A Mini Review on Practical Synthesis of Muscimol and its Fluorinated Analogues

Since the isolation and structural determination of muscimol, diverse chemical synthetic methods have been developed for the synthesis of the compound and its fluorinated derivatives such as fluoromuscimol and trifluoromethylmuscimol. These classes of compounds have been extensively employed as important building blocks in the design of drugs and pharmaceutical compounds with a broad spectrum of biological activities. However, when compared to other organohalogenic compounds, there are relatively limited methods for forming carbon-fluorine bonds in organic chemistry. Furthermore, there are very few naturally occurring organofluorine molecules exist, indicating that fluorination agents are scarce in nature. Despite the potential usage of fluorinated 5-membered heteroaromatic compounds and their functionalization in the life science industries, studies pertaining to the synthesis of substances containing such structural units are rare and challenging. This review discussed the progress made in the synthesis of natural product, muscimol and its fluoro and trifluoromethyl analogues. In addition to that, the mechanisms for the formation of isoxazole and fluoroisoxazole motifs were also discussed. This information provides important synthetic strategies for researchers in constructing such privileged structures.