McCarry's Procedure
This procedure is a 3-step, starting with (3-chloroprop-1-yn-1-yl)lithium (3).
(3) is dissolved in ether, cooled to -40C/-40F, and treated with excess ethyl chloroformate, which yields ethyl 4-chlorotetrolate (4). (4) is added to a solution of water, hydroxylamine and methanol at -35C/-31F.
At a pH of 8.5-9, the isoxazole (5) was recovered in 41% yield. Finally, (5) is dissolved in a saturated solution of methanol and anhydrous ammonia, and heated from 0C to 50C. Total yield is 18.7%.
Resources:
this
McCarry BE, Savard M (January 1981). "A facile synthesis of muscimol". Tetrahedron Letters. 22 (51): 5153–5156. doi:10.1016/S0040-4039(01)92445-1