PHILADELPHIA: Chemists have invented the first practical, scalable method for synthesising jiadifenolide, a plant-derived molecule that may have powerful brain-protecting properties.
Finding a good way to synthesise jiadifenolide has been a goal of chemists around the world since the compound was discovered in 2009. Preliminary studies have hinted that it might be useful in protecting brain cells from neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and perhaps other neurological conditions including stroke and traumatic brain injury. But it is very difficult to obtain useful quantities of jiadifenolide from plants, and the synthesis methods reported in the past few years also have low yields…