UC Davis Researchers Achieve Total Synthesis of Ibogaine, Creating Opportunities to Study Its Therapeutic Properties

In a study appearing in Nature Chemistry, researchers at the University of California, Davis Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics (IPN) report the successful total synthesis of ibogaine, ibogaine analogues and related compounds from pyridine — a relatively inexpensive and widely available chemical.

Exploring the Psychedelics Within Us

Our bodies are pharmaceutical factories, but did you know that our bodies also naturally produce psychedelics? Why do we make them? How do they work? What are their functions? And can we leverage them to mitigate neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric conditions? The UC Davis Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics is exploring those questions.