ALEXANDRIA, Va., Dec. 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,497,380, issued on Dec. 16.
"Method of asymmetrically synthesizing nicotine" was invented by Shuang Gao (Shenzhen, China), Qiwei Lang (Shenzhen, China) and Xiaobing Ding (Shenzhen, China).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method for preparing nicotine. (1) The nicotinic acid alkyl ester and N-methylpyrrolidone are subjected to a condensation reaction, and then added with a strong acid to obtain 4-methylamino-1-(3-pyridine)-butanone hydrochloride. (2) The 4-methylamino-1-(3-pyridine)-butanone hydrochloride is reacted with an amino-protecting reagent to obtain an intermediate (4). (3) A chiral alcohol (5) is obtained through an asymmetric re...