Rolziracetam is a nootropic drug of the racetam family.
Rolziracetam was found to improve performance on a delayed-response task in aged rhesus monkeys. It has a wide margin of safety in animals and has been evaluated for use in cognitively impaired human subjects.
Synthesis
The
Nitro compound group of
Pimelic acid (1) is reduced by palladium-catalysed
hydrogenation to an
amino group, which cyclises to give a mixture of the
lactam ester (2) and its corresponding acid (3). The mixture is
hydrolysed using
sodium hydroxide to convert all of the ester to the acid, and this material is cyclised to give rolziracetam using
acetic anhydride.
See also
