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Structure of Kainic Acid and its Isomer, Allokainic Acid

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Abstract

IN 1953, Murakami, Takemoto and their collaborators1 isolated the most active component of Digenea simplex Agardh which has been well known as an anthelmintic (vermifuge) for more than a thousand years. They named it kainic acid after ‘Kaininso’, the Japanese name of the mother alga. Kainic acid, C10H15O4N, has an intense anthelmintic effect, about ten times that of santonin, without side-effects. In conjunction with chemical studies2 to determine the structure of this interesting compound, we have carried out a structural determination by means of X-ray crystal analysis.

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References

  1. Murakami, S., Takemoto, T., and Shimizu, Z., J. Pharm. Soc. Japan, 73, 1026 (1953).

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  2. Miyasaki, M., J. Pharm. Soc. Japan, 75, 695 (1955). Ueno, Y., Nawa, H., Ueyanagi, J., Morimoto, H., Nakamori, R., and Mat-suoka, T., ibid., 75, 840 (1955). Murakami, S., Takemoto, T., Tei, Z., and Daigo, K., ibid., 75, 869, 1255 (1955). Takemoto, T., Tei, Z., and Daigo, K., ibid., 76, 298 (1956). Morimoto, H., and Nakamori, R., ibid., 76, 294 (1956); Proc. Japan. Acad., 32, 41 (1956).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Osaka, Osaka

    I. NITTA, H. WATASE & Y. TOMIIE

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  1. I. NITTA
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  2. H. WATASE
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  3. Y. TOMIIE
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NITTA, I., WATASE, H. & TOMIIE, Y. Structure of Kainic Acid and its Isomer, Allokainic Acid. Nature 181, 761–762 (1958). https://doi.org/10.1038/181761b0

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